{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_58062/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_58062","id":"gutenberg_58062","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/58062","summary":null,"tags":["Bible -- Commentaries","Bible. Isaiah -- Commentaries","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Preaching"],"text":"Produced by John Hagerson and Mrs. Faith Ball\n\n\n\n\nTRANSCRIBER'S NOTES.\n\n - Technical note: This book makes heavy use of SMALL CAPS\n   formatting. You may need to experiment with fonts and browsers\n   until you see the words \"small caps\" formatted in SMALL CAPS.\n\n - This is a commentary on the first 39 chapters of the Biblical\n   book of Isaiah. It was written to help ministers with their\n   sermon preparation. Many of the thoughts presented are condensed\n   from published sermons. The book is a collection of man's\n   opinions on the inspired Word of God. The Transcriber does not\n   necessarily agree with every opinion expressed. Among the\n   disagreements are suggestions that the Church replaces Israel,\n   or is \"the true Israel,\" or that human effort has any effect on\n   God's pacing of future events. Some of the opinions expressed\n   are unapologetically anti-Roman Catholic or culturally\n   insensitive. The book is a product of its time and place (late\n   nineteenth century greater London). The U.S. conflict between\n   North and South is still within memory and neither the great\n   European wars to come, nor England's loss of her colonial\n   possessions in India and Africa, nor the establishment of the\n   State of Israel is even foreshadowed.\n\n - The page numbers in the first part of the book (\"front-matter\")\n   and the last part of the book (\"back-matter\") were modified from\n   unadorned Arabic numbers to make them unique. In this e-book,\n   front-matter pages are identified by lower-cased Roman numbers\n   and back-matter pages include the letter \"A\" (for \"Appendix\")\n   and either an \"L\" or an \"R\" to identify the left or right\n   column. The Appendix presents two translations of the whole book\n   of Isaiah and two additional translations of the fifty-second\n   and fifth-third chapters.\n\n - In the original, the outlines are generally in order by\n   scripture reference and information in the page headers helps\n   one find an outline related to any desired passage. Due to the\n   length of the e-book, and the supplemental outlines added toward\n   the end, the Transcriber has inserted a listing of outlines in\n   sequential order by scripture reference after the Index of\n   Subjects, Index of Authors, and table of Times, Seasons, and\n   Occasions, and prior to the Introduction.\n\n - The footnotes in the text are identified by sequential\n   lower-case Greek letters: \u0251, \u0392, etc. The Transcriber has changed\n   them to superscript bracketed numbers to comply with current\n   use. In the main portion of the book, the \"footnotes\" were set\n   in smaller type at the end of the respective outlines. In the\n   Appendix, footnotes were set at the bottom of each page. The\n   text and each footnote are hyperlinked both directions.\n\n - Certain long outlines (The Virgin's Son, The Burden of Dumah)\n   and the Appendix were set almost entirely in footnote type to\n   save page count.\n\n - The detailed list of Transcriber's changes is at the foot of the\n   document.\n\n\n\nTHE PREACHER'S\nCOMPLETE HOMILETIC\nCOMMENTARY\nON THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE\n\nWITH CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES,\nINDEXES, ETC., BY VARIOUS AUTHORS\n\nTHE OLD TESTAMENT\n_Volumes 1-21_\n\nTHE NEW TESTAMENT\n_Volumes 22-32_\n\nVolume 15\n\n\n\nThe Preacher's Complete Homiletic\nCOMMENTARY\n\nON THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET\nIsaiah\nVolume I\n\n_By the_ REV. R. A. BERTRAM\n_and_\n_The_ REV. ALFRED TUCKER\n\n[LOGO]\nPRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA\n\nFUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY\nNEW YORK\n\n\n\nPREFATORY NOTES.\n\n 1. In the preparation of this Commentary, my aim throughout has\n    been evangelical and practical. A study of the Book of Isaiah\n    suggests many historical, critical, and speculative questions,\n    but these I have entirely disregarded. I have asked only, What\n    messages from God has this inspired prophet for the men of this\n    generation? What instruction has he to give us? What warnings?\n    What encouragements? What consolations? To these questions I\n    believe there are answers in the outlines I have myself\n    prepared, and in those I have obtained from other sources.\n\n 2. As my work proceeded, my methods somewhat changed. I discovered\n    that I had commenced the Commentary on too large a scale, and\n    that it was in danger of becoming too large and costly. I\n    therefore ceased to append illustrations to the outlines, and\n    contented myself with giving references to illustrations in my\n    _\"Homiletic Encyclop\u00e6dia of Illustrations in Theology and\n    Morals\"_ and my _\"Dictionary of Poetical Illustrations,\"_ using\n    for this purpose the letters H. E. I. and P. D.\n\n 3. I also ceased to prepare outlines on _all_ the texts, and\n    limited myself to those most likely to be profitable to ordinary\n    congregations.\n\n 4. As I proceeded, I also became more convinced that a book\n    intended to be helpful to many minds should contain the best\n    thoughts of many minds; and therefore, instead of preparing\n    outlines which might be expanded into sermons, I condensed\n    sermons preached by others into outlines. Remembering that I was\n    working for ministers, I stripped the _thoughts_ contained in\n    those sermons of most of their dress, and so the substance of a\n    sermon of twenty pages was frequently placed on a page. The\n    result is that in this volume a hundred and fifty students of\n    Scripture--Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Congregationalists and\n    Baptists--combine to offer to their brethren suggestions as to\n    the best practical uses to which the writings of Isaiah may be\n    put today.\n\n 5. On pp. 447-496 are some valuable outlines obtained too late for\n    insertion in their proper places. Three of them are interesting\n    specimens of Welsh preaching.\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\nINDEX OF SUBJECTS.\n\nAdvent Thoughts and Joys\nAdversity, The Bread of\nAfflicted, The Duty of the\nAfflictions of God's People, The\nAllotments of Land to the Poor\nAltar and a Saviour for Egypt, An\nAmusement, Earthly\nApostates, The Doom of the\nAppeal and an Argument, An\nAppropriation, The Grand\nAriel\nArt, The Noblest\nAssyrian, The\nAssyrian Invasion of Judah\nAtonement, The\n\nBabylon, The Doom of\nBeautiful Visions Exchanged for Realities\nBelief, The Restoration of\nBeliever's Dignity and Power, The\nBlessed Life, A\nBlessedness of the Servant of God, The\nBlind Leaders\nBook That Will Bear Testing, A\n\nCall to the Careless, A\nCall to the Revolted, A\nCall to Study, A\nCanticle, A Sad\nChambers of Safety\nChastisement\nCheering Words and Solemn Warnings\nChildren of Babylon, Their Doom\nChildren, Spare the\nChild-Training\nChrist a Tested Saviour\nChrist, Comfort in\nChrist, His Empire\nChrist, His Government\nChrist, His Name--\"Wonderful\"\nChrist, His Second Coming\nChrist, His Titles and Government\nChrist, His Triumphs\nChrist Our Counsellor\nChrist, The Ensign of the Nations\nChrist, The Everlasting Father\nChrist, The Healer and Joy-Giver\nChrist, The Mighty God\nChrist, The Prince of Peace\nChrist, The Reconciler of Men\nChrist a Righteous Judge\nChrist a Sure Foundation\nChrist, The Beauty of His Character\nChrist, Suretyship of\nChristian Liberality\nChristian's Refuge, The\nChurch of Christ, Characteristics of the\nChurch, Fiery Ordeal of\nChurch, The Christian, A Continuation of the Jewish\nCleaning for the Vilest\nCleaning Spirit, The\nComfort for the Desponding\nComfort in Christ\nCommand, A Plain\nConqueror Conquered, The\nConsideration, Religious\nControlling Fact, A\nConversion, A Happy\nCords and Cart-Ropes\nCords of Vanity\nCounsel, A Threefold\nCounsellor, The Only\nCovetousness\nCry for Help, A\nCurse Done Away, The\n\nDay of the Lord, The\nDay of Visitation, The\nDays of Deliverance\nDeath and the Grave\nDeath, Distress in Prospect of\nDeath, Preparation for\nDeath, The Contrasts of\nDeliverance, A Great\nDepravity, Total\nDepravity, Transmitted\nDespisers, The Doom of the\nDisabled Ship, The\nDiscipline of Sin, The\nDivine Anger\nDivine Disappointments\nDivine Ideal of Israel Realised, The\nDivine Judgments, The Twofold Effect of\nDivine Patience, Trials of the\nDivine Salvation Rejected\nDreaming\nDrink and Its Woes\nDrunkard, The Miseries of the\nDumah, The Burden of\n\nEarly Religious Training\nEarthly Song and the Heavenly Voice\nEast Wind, The Day of the\nEncouragement for the Timid\nEngland's Crying Sin\nEvil-Doers, The Seed of\nExiles' Return, The\n\nFaith's Impregnable Citadel\nFaith, The Condition of Firmness\nFalse Refuges\nFemale Pride and Luxury\nFears and Comforts\nFeast for Faith, A\nFestivity and Forgetfulness\nFoolish King and a Wise One, A\nForgetfulness of God\nForsaken of God\nForsaking the Lord\n\nGladness, The Duty of\nGlorifying God in the Fires\nGod Avenging His Own Elect\nGod Exalted in the Great Day\nGod, His Goodness to the Church\nGod's Gracious Invitation to Sinners\nGod's Ideal of Goodness\nGod's Invitation to Shelter\nGod's Judgments\nGod's Outstretched Hand\nGod's Perpetual Presence with His People\nGod's Promises\nGod's Readiness to Listen to the Needy\nGod's Reluctance to Punish\nGod's Righteousness\nGod Oppressed\nGod Our Refuge or Our Ruin\nGod, Two Constant Feelings in His Mind\nGod's Outcasts\nGod's People Forsaken\nGodly, Prospect of the\nGood and Evil, The Sin of Confounding\nGospel, Future Triumphs of the\nGospel, The Blessings of the\nGospel Feast, The\nGospel Trumpet, The\nGovernment, The Curse of a Weak\nGrave and its Mysteries, The\nGreat Deliverance, A\nGreat Dethronement, The\nGreat Task, The\nGrowing Light\nGuiding Voice, The\n\n\"Hallowed Be Thy Name\"\nHarvest, The Joy of the\nHaughtiness\nHeaven, The Happiness of\nHeedfulness\nHezekiah's Prayer\nHezekiah's Prudent Silence\nHezekiah's Resolution\nHezekiah's Song\nHezekiah's Strength and Weakness\nHezekiah Tried\nHoliness Accomplished, Peace Ordained\nHoliness, Man's, God's Workmanship\nHome Life and Influence\n\nIgnorance, The Evils of\nIllustrious Inhabitant, An\nImmanuel\nImpenitent, Certainty of the Destruction of the\nIn Whom Art Thou Trusting?\nInconsiderateness\nIncorrigible, Doom of the\nIniquity a Burden\nInjustice, Legalised\nInstinct Followed, Reason Disregarded\nIntellectual Pride\nIsaiah, His Interview with Ahaz\nIsaiah, His Vision of the King and His Kingdom\nIsaiah, His Vision of God\nIsaiah, His Vision of the Last Days\nIsaiah, The Evangelical Prophet\nIsrael, Future Prosperity of\nIsrael, God's Indictment against\nIsrael, The Doom of Impenitent\n\nJoy of Salvation, The\nJoy of the Meek\nJoy Religious\nJust Man's Security, The\n\nKing in Trouble, A\nKnowledge of God\nKnowledge of God, Importance of Religious\n\nLanguage, Its Influence on Character\nLatter-Day Glory, The\nLaw and the Testimony, The\nLeadership\nLife, Its Diminutions and Changes\nLife, The Shortening of\nLight of the Lord, The\nLip Service Instead of Heart Worship\nLittles, The Power of\n\nMaher-Shalal-Hash-Baz\nMan's Imagined Independence of God\nMan's Insignificance and God's Supremacy\nMan Proposes, God Disposes\nMaterial and the Mortal, The\nMemorable Answer, A\nMessengers Wanted\nMessiah, The Glory of the\nMinisterial Duty, Some Aspects of\nMinisterial Fidelity, Dislike to\nMissionary Success, The Essential Condition of\nMockery, Irreligious\nMomentous Decisions\nMomentous Inquiry, A\nMoney, The Love of\nMoral Ablution\nMoral Declension\nMoral History of a Rising Soul, The\nMoral Obduracy\nMoral Perversity\nMoral Wilderness Transformed\n\nNational Bereavement, Lessons from a\nNational Greatness\nNational Peace, The Gift of God\nNational Revival\nNational Ungodliness\nNecromancy\nNeedless Stripes\nNew Song for New Hearts, A\nNight and Morning\nNight Longings for God\nNo Sickness There!\nNobility and Security\n\nOpportunities, The Use of\nOppressed and Their Relief, The\nOppression of the Poor\nOur Trust and Our Test\n\nParable of the Husbandman, The\nParable of the Vineyard, The\nPeace, National\nPeace, Perfect\nPeace, The Work of Righteousness\nPeaceful Keeping\nPerversion of Right and Wrong\nPiety, Irreligious\nPleader and the Judge, The\nPoliticians, Biblical\nPraise for Preservation\nPrayer, A Christian\nPrayer, A King's\nPrayer in Trouble\nPrayer, Reasons for the Rejection of\nPrivileges, Great\nProphecy the Voice of God\nProphet of the Lord, The\nProphet's Call, The\nProphet's Mission, Duration of the\nProtecting Hand, The\nProvidence\nPublic Worship, The Possibilities of\nPunishment of the Wicked, The\nPunishment, The Purpose of\nPurposes and Panics\n\nQuietness, Christian\nQuietness, Strength in\n\nRabshakehs, Modern\nRecompense, The Great Law of\nRecovery from Sickness\nRedemption, The Divine Idea of\nRejected Sacrifices\nRejection of Divine Truth, The\nReligion, True and False\nRemnants of Society, The\nRetirement, Religious\nRevelation of God, The\nRivers, Enriching\nRivers of Waters\nRoad to the City, The\n\nSaint's Attitude in Time of Trouble\nSanctuary in God\nScepticism\nSelf-Conceit\nSelf-Scrutiny in God's Presence\nSensuality\nSentence of Doom, A\nSeraphim, The\nShameless Sinners\nShort Bed and the Narrow Covering, The\nSick and Dying, Duties of the\nSickness, Recovery from\nSight of God and a Sense of Sin, A\nSin and Grace\nSin, Its Destructiveness\nSin, The Origin and End of\nSinner's Danger and Refuge, The\nSinners Self-Destroyed\nSocial Regeneration\nSodom and Gomorrah\nSolemn Disclaimer, A\nSong to the Vineyard, A\nSorrow, The Banishment of\nSpirit of the Lord, The\nSpiritual Husbandry\nSpiritual Usurpers Renounced\nSpirituality of the Divine Nature, The\nSpreading the Letter before the Lord\nStability through Faith\nStartling Charge, A\nStatesmen, The Death of\nStone of Stumbling, The\nStorms of Life, The\nStrange and Sad Errand, A\nStream Rejected for the River, The\nSuffering, Unsanctified\nSubmission under God's Rebuke\nSummons to Jerusalem, The\nSupplications, Fruitless\n\nTaking Hold of God's Strength\nTeachers of Truth, Their Duty in Times of National Perversion\nTerrible Picture, A\nTerrible Resolve, A\nThings To Be Considered\nThoughtlessness\nThreatened, But Safe\nTophet Ordained of Old\nTow and the Spark, The\nTransformation\nTrinity in Unity, The\nTrumpet, The Great\nTrust and Trials\n\nUnbelief, The Inexcusableness of\n\nVanity of Earthly Help in Time of Trial\nVirgin's Son, The\nVolunteer Service\n\nWaiting, Divine and Human\nWaiting on God\nWar\nWaters of Shiloah, The\nWells of Salvation\nWild Grapes\nWise Lessons from Wicked Lips\nWorld, A Sorrowless\nWorld's Misery, The Remedy of the\nWorthless Husks\nWrong Names, The Sin of Using\n\nZion, The Controversy of\nZion, The Futility of Fighting Against\n\n\nINDEX OF AUTHORS.\n\nAbbott, J. S. C.\nAdams, W.\nAdeney, W. F.\nAlexander, Dr.\nAmbrose, William\nAnderson, James\nAnderson, Dr. W.\n\nBarfield, A. F.\nBarry, Bishop\nBateman, Josiah\nBather, Archdeacon\nBaxendale, Walter\nBeecher, Henry Ward\nBennett, Dr.\nBertram, R. A.\nBingham, R.\nBlomfield, Bishop\nBlunt, H.\nBoone, J. S.\nBradley, Charles\nBrathwaite, M.\nBrierley, J.\nBrooke, Stopford A.\nBrooks, William\nBuckingham, S. G.\nBunting, Dr.\nBurns, Dr. Jabez\nBurrows, W.\nBushnell, Dr.\nButler, William Archer\n\nCheever, Dr.\nClark, George\nClayton, G.\nClemance, Dr.\nClose, Dean\nCooper, Edward\nCorbin, John\nCowles, Dr.\nCreswell, Henry\nCrow, E.\nCurrie, D. D.\n\nDavies, Samuel\nDowling, J. G.\n\nEdmond, Dr.\nEmmons, Dr.\nErskine, Ralph\nExell, J. S.\n\nForrest, R. W.\nFoster, John\nFraser, Bishop\nFuller, Andrew\n\nGerard, Dr.\nGibson, A.\nGilfillan, G.\nGoodwin, H.\nGoulburn, Dean\nGriffin, E.\nGuinness, H. G.\nGurney, J. H.\nGuthrie, William\n\nHall, Robert\nHancock, W.\nHare, Julius Charles\nHarris, W.\nHawes, Dr.\nHeber, Reginald\nHobart, Dr.\nHoldeck, Dr.\nHood, E. Paxton\nHubbard, W.\n\nIrons, Joseph\n\nJames, John Angell\nJay, William\nJohnson, John\nJohnston, John\nJonas, William\nJupe, Charles\n\nKennedy, Dr.\nKennicott, Dr.\nKidd, Thornhill\nKollock, Dr.\n\nLewis, Dr.\nLiddon, Canon\nLilley, J. Osborne\nLogan, John\nLyth, Dr.\n\nMacculloch, R.\nMaclaren, A.\nMagie, Dr.\nManning, W.\nMarriott, John\nMathew, G.\nMaurice, F. D.\nMcAuslane, Dr.\nMelvill, H.\nMiall, G. R.\nMilne, John\nMilner, Dr.\nMoore, Charles\nMonks, Richard\nMonod, Horace\nMorgan, James\n\nNeave, Thomas\nNesbit, R.\nNewman, John Henry\nNorton, John N.\n\nOliver, T.\n\nPacker, John\nParker, Dr.\nParkes, William\nParkman, R. C.\nPiele, Dr.\nPott, J. H.\nPratten, B. P.\nPunshon, Dr.\n\nRawlinson, John\nReeve, William\nRoberts, Arthur\nRoberts, William\nRobins, S.\nRobjohns, H. T.\n\nSalomon, G.\nScott, Adam\nShedd, Dr.\nSherman, J.\nSherwood, J. M.\nShuttleworth, Dr.\nSimcock, J. Macrae\nSkelton\nSmith, George\nSpencer, Thomas\nSpurgeon, C. H.\nStatham, W. M.\n\"Stems and Twigs\"\nStirling, J.\nStorrs, Dr.\nSuperville, Daniel de\n\nTalmage, Dr.\nTaylor. Dr. W. M.\nThodey, Samuel\nThomas, Dr. David\nThompson, B.\nTucker, Dr.\n\nVilliers, H. M.\n\nWalker, H. F.\nWatson, Richard\nWatt, John\nWood, J. R.\nWoodford, J. R.\n\n\nTIMES, SEASONS, AND OCCASIONS.\n\nAdvent Sermons\nBible Society Sermon\nChristmas Sermons\nDeath of a Statesman\nEaster Sunday\nFirst Sunday of the Year\nFreehold Land Society Sermon\nFuneral Sermon\nHarvest Thanksgiving\nLast Sermon of the Year\nMissionary Sermons\nOrdination or Visitation Sermons\nParliamentary Election Sermon\nPeace Society Sermons\nSeamen, Sermon to\nSunday-School Anniversary\nTemperance Sermons\nThanksgiving Sermon\nTime of National Distress\nTrinity Sunday\nWhitsuntide\n\n\nTEXTS.\n\ni. 1.            The Prophet of the Lord\n\ni. 2.            Prophecy the Voice of God\n\ni. 2, 3.         An Appeal and an Argument\n\ni. 2-6.          God's Indictment against Israel\n\ni. 3.            Thoughtlessness\n                 Inconsiderateness\n                 Things to be Considered\n                 Religious Consideration\n                 Instinct Followed--Reason Disregarded\n\ni. 4.            Iniquity a Burden\n                 Transmitted Depravity\n                 Forsaking the Lord\n\ni. 5.            Moral Obduracy\n                 Needless Stripes\n\ni. 5-8.          Total Depravity\n\ni. 9.            God's Reluctance to Punish\n\ni. 10.           The Summons to Jerusalem\n\ni. 11.           Rejected Sacrifices\n\ni. 11, 16, 17.   True and False Religion\n\ni. 13.           The Possibilities of Public Worship\n\ni. 14.           God Oppressed\n\ni. 15.           Worthless Husks\n                 Reasons for the Rejection of Prayer\n                 A Startling Charge\n\ni. 16.           Moral Ablution\n                 A Plain Command\n\ni. 17.           The Great Task\n                 The Noblest Art\n                 The Oppressed and Their Relief\n                 God's Ideal of Goodness\n\ni. 18.           God's Gracious Invitation to Sinners\n                 Cleansing for the Vilest\n                 Comfort for the Desponding\n                 Sin and Grace\n                 Self-scrutiny in God's Presence\n\ni. 19-20.        Sinners Self-destroyed\n\ni. 20.           The Certainty of the Destruction of the Impenitent\n\ni. 21-23.        Moral Declension\n\ni. 21.           An Illustrious Inhabitant\n\ni. 22.           The Possible Degeneracy of Valuable Things\n\ni. 24.           A Terrible Resolve\n\ni. 24-27.        The Purpose of Punishment\n\ni. 25, 26.       The Divine Idea of Redemption\n\ni. 26.           Social Regeneration\n\ni. 27, 28.       The Twofold Effect of Divine Judgments\n\ni. 28.           Forsaking the Lord\n\ni. 28-31.        The Doom of the Apostates\n\ni. 31.           The Tow and the Spark\n\n\nii. 1-5.         Isaiah's Vision of the Last Days\n\nii. 2-5.         The Latter-Day Glory\n\nii. 2.           The Future Triumphs of the Gospel\n\nii. 4.           The Cessation of War\n\nii. 5.           The Light of the Lord\n                 The Walk of the Soul in the Light of the Lord\n\nii. 6-22.        A Terrible Picture\n\nHeb. xiii. 5,\nii. 6.           God's People Forsaken\n\nii. 6.           Forsaken of God\n\nii. 6-9.         The Material and the Moral\n\nii. 10.          The Sinner's Danger and Refuge\n\nii. 17.          God Exalted in the Great Day\n\nii. 18.          The Great Dethronement\n\nii. 22.          Man's Insignificance and God's Supremacy\n                 Lessons from a National Bereavement\n\n\niii. 1-3.        The Death of Statesmen\n\niii. 1-8.        National Greatness\n\niii. 9.          Shameless Sinners\n\niii. 10, 11.     Cheering Words and Solemn Warnings\n                 The Great Law of Recompense\n\niii. 12.         The Curse of a Weak Government\n                    Blind Leaders\n\niii. 15.         Oppression of the Poor\n\niii. 13-15.      The Pleader and the Judge\n\niii. 16, 17.     Haughtiness\n\niii. 16--iv. 1.  Female Pride and Luxury\n\n\niv. 1.           The Desolating and Disorganising Power of War\n\niv. 2-6.         The Divine Ideal of Israel Realised\n\niv. 2-5.         God's Perpetual Presence with His People\n\niv. 4.           The Cleansing Spirit\n\n\nv. 1-7.          The Parable of the Vineyard\n                 The Parable of the Vineyard\n                 Great Privileges\n\nv. 2.            Divine Disappointments\n\nv. 4.            The Inexcusability and Hopelessness of Unbelief\n\nv. 4-6.          A Sad Canticle\n\nv. 7, 8.         On the Advantage of Small Allotments of Land to the\n                   Poor\n\nv. 8-21.         Wild Grapes\n\nv. 8-10.         Covetousness\n\nv. 8.            God's Curse on the Covetous\n\nv. 11.           The Miseries of the Drunkard\n\nv. 11-17.        National Ungodliness\n\nv. 11, 12.       Sensuality\n\nv. 12.           Earthly Amusement\n                 Festivity and Forgetfulness\n\nv. 13-15.        The Evils of Ignorance\n\nv. 14, 15.       Death and the Grave\n\nv. 18.           Cords of Vanity\n                 Cords and Cart-Ropes\n\nv. 19.           Scepticism\n\nv. 20.           The Influence of Language on Character\n                 The Sin of Confounding Good and Evil\n                 On the Perversion of Right and Wrong\n                 The Sin of Using Wrong Names\n                 Moral Perversity\n\nv. 21.           Self-Conceit\n                 Intellectual Pride\n\nv. 22.           The Woe of the Drunkard\n                 The Woe of the Drunkard\n                 Drink and Its Woes\n\nv. 24.           The Doom of Despisers\n\nv. 24-30.        The Doom of Impenitent Israel\n\n\nvi. 1-12.        The Prophet's Call\n\nvi. 1, 2, 5-7.   The Service of the Seraphim\n\nvi. 1-3.         The Trinity in Unity\n\nvi. 1-5.         Revelations of God\n\nvi. 1-7.         Isaiah's Vision\n\nvi. 1-2.         The Seraphim\n\nvi. 2.           A Glorious Example\n\nvi. 2-4.         The Seraphim and Their Song\n\nvi. 5-7.         A Sight of God and a Sense of Sin\n\nvi. 5-8.         The Moral History of a Rising Soul\n\nvi. 8.           Volunteer Service\n                 Messengers Wanted\n\nvi. 9, 10.       A Strange and Sad Errand\n                 The Rejection of Divine Truth\n\nvi. 11-13.       The Duration of the Prophet's Mission\n\n\nvii. 1-9.        Fears and Comforts\n                 Faith's Impregnable Citadel\n\nvii. 1, 2.       Purpose and Panics\n\nvii. 3-25.       Isaiah's Interview with Ahaz\n\nvii. 4.          A Threefold Counsel\n                 Heedfulness\n\nvii. 9.          Faith, The Condition of Firmness\n                 Stability through Faith\n\nvii. 12.         Man's Imagined Independence of God\n                 Momentous Decisions\n                 Irreligious Piety\n\nvii. 13.         Trials of the Divine Patience\n\nvii. 13-16.      The Virgin's Son\n\nvii. 14.         Immanuel\n\nvii. 15.         The Great Object of Child-Training\n\nvii. 17-25.      A Sentence of Doom\n\n\nviii. 1-4.       Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz\n\nviii. 5-8.       The Stream Rejected for the River\n\nviii. 6-8.       The Waters of Shiloah\n\nviii. 9, 10.     Threatened, But Safe\n\nviii. 11-15.     Biblical Politicians\n\nviii. 13.        \"Hallowed Be Thy Name\"\n\nviii. 14.        God Our Refuge, or Our Ruin\n                 The Stone of Stumbling\n                 Sanctuary in God\n\nviii. 16-18.     The Duty of Teachers of Truth in Times of\n                   National Perversion\n\nviii. 17.        Waiting on the Lord in Desertion and Gloom\n                 Penitential Waiting on God\n\nviii. 19-22.     Necromancy\n\nviii. 20.        The Law and the Testimony\n\nviii. 21, ix. 13. Unsanctified Suffering\n\n\nix. 2-7.         The Remedy of the World's Misery\n\nix. 3.           The Joy of Harvest\n\nix. 6.           The Titles and Government of Christ\n                 The Government of Christ\n                 His Name . . . Wonderful\n                 Christ our Counsellor\n                 The Mighty God\n                 The Everlasting Father\n                 The Prince of Peace\n\nix. 7.           The Empire of Christ\n                 The Security for the Fulfilment of God's Promises\n\nix. 8-x. 4.      The Outstretched Hand of God\n\nix. 10.          Wise Lessons from Wicked Lips\n\nix. 14.          The Duty of the Afflicted\n\nix. 15, 16.      Leadership\n\nix. 17.          Two Constant Feelings in the Mind of God\n                 Divine Anger\n\nix. 19.          The Destructiveness of Sin\n\n\nx. 1-4.          Legalised Injustice\n\nx. 3.            The Day of Visitation\n\nx. 5-34.         The Assyrian Invasion of Judah\n                 The Assyrian\n\nx. 7-15.         Man Proposes, God Disposes\n\nx. 20.           A Happy Conversion\n\nx. 20-23.        The Remnants of Society\n\n\nxi. and xii.     Isaiah's Vision of the King and His Kingdom\n\nxi. 2.           The Spirit of the Lord\n\nxi. 3.           The Righteous Judge\n\nxi. 9.           The Universal Diffusion and Redemptive Power of the\n                    Knowledge of God\n                 The Diffusion of the Knowledge of God\n\nxi. 10.          The Ensign of the Nations\n\nxi. 10-16.       The Reconciler of Men\n\n\nxii. 1.          A New Song for New Hearts\n\nxii. 3.          Wells of Salvation\n\nxii. 6.          The Duty of Gladness\n\n\nxiii. 1.         The Proud City Doomed\n\nxiii. 6.         The Day of the Lord\n\nxiii. 16.        The Doom of the Children of Babylon\n\nxiii. 17.        The Love of Money\n\nxiii. 18.        Spare the Children\n\nxiii. 19.        Sodom and Gomorrah\n\n\nxiv. 3, 4.       The Joy of Salvation\n\nxiv. 9-12.       The Grave and Its Mysteries\n\nxiv. 11.         The Contrasts of Death\n                 The Conqueror Conquered\n\nxiv. 20.         The Seed of Evildoers\n\nxiv. 32.         A Memorable Answer\n\n\nxvi. 4.          God's Outcasts\n\nxvi. 12.         Fruitless\n\n\nxvii. 5-7.       Diminutions and Changes of Life\n\nxvii. 7, 8.      Sanctified Affliction\n\nxvii. 10, 11.    Forgetfulness of God\n\nxvii. 12.        The Punishment of the Wicked\n\n\nxix. 1-3, 14.    True National Greatness\n\nxix. 18-20.      An Altar and a Saviour for Egypt\n\nxix. 27          Chastisement\n\n\nxxi. 11, 12.     The Burden of Dumah\n                 Night and Morning\n                 A Momentous Inquiry\n\nxxi. 15.         The Grievousness of War\n\n\nxxii. 18.        The Irresistibleness of God's Judgments\n\nxxii. 24.        The Glory of the Messiah\n\n\nxxiv. 15.        Glorifying God in the Fires\n\n\nxxv. 1.          The Grand Appropriation\n\nxxv. 6-8.        The Gospel Feast\n                 The Blessings of the Gospel\n\nxxv. 8.          The Triumphs of Christ\n                 A Sorrowless World\n\nxxv. 9.          Advent Thoughts and Joys\n\nxxv. 10.         The Protecting Hand\n\n\nxxvi. 1-2.       Days of Deliverance\n\nxxvi. 3-4.       Perfect Peace\n                 Peaceful Keeping\n\nxxvi. 7.         The Righteousness of God and His People\n                 The Just Man's Security\n\nxxvi. 8.         The Way of God's Judgments\n\nxxvi. 8, 9.      Trust and Trials\n\nxxvi. 9.         Night Longings for God\n                 The Necessity and Profitableness of Chastisement\n\nxxvi. 9, 10.     The Use and Abuse of the Judgments of God\n\nxxvi. 12.        National Peace the Gift of God\n                 Holiness Accomplished, Peace Ordained\n                 Man's Holiness, God's Workmanship\n\nxxvi. 13, 14.    Spiritual Usurpers Renounced\n\nxxvi. 16.        Prayer in Trouble\n\nxxvi. 19.        National Revival\n\nxxvi. 20.        God's Invitation to Shelter\n                 Chambers of Safety\n                 Religious Retirement\n\n\nxxvii. 2, 3.     God's Goodness to the Church\n                 The Song to the Vineyard\n\nxxvii. 4, 5.     A Solemn Disclaimer\n\nxxvii. 5.        Taking Hold of God's Strength\n\nxxvii. 6.        The Future Prosperity of Israel\n\nxxvii. 8.        The Day of the East Wind\n                 The Storms of Life\n\nxxvii. 7-9.      The Afflictions of God's People\n\nxxvii. 9.        The Discipline of Sin\n\nxxvii. 10, 11.   The Doom of the Incorrigible\n\nxxvii. 13.       The Gospel Trumpet\n                 The Great Trumpet\n\n\nxxviii. 1-4.     England's Crying Sin\n\nxxviii. 5, 6.    The Believer's Dignity and Power\n\nxxviii. 9, 10.   Early Religious Training\n\nxxviii. 10.      The Power of Littles\n\nxxviii. 12.      Rejecters of the Gospel Admonished\n\nxxviii. 16.      The Sure Foundation\n                 Our Trust and Our Test\n                 A Tested Saviour\n\nxxviii. 17.      False Refuges\n\nxxviii. 18.      False Refuges\n\nxxviii. 20.      The Short Bed and the Narrow Covering\n\nxxviii. 22.      Irreligious Mockery\n\nxxviii. 24, 25.  The Parable of the Husbandman\n\nxxviii. 29.      A Feast for Faith\n\n\nxxix. 1.         Ariel\n\nxxix. 7, 8.      Dreaming\n\nxxix. 8.         Awakened from the Dream\n                 The Futility of Fighting against Mount Zion\n\nxxix. 13, 14.    Lip-Service Instead of Heart-Worship\n\nxxix. 19.        The Joy of the Meek\n                 Religious Joy\n\n\nxxx. 1-3.        The Origin and the End of Sin\n\nxxx. 7.          Strength in Quietness\n                 Some Aspects of Ministerial Duty\n\nxxx. 9-11.       Dislike to Ministerial Fidelity\n\nxxx. 15.         Christian Quietness\n\nxxx. 15, 16.     The Vanity of Earthly Help in Time of Trial,\n                    and the Profit of Patient Waiting\n\nxxx. 15-17.      Divine Salvation Rejected\n\nxxx. 18.         Waiting, Divine and Human\n                 Waiting for the Lord\n\nxxx. 19.         God's Readiness to Listen to the Needy\n\nxxx. 20, 21.     The Bread of Adversity\n\nxxx. 21.         The Guiding Voice\n\nxxx. 25, 26.     Rivers of Waters\n\nxxx. 26.         Growing Light\n\nxxx. 29-33.      The Earthly Song and the Heavenly Voice\n\nxxx. 33.         Tophet Ordained of Old\n\n\nxxxi. 1-3.       The Only Counsellor\n\nxxxi. 3.         The Spirituality of the Divine Nature\n\nxxxi. 6.         A Call to the Revolted\n\nxxxi. 9.         The Fiery Ordeal of the Church\n\n\nxxxii. 2.        The Preciousness of Christ\n                 The Christian's Refuge\n                 Rivers of Water in a Dry Place\n                 Comfort in Christ\n\nxxxii. 8.        Christian Liberality\n\nxxxii. 11.       A Call to the Careless\n\nxxxii. 13-15.    The Essential Condition of Missionary Success\n\nxxxii. 15.       The Moral Wilderness Transformed\n\nxxxii. 17.       Peace the Work of Righteousness\n\nxxxii. 18.       The Peaceful Habitation\n\nxxxii. 20.       Spiritual Husbandry\n                 The Use of Opportunities\n\n\nxxxiii. 1.       Providence\n\nxxxiii. 2.       The Saint's Attitude in the Time of Trouble\n\nxxxiii. 6.       The Importance of Religious Knowledge\n\nxxxiii. 7-12.    God Avenging His Own Elect\n\nxxxiii. 15-17.   A Blessed Life\n\nxxxiii. 15, 16.  Nobility and Security\n\nxxxiii. 16.      The Blessedness of the Servant of God\n\nxxxiii. 17.      The Prospect of the Godly\n                 The Beauty of Christ's Character\n\nxxxiii. 20.      Characteristics of the Church of Christ\n\nxxxiii. 21.      Enriching Rivers\n\nxxxiii. 22.      A Controlling Fact\n                 The Atonement; or, Salvation Consistent with the\n                    Regal and Judicial Character of God\n\nxxxiii. 23.      The Disabled Ship\n\nxxxiii. 24.      No Sickness There\n                 Recovery from Sickness\n\n\nxxxiv. 8.        The Controversy of Zion\n\nxxxiv. 16.       A Call to Study\n                 The Book That Will Endure Testing\n\nxxxiv. 16, 17.   The Certainty of God's Judgments\n\n\nxxxv. 1, 2, 7.   Transformation\n\nxxxv. 3, 4.      Encouragement for the Timid\n\nxxxv. 5, 6.      The Healer and Joy-Giver\n                 The Curse Done Away\n\nxxxv. 7.         Beautiful Visions Exchanged for Realities\n\nxxxv. 8-10.      The Exiles' Return\n                 The Road to the City\n\nxxxv. 10.        The Happiness of Heaven\n                 The Banishment of Sorrow\n\n\nxxxvi. 4.        Modern Rabshakehs, And Their Attempts to Terrify\n                    God's People into a Humble Surrender\n\nxxxvi. 5.        In Whom Art Thou Trusting?\n\nxxxvi. 21.       Hezekiah's Prudent Silence\n\n\nxxxvii. 1.       A Foolish King and a Wise One\n\nxxxvii. 14.      A King in Trouble\n                 Spreading the Letter before the Lord\n\nxxxvii. 15-20.   A King's Prayer\n\nxxxvii. 20.      A Christian Prayer\n\nxxxvii. 31.      The Christian Church a Continuation of the Jewish\n\n\nxxxviii. 1-19.   Hezekiah's Prayer\n\nxxxviii. 1.      Preparation for Death\n                 Duties of the Sick and Dying\n\nxxxviii. 2, 3.   Distress in Prospect of Death\n\nxxxviii. 10.     The Shortening of Human Life\n\nxxxviii. 14.     A Cry for Help\n                 The Suretyship of Christ\n\nxxxviii. 15-20.  Hezekiah's Resolution\n\nxxxviii. 15.     The Restoration of Belief\n\nxxxviii. 17.     A Great Deliverance\n                 Forgiveness of Sin\n\nxxxviii. 18, 19. The Song of Hezekiah\n\nxxxviii. 19.     Praise for Preservation\n\n\nxxxix. 1, 2.     Hezekiah's Strength and Weakness\n\nxxxix. 4.        Home Life and Influence\n\nxxxix. 8.        Hezekiah Tried\n                 Submission Under God's Rebuke\n\n\nAPPENDIX.\n\n - Introduction\n - Alexander's translation of Isaiah\n - Delitzsch's translation of Isaiah\n - Calkins' translation of Isaiah lii. 12-liii.\n - Urwick's translation of Isaiah lii. 12-liii.\n\n\n\nISAIAH.\n\nINTRODUCTION.\n\nOf Isaiah, \"the evangelical prophet,\" nothing is _known_ beyond what\nwe are told of him in the Scriptures. Various traditions concerning\nhim are current among the Jews, such as that his father Amoz was\nbrother of King Amaziah, and that he himself died a martyr's death,\nbeing sawn asunder by order of Manasseh; but all that is _certain_\nis, that he was the son of Amoz; that his prophetic ministry\ncommenced in the reign of Uzziah, and closed in that of Hezekiah (ch.\ni. 1); that his wife was a prophetess (ch. viii. 3), and bare him two\nsons (ch. vi. 3; viii. 3); and that he was the author of a portion\nof the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah (2 Chron. xxvi. 22).\n\nHis name signifies _The Salvation of the Lord,_ and this--_the\nsalvation which God works for His people from their sins and\nconsequent misery_--is the great, though not the exclusive, theme of\nhis prophecy.\n\nThe length of his ministry is variously estimated. The lowest\nestimate would make it comprise forty-nine years, from the last year\nof Uzziah to the seventeenth of Hezekiah (B.C. 759-710); the highest,\nsixty-four years, from the fourth year before Uzziah's death to the\nlast year of Hezekiah (B.C. 762-698).\n\nIn the following Commentary it is assumed that the whole of the\nsixty-six chapters of which the Book of Isaiah is composed, were\nwritten by one pen. For clear and conclusive refutations of the\ntheory of a second Isaiah, see the introductions to the Commentaries\nof Alexander, Delitsch, and Kay, and the article ISAIAH in Smith's,\nKitto's, and Fairbairn's _Dictionaries of the Bible._\n\nAppended are Ewald's criticisms on Isaiah's style,[1] and some\nadmirable observations by Dr. Kay on the _title_ of Isaiah's\nprophecy, which readers of it will do to bear in mind throughout.[2]\n\nFOOTNOTES.\n\n [1] In Isaiah we see prophetic authorship reaching its\n     culminating point. Everything conspired to raise him to an\n     elevation which no prophet before or after could as writer\n     attain. Among the other prophets, each of the more\n     important ones is distinguished by some one particular\n     excellence, and some one particular talent. In Isaiah all\n     kinds of talent, and all beauties of prophetic discourse,\n     meet together, so as mutually to temper and qualify each\n     other; it is not so much any single feature that\n     distinguished him as the symmetry and perfection of the\n     whole.\n\n     We cannot fail to assume, as the first condition of\n     Isaiah's particular historical greatness, a native power,\n     and a vivacity of spirit which, even among prophets, is\n     seldom to be met with. It is but rarely that we see\n     combined in one and the same spirit the three several\n     characteristics of--first, the most profound prophetic\n     excitement and the purest sentiment; next, the most\n     indefatigable and successful practical activity amidst all\n     perplexities and changes of outward life; and, thirdly,\n     that facility and beauty in representing thought which is\n     the characteristic of the genuine poet; but this threefold\n     combination we find realised in Isaiah as in no other\n     prophet; and form the traces which we can perceive of the\n     unceasing joint-working of these three powers, we must draw\n     our conclusions as to the original greatness of his genius.\n     But as prophet and as author, Isaiah stands upon that calm,\n     sunny height, which in each several branch of ancient\n     literature one eminently favoured spirit at the right time\n     takes possession of; which seems, as it were, to have been\n     waiting for _him;_ and which, when he has come and mounted\n     the ascent, seems to keep and guard him to the last as its\n     own right man. In the sentiments which he expresses, in the\n     topics of his discourses, and in the manner of expression,\n     Isaiah uniformly reveals himself as the kingly prophet.\n\n     In reference to the last-named point, it cannot be said\n     that his method of elaborating thought is elaborate and\n     artificial: it rather shows a lofty simplicity and an\n     unconcern about external attractiveness, abandoning itself\n     freely to the leading and requirement of each several\n     thought; but, nevertheless, it always rolls along in a full\n     stream which overpowers all resistance, and never fails at\n     the right place to accomplish at every turn its object\n     without toil or effort.\n\n     The progress and development of the discourse is always\n     majestic, achieving much with few words, which, though\n     short, are yet clear and transparent; an overflowing\n     fulness of thought, which might readily lose itself in the\n     vast and indefinite, but which always at the right time\n     with tight rein collects and tempers its exuberance; to the\n     bottom exhausting the thought and completing the utterance,\n     and yet never too diffuse. This severe self-control is the\n     most admirably seen in those shorter utterances which by\n     briefly-sketched images and thoughts give us the vague\n     apprehension of something infinite, whilst, nevertheless,\n     they stand before us complete in themselves and clearly\n     delineated; _e.g._, viii. 6--ix. 6, xiv. 23-32, xviii. 1-7,\n     xxi. 11, 12; while in the long piece, xxviii.-xxxii., if\n     the composition here and there for a moment languishes, it\n     is only to lift itself again afresh with all the greater\n     might. In this rich and thickly-crowded fulness of thought\n     and word it is but seldom that the simile which is employed\n     appears apart, to set forth and complete itself (xxxi. 4,\n     5); in general, it crowds into the delineation of the\n     object which it is meant to illustrate, and is swallowed up\n     in it,--ay, and frequently simile after simile; and yet the\n     many threads of the discourse, which for a moment appeared\n     ravelled together, soon disentangle themselves into perfect\n     clearness;--a characteristic which belongs to this prophet\n     alone, a freedom of language which with no one else so\n     easily succeeds.\n\n     The versification, in like manner, is always full, and yet\n     strongly marked: while, however, this prophet is so little\n     concerned about anxiously weighing out to each verse its\n     proper number of words, not unfrequently he repeats the\n     same word in two members (xxxi. 8, xxxii. 17, xi. 5,\n     xix. 13), as if, with so much power and beauty in the\n     matter within, he did not so much require a painstaking\n     finish in the outside. The structure of the strophe is\n     always easy and beautifully rounded.\n\n     Still the main point lies here,--that we cannot in the case\n     of Isaiah, as in that of other prophets, specify any\n     particular peculiarity, or any favourite colour as\n     attaching to his general style. _He is not the especially\n     lyrical prophet, or the especially elegiacal prophet, or\n     the especially oratorical and hortatory prophet, as we\n     should describe a Joel, a Hosea, a Micah, with whom there\n     is a greater prevalence of some particular colour; but,\n     just as the subject requires, he has readily at command\n     every several kind of style and every several change of\n     delineation; and it is precisely this that, in point of\n     language, establishes his greatness, as well as in general,\n     forms out of his most towering points of excellence._ His\n     only fundamental peculiarity is the lofty, majestic,\n     calmness of his style, proceeding out of the perfect\n     command which he feels he possesses over his subject\n     matter. This calmness, however, no way demands that the\n     strain shall not, when occasion required, be more\n     vehemently excited, and assail the hearer with mightier\n     blows; but even the extremest excitement, which does here\n     and there intervene, is in the main bridled still by the\n     same spirit of calmness, and, not overstepping the limits\n     which that spirit assigns, it soon with lofty self-control\n     returns to its wonted tone of equability (ii. 10--iii. 1,\n     xxviii. 11-23, xxix. 9-14). Neither does this calmness in\n     discourse require that the subject shall always be treated\n     only in a plain level way, without any variation of form;\n     rather, Isaiah shows himself master in just that variety of\n     manner which suits the relation in which his hearers stand\n     to the matter now in hand. If he wishes to bring home to\n     their minds a distant truth which they like not to hear,\n     and to judge them by a sentence pronounced by their own\n     mouth, he retreats into a popular statement of a case drawn\n     from ordinary life (v. 1-6, xxviii. 23-20). If he will draw\n     the attention of the over wise to some new truth, or to\n     some future prospect, he surprises them by a brief oracle\n     clothed in an enigmatical dress, leaving it to their\n     penetration to discover its solution (vii. 14-16,\n     xxix. 1-8). When the unhappy temper of the people's minds\n     which nothing can amend leads to loud lamentation, his\n     speech becomes for a while the strain of elegy and lament\n     (i. 21-23, xxii. 4, 5). Do the frivolous leaders of the\n     people mock? he outdoes them at their own weapons, and\n     crushes them under the fearful earnest of divine mockery\n     (xxviii. 10-13). Even a single ironical word in passing\n     will drop from the lofty prophet (xxvii. 3, _glory_). Thus\n     his discourse varies into every complexion: _it is tender\n     and stern, didactic and threatening, mourning and again\n     exulting in divine joy, mocking and earnest;_ but ever at\n     the right time it returns to its original elevation and\n     repose, and never loses the clear ground-colour of its\n     divine seriousness.--_Ewald, quoted in Smith's Dictionary\n     of the Bible,_ vol. i. pp. 888, 889, article ISAIAH.\n\n [2] The title of the book is _\"The_ VISION _of Isaiah,\"_ which\n     suggests these remarks--\n\n     (1.) Being a _vision,_ it will frequently speak of events\n     that are yet future, as if they had already occurred. So in\n     iii. 8: \"Jerusalem _is ruined;_ Judah _is fallen.\"_ In\n     v. 13: \"Therefore my people _are gone into captivity._\"\n\n     (2.) What is seen in vision must be subject to the laws of\n     _perspective._ One who views the snowy Alps from a distance\n     may see two mountain peaks, which really are many miles\n     apart, as one object. The illustration is imperfect; yet it\n     may serve to explain how, to the eye of a seer, a nearer\n     event may be blended with one that is _in the same\n     direction, but vastly more remote;_ the type, for instance,\n     melting into the antitype, or the interval between the\n     first and second advents of the Messiah being indiscernible.\n\n     (3.) It is, as a whole, _The Vision;_--_one_ vision. It\n     consists, indeed, of various parts; yet from the very\n     outset these represent the same _vision._ Judah _is\n     rebellious; is sentenced to exile; is redeemed; is\n     purified. These elements, on a large scale, compose the\n     book as a whole;_ and, on a smaller scale, they compose the\n     first chapter. The body is made up of portions similar in\n     quality to itself, and to each other. The visions are\n     greatly diversified in size, form, colouring, and other\n     detail; but in essential characteristics it is one\n     vision.--_Dr. Kay, in The Speaker's Commentary,_ vol. v. p.\n     19.\n\n\n\nTHE PROPHET OF THE LORD.\n\n     i. 1. _The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw\n     concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah,\n     Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah._\n\n+I. The nature of the prophet's endowment:+ a \"vision\" into the very\nheart of things, a power of distinguishing between the seeming and\nthe real. +II. The sadness and the joy of the prophet's life:+\nsadness arising from his \"vision\" of human sin (vers. 2-15); joy\narising from his \"vision\" of the wondrousness of the Divine mercy\n(ver. 18).\n\n_Application._--1. In these latter days the prophetic endowment, to a\ngreater or lesser extent, is possessed by all God's people (1 John\nii. 20). 2. The Church should pray that it may be possessed to the\nfullest extent by all who are called to minister in holy things.\nProphets of clear and penetrating \"vision\" are among the greatest\ngifts which God can confer upon the Church.[1] 3. This great\nendowment must be used not merely for the detection and exposure of\nhuman sin, lest we become cynical and inhuman, but also for the\ndiscovery of the abounding evidence of the Divine compassion (as in\nv. 9), that we may be brought into more perfect sympathy with Him who\nhates sin but desires and seeks to save the sinner.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES.\n\n [1] A preacher who is not in some way a seer is not a preacher\n     at all. You can never make people see religious realities\n     by correct definitions. They will not believe in the\n     reality of God on the word of a man who merely demonstrates\n     it to them. You must see such things yourself if you are\n     going to help others to see them. This is the secret of all\n     the preaching that ever was good since preaching\n     began.--_Beecher._\n\n\n\nPROPHECY THE VOICE OF GOD.\n\n     i. 2. _The Lord hath spoken._\n\nThus at the very outset of this book Divine authority is claimed for\nthe utterances contained in it. Three views may be taken of the\nwritings of the Hebrew prophets. 1. They are the writings of men who\nknew they were uttering that which is false when they claimed to be\nmessengers of the Most High. 2. They are the writings of enthusiasts\nwho mistook the ecstasies of their excited imaginations for Divine\ninspirations. 3. They are the writings of holy men who were inspired\nby the Holy Ghost.\n\nAgainst the first of these views is to be set the fact that the whole\ninfluence of the prophets was exerted on behalf of national\nrighteousness and individual virtue; that for these things they\nsuffered; that for these things some of them died. Is it credible\nthat men who _so_ sought to promote _such_ ends would begin and\ncontinue their mission with a blasphemous lie?\n\nAgainst the second is to be set the fact that many of their\npredictions have been fulfilled--fulfilled after intervals, so long,\nand with such minute accuracy, that sceptics have sought to account\nfor such fulfilments by asserting that the prophecies were written\nsubsequently to the events to which they refer; an assertion which\nthe most competent scholars repel even with contempt.\n\nThere remains then only the third view; and in support of it may be\nurged--in addition to the _conclusive_ fact just named--such\nconsiderations as these: 1. That their conceptions of God and of\nhuman duty are such as to satisfy the loftiest demands of the most\nenlightened reason and the best instructed conscience. Give examples\n(ch. xl. 12-26; lviii. 3-7, &c.) 2. That their conceptions of God and\nof human duty have not been surpassed by those of the sublimest poets\nor the ablest philosophers of any subsequent age. 3. That their\nsublime conceptions of God and of human duty, which still stand as\nthe Alps or Himalaya of human thought, were given to the world in an\nage when, with the exception only of the prophets and those who\naccepted their teaching, the whole human race was given over to the\nmost debasing idolatries and superstitions. 4. That the Hebrew\nprophets stood out in regard to these conceptions not only distinct\nfrom the men of their own age, but from the men of their own nation,\nfrom whom they had only words of rebuke, and against whose most\ncherished convictions and steadfast tendencies they set themselves in\nresolute opposition. Give examples (ch. i. 11-15; lxvi. 1, 2, &c.) If\ndue weight be given to these considerations, we shall see that there\nis no escape from the conclusion that the Hebrew prophets owed their\nconceptions of God and duty to God Himself. They spake and wrote as\nthey were moved by the Holy Ghost.\n\nIf this be so, then--1. We should earnestly study the prophetic\nutterances. How mentally as well as morally debased is the man who is\nnot alert and concerned to hear and understand what \"the LORD hath\nspoken\"! 2. Such of their utterances as are predictive should kindle\nwithin us confident and joyful hopes. They are the promises of Him\nwho cannot lie, and who has ample power to perform. 3. To those which\nare preceptive we should give prompt, comprehensive, and careful\nobedience. To withhold such obedience, is to array against ourselves\nomnipotent power; to yield it, is to secure for ourselves eternal\nrewards (ch. iii. 10, 11).\n\n\n\nAN APPEAL AND AN ARGUMENT.\n\n     i. 2, 3. _Hear, O heavens; and give ear, O earth: for the\n     Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children,\n     and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his\n     owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not\n     know, my people doth not consider._\n\n+I. The unnaturalness of sin.+ The heavens and the earth obey the\nlaws to which they have been subjected; the very beasts are faithful\nto their instincts; it is only man who falls in duty and goes astray.\n+II. The baseness of ingratitude:+ as displayed--1. By man to man;[1]\n2. By children to their parents;[2] 3. By men to their Heavenly\nFather.[3] +III. The reasonableness of God's claim to their obedience\nand love.+ 1. He is our Father.[4] 2. To all parental duties He has\nbeen faithful. 3. He has been more than faithful; He has caused our\ncup to run over with His lovingkindness.[5] +IV. Privilege is the\nmeasure of responsibility and the aggravation of guilt.+ The point of\nthe condemnation in these verses does not lie in the contrast between\nthe conduct of animals and men, but in the contrast between the\nconduct of animals and that of God's people. \"_Israel_ doth not know,\n_my people_ doth not consider!\" This is the wonder and the\nmonstrosity. That privilege is the measure of responsibility and the\naggravation of guilt, is a very familiar truth; a truth often\nforgotten; and yet absolutely certain and tremendously important\n(Luke xii. 48; Heb. vi. 7, 8). What need _we_ have to lay it to heart!\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1]    All should unite to punish the ungrateful:\n        Ingratitude is treason to mankind.--_Thomson._\n\n        He that's ungrateful has no guilt but one;\n        All other crimes may pass for virtues in him.--_Young._\n\n [2]    Sharper than a serpent's tooth it is\n        To have a thankless child.--_Shakespeare._\n\n [3] An ungracious soul may be burdened with many sins; but she\n     never makes up her full load till she hath added the sin of\n     unthankfulness. He leaves out no evil in a man who calls\n     him unthankful. Ingratitude dissolves the joints of the\n     whole world. A barren ground is less blamed, because it\n     hath not been dressed. But till it with the plough; trust\n     it with seed; let the clouds bless it with their rain, the\n     sun with his heat, the heavens with their influence, and\n     then if it be unfertile, the condition is worse; before it\n     was contemned, now it is cursed (Heb. vi. 8).--_Adams,_\n     1654.\n\n     Some are such brutes, that, like swine, their nose is\n     nailed to the trough in which they feed; they have not the\n     use of their understanding so far as to lift their eye to\n     heaven, and say, \"There dwells that God that provides this\n     for me, that God by whom I live.\"--_Gurnall._\n\n     You would count it a sad spectacle to behold a man in a\n     lethargy, with his senses and reason so blasted by his\n     disease that he knows not his nearest friends, and takes no\n     notice of those that tend him, or bring his daily food to\n     him. How many such senseless wretches are at this day lying\n     upon God's hands! He ministers daily to their necessities,\n     but they take no notice of His care and\n     goodness.--_Gurnall,_ 1617-1679.\n\n     The frozen snake in the fable stingeth him that refreshed\n     it. Thus is it with all unthankful men: God leadeth them\n     daily with benefits and blessings, and they load Him with\n     sins and trespasses.--_Stapleton,_ 1535-1598.\n\n [4] It is an excellent representation of St. Austin: if a\n     sculptor, after his fashioning a piece of marble in a human\n     figure, could inspire it with life and sense, and give it\n     motion and understanding and speech, can it be imagined not\n     the first act of it would be to prostrate itself at the\n     feet of the maker in subjection and thankfulness, and to\n     offer whatever it is, and can do, as homage to him? The\n     almighty hand of God formed our bodies. He breathed into us\n     the spirit of life, and should not the power of love\n     constrain us to live wholly to His will?--_Bates,_\n     1625-1629.\n\n [5]    We find the fiercest things that live,\n        The savage born, the wildly rue,\n        When soothed by Mercy's hand will give\n        Some faint response of gratitude.\n\n        But man!--oh! blush, ye lordly race!--\n        Shrink back, and question thy proud heart!\n        Dost thou not lack that thankful grace\n        Which ever forms the soul's best part?\n\n        Wilt thou not take the blessings given,\n        The priceless boon of ruddy health,\n        The sleep unbroken, peace unriven,\n        The cup of joy, the mine of wealth?\n\n        Wilt thou not take them all, and yet\n        Walk from the cradle to the grave\n        Enjoying, boasting, and forget\n        To think upon the God that gave?\n\n        Thou'lt even kneel to blood-stained kings,\n        Nor fear to have thy serfdom known;\n        Thy knee will bend for bauble things,\n        Yet fail to seek its Maker's throne.--_Eliza Cook_\n\n\n\nGOD'S INDICTMENT AGAINST ISRAEL.\n\n     i. 2-6. _Hear, O heavens, &c._\n\nGod sometimes speaks to man abruptly; when this is done, the truth\nexpressed demands the most profound attention. In our text the\nheavens and the earth are suddenly called to attend to what is about\nto be said; God is charging the human race with fearful wrongs; the\nmatter at issue is between the creature and Creator, child and\nParent. Our attention is called to--\n\n+I. The Fatherhood of God.+ \"I have nourished,\" &c. Divine paternity\nis a truth which runs through the whole Bible, here and there shining\nout with resplendent lustre, as in our text. The fatherhood of God\nwas manifested towards Israel--1. In _supply._ As it affected the\nJewish nation this declaration (I have nourished, &c.) pressed with\ntremendous force. Their supplies were marked by miracle, at least all\nthe time they were in the wilderness; and the utterance has weight\nto-day. All nature is made to minister to man's necessities. 2. In\n_guardianship._ \"Brought up children.\" This should have been\nsufficient to strike the ear as a thunderclap, seeing how far they\nhad strayed from Him. Out of a mean, despised, and enslaved people He\nhad developed a wealthy, mighty nation; and His guardianship reaches\nto all to-day. 3. In _defence._ The early history of these people was\none unbroken chain of Divine interpositions. From the first day Moses\nstood before the king, until they were fully established in\nPalestine, God's arm was stretched out to defend them. The blood on\nthe door-post, their sea-path, and the sea-grave of the Egyptians,\ntogether with the hovering cloud in the wilderness, all speak of\nstrong defence; and still there are evidences of defence in the life\nof every man.\n\n+II. The wickedness of man.+ Men are universally the same; as the\nfather so is the son, as the Jew so is the Gentile; and hence in this\nchapter we have a true picture of the whole human family. Let us mark\nsome of the many features of guilt: 1. _Degeneracy._ God bears with\nweaknesses and infirmities, but wilful backsliding He abhors. The\nJews were evil-doers; they went astray from God and all that was\ngood. It is the wilful sinning of men that now grieves Him.\n2. _Insensibility._ Wrong-doing is sure to produce wrong feeling, or,\nwhat is worse, no feeling at all. A sinful life results in a dark\nheart. Here is a people more insensible of good bestowed than the\nstupid ox or more stupid ass; and there are still persons to be found\nless acquainted with the source of their supplies than the dumb,\nunconscious brute.[1] 3. _Defiance._ They rebelled against God. Fear\nceased to check them, and hatred led them to bold, defiant deeds. The\nday was to them as the night, and oppression and murder were but\nsmall sins to be indulged in. So it is with many to-day; they have no\nshame, remorse, or compunction for sin, openly defying the living God.\n\n+III. The purpose of Divine chastisement.+ No true parent finds any\npleasure in chastising his children, and any pain inflicted without\npure motives would be an evil. God corrects--1. _To restrain from\nSin._ This explains much that happened to the Israelites, and also\nmuch that transpires in the history of all men. God sees the danger,\nthe leaning to wrong, and with Him prevention is better than cure.[2]\n2. _To show the consequences of sin._ Men profess to be practical,\nand wish to be practically dealt with; hence they say: \"Words are not\nenough; there must be blows.\" The transgressor must feel as well as\nhear, or he will run mad. God has always taught men that His laws are\nmore than mere word-rules; there is force in them, and he that breaks\nthem must suffer. 3. _To bring to Himself._[3] Hence we often hear\nHim say, \"Why will ye be stricken any more?\" Remonstrance always\nprecedes the lash to show His love and tenderness.--_Charles Jupe._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1]    The stall-fed ox, that is grown fat, will know\n        His careful feeder, and acknowledge too;\n        The generous spaniel loves his master's eye,\n        And licks his fingers though no meat be by;\n        But man, ungrateful man, that's born and bred\n        By Heaven's immediate power; maintained and fed\n        By His providing hand; observed, attended,\n        By His indulgent grace; preserved, defended,\n        By His prevailing arm; this man, I say,\n        Is more ungrateful, more obdure than they.\n        Man, O most ungrateful man, can ever\n        Enjoy Thy gift, but never mind the Giver;\n        And like the swine, though pampered with enough,\n        His eyes are never higher than the trough.--_Frances Quarles._\n\n [2] The consequences of sin are meant to warn from sin. The\n     penalty annexed to it is, in the first instance,\n     corrective, not penal. Fire burns the child, to teach it\n     one of the truths of this universe--the property of fire to\n     burn. The first time it cuts its hand with a sharp knife,\n     it has gained a lesson which it will never forget. Now, in\n     the case of pain, this experience is seldom, if ever, in\n     vain. There is little chance of a child forgetting that\n     fire will burn, and that sharp steel will cut; but the\n     moral lessons contained in the penalties annexed to\n     wrong-doing are just as truly intended to deter men from\n     evil, though they are by no means so unerring in enforcing\n     their application. The fever, in the veins and the headache\n     which succeed intoxication are meant to warn against\n     excess. On the first occasion they are simply corrective;\n     in every succeeding one they assume more and more a penal\n     character, in proportion as the conscience carries with\n     them the sense of ill-desert.--_F. W. Robertson,_ 1816-1853.\n\n [3] If a sheep stray from his fellows, the shepherd sets his\n     dog after it, not to devour it, but to bring it again: even\n     so our Heavenly Shepherd, if any of us, His sheep, disobey\n     Him, sets His dog of affliction after us, not to hurt us,\n     but to bring us home to consideration of our duty towards\n     Him.--_Cowdray._\n\n     As the child, fearing nothing, is so fond of his play that\n     he strays and wanders from his mother, not so much as\n     thinking of her; but if he be scared or frighted with the\n     sight or apprehension of some apparent or approaching\n     danger, presently runs to her, casts himself into her arms,\n     and cries out to be saved and shielded by her: so we,\n     securely enjoying the childish sports of worldly\n     prosperity, do so fondly dote on them that we scarce think\n     of our Heavenly Father; but when perils and dangers\n     approach, and are ready to seize upon us, then we flee to\n     Him, and cast ourselves into the arms of His protection and\n     providence, crying and calling to Him by earnest prayer for\n     help and deliverance in this our extremity and\n     distress.--_Downame,_ 1644.\n\n\n\nTHOUGHTLESSNESS.\n\n     i.3. _The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's\n     crib: but Israel doth not know, my people do not consider._\n\nIt is clear from this chapter that the Lord views the sin of mankind\nwith intense regret. Israel in this case is not so much a type of\nbelievers as a representative of sinners in general. The greatest\ndifficulty in the world is to make men think. Consider--\n\n+I. The common but serious fault here condemned.+ Men are most\ninconsiderate--1. Towards God;[1] 2. towards their own best\ninterests;[2] 3. towards the claims of justice and gratitude.[3]\n\n+II. Some things that make the commonness of this fault surprising.+\n1. Men live without consideration upon a matter in regard to which\nnothing but consideration will avail. Nothing can stand in lieu of\nthoughtfulness in religion. In regard to other matters we can employ\nothers to think for us. But in this matter we must think for\nourselves. Religion is a spiritual business, and if a man lives and\ndies refusing to consider, he has put away from him all hope of being\nsaved; for grace comes not into us by mechanical process, but the\nHoly Spirit works upon the mind and soul. 2. This inconsideration is\npractised in regard to a subject the consideration of which would be\nabundantly remunerative, and would lead to the happiest results.[4]\n\n+III. Some of the aggravations which attend it.+ 1. It is fallen into\nby those of whom better things might reasonably have been expected.\n\"_Israel_ doth not know, _my people_ doth not consider.\" It is not\nthe heathen who act more stupidly than the brutes, but those whom God\nhas called to Himself, on whom He has conferred light and knowledge,\n&c. 2. They have had their attention earnestly directed to the topics\nwhich they still neglect. 3. They have also been chastised, in the\ngracious endeavour to arouse them from their thoughtlessness. 4. Many\nof them are very zealous in regard to outward religion, as were those\nwhom the prophet rebuked. 5. They have been most earnestly and\naffectionately invited to turn to God by gracious promises (such as\nver. 18). 6. They have ability enough to consider other things.\n\n+IV. Some of the secret causes of this widespread fault.+ 1. In the\ncase of many thoughtless persons we must lay the blame to the sheer\n_frivolity of their nature_. 2. In every case the bottom reason is\n_opposition to God Himself_. 3. Upon some minds the tendency to\n_delay_ operates fearfully. 4. Some make an excuse for themselves for\nnot considering eternity, because _they are such eminently practical\nmen_. They are living for realities of the nature of hard case, and\nwill not be induced to indulge in fancies and notions.[5] 5. Many are\n_prejudiced,_ because some Christian professor has not lived up to\nhis profession, or they have heard something which is said to be the\ndoctrine of the gospel of which they cannot approve. 6. In most cases\nmen _do not like to trouble themselves,_ and they have an\nuncomfortable suspicion that if they were to look too narrowly into\ntheir affairs, they would find things far from healthy.[6]--_C. H.\nSpurgeon, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit,_ vol. xviii. pp. 373-384.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] One would pardon them if they forgot many minor things, and\n     neglected many inferior persons; but to be inconsiderate to\n     their Creator, to their Preserver, to Him in whose hand\n     their everlasting destiny is placed, this is a strange\n     folly as well as a great sin. Whoever a courtier may\n     neglect, he is sure to consider his king. Men when they\n     start their sons in business will bid them mind the main\n     chance, and attend to the principal point, and especially\n     take care to stand well with such a man who has the power\n     to help or to ruin them. Men, as a general rule, are far\n     too ready to seek the assistance of those who are in power,\n     and this makes it all the more strange that the\n     all-powerful God, who lifteth up and casteth down, should\n     be altogether forgotten, or, when remembered, should still\n     be dishonoured by mankind. If it were only because He is\n     great, and we are so dependent upon Him, one would have\n     thought that a rational man would have acquainted himself\n     with God, and been at peace; but when we reflect that God\n     is supremely good, kind, tender, and gracious, as well as\n     great, the marvel of man's thoughtlessness is much\n     increased. Every good man desires to be on good terms with\n     the good; unusual goodness wins admiration, and an\n     invitation to associate with the eminently excellent is\n     usually accepted with pleasure; yet in the case of the\n     thrice holy God, whose name is Love, it is not so. All\n     attractions are in the character of God, and yet man shuns\n     his Maker. If God were a demon, man could hardly be more\n     cold towards Him.--_Spurgeon._\n\n [2] When we ask men to attend to matters which do not concern\n     them, we are not astonished if they plead that they have no\n     time, and little thought to spare. If I were to address you\n     upon a matter which affected the interests of the dwellers\n     in the Dog-star, or had some relation to the inhabitants of\n     the moon, I should not marvel if you were to say, \"Go to\n     those whom it may concern, and talk to them; but as for us,\n     the matter is so remote, that we take no interest in it.\"\n     But how shall we account for it that man will not know\n     about himself, and wilt not consider about his own soul?\n     Any trifle will attract him, but he will not consider his\n     own immortality, or meditate upon the joy or the misery\n     that must be his portion. It is in very truth a miracle of\n     human depravity--what if I say insanity--that man should be\n     unmindful of his best self.--_Spurgeon._\n\n [3] I have known men who have said, \"Let the heavens fall, but\n     let justice be done:\" and they have scorned in their\n     dealings with their fellow-men to take any unrighteous\n     advantage, even though it were as little as the turning of\n     a hair. I have known some also who, if they were called\n     ungrateful, would indignantly spurn the charge. They would\n     count themselves utterly loathsome if they did not return\n     good to those who have done them good; and yet it may be\n     these very same persons have been throughout life unjust\n     towards God, and ungrateful towards Him to whom they owe\n     their being, and all that makes it endurable. The service,\n     the thankfulness, the love which are due to Him, they have\n     withheld.--_Spurgeon._\n\n [4] We should not marvel at men if they would not think upon\n     topics which made them unhappy; but albeit there are some\n     who have suffered frightful depression of spirits in\n     connection with true religion, yet its general and ultimate\n     fruit has ever been peace and joy through believing in\n     Christ Jesus, and even the exceptions could be easily\n     accounted for. In some melancholy spirits their godliness\n     is too shallow to make them happy; they breathe so little\n     of the heavenly air that they are distressed for want of\n     more. In others the sorrow occasioned by gracious\n     reflection is but a preliminary and passing stage of grace;\n     there must be a ploughing before there can be a harvest;\n     there must be medicine for the disease before health\n     returns, and the newly-awakened are just in the stage and\n     the condition of drinking bitter medicine. This will soon\n     be over, and the results will be most admirable. A great\n     cloud of witnesses, among whom we joyfully take our place,\n     bear witness to the fact that the ways of the Lord are ways\n     of pleasantness. Our deepest joy lies now in knowing God,\n     and considering Him.--_Spurgeon._\n\n [5] I only wish that those who profess to be practical were\n     more nearly so, for a practical man will always take more\n     care of his body than of his coat, certainly; then should\n     he not take more care of his soul than of the body, which\n     is but the garment of it? If he were a truly practical man,\n     he would do that. A practical man will always consider\n     matters in due proportion; he will not give all his mind to\n     a cricket-match and neglect his business. And yet how often\n     your practical man still more greatly errs; he devotes all\n     his time to money-making, and not a minute to the salvation\n     of his soul, and its preparation for eternity! Is this\n     practical? Why, sir, Bedlam itself is guilty of no worse\n     madness than that! There is not in all your wards a single\n     maniac who commits a more manifest act of insanity than a\n     man who spends all his force upon this fleeting life, and\n     lets the eternal future go by the board.--_Spurgeon._\n\n [6] They are like the bankrupt before the court the other day\n     who did not keep books. Not he. He did not know how his\n     affairs stood, and, moreover, he did not want to know; he\n     did not like his books, and his books did not like him. He\n     was going to the bad, and he therefore tried to forget it.\n     They say of the silly ostrich that when she hides her head\n     in the sand, and does not see her pursuers, she thinks she\n     is safe; that is the policy of many men. They spread their\n     sails, and get up the steam, and go with double speed\n     straight ahead. What, not look at the chart! No, they do\n     not want to know whether there are rocks and breakers\n     ahead. Arrest that captain, put him in irons, and find a\n     sane man to take charge of the vessel. Oh for grace to\n     arrest that folly which is the captain of your bark, and\n     put sound sense in command, or else a spiritual shipwreck\n     is certain.--_Spurgeon._\n\n\n\nINCONSIDERATENESS.\n\n     i. 3. _My people doth not consider._\n\n+I. Inconsiderateness is one of the commonest of all human\ncharacteristics.+[1] +II. While apparently a comparatively harmless\nthing, it is the source of nearly all the evils by which man is\nafflicted, and of the sins by which God is grieved and made\nangry.+--1. \"Presumptuous sins\" are comparatively rare. 2. Look at\nsome of the evils to which a want of consideration leads in the\nvarious spheres of life: educational, domestic, social, commercial,\npolitical, religious.[2]\n\nAPPLICATION.--1. _Cultivate the habit of considering the issues of\nvarious courses of conduct._ We should regard our thoughts, words,\nand actions as the farmer regards his seeds--as the germs of a future\nharvest; and we should remember that \"whatsoever a man soweth, that\nshall he also reap.\" This will lead to a wise caution in regard to\nthe seeds we sow. 2. _Consider the relations in which you now stand\nto Almighty God._ You _must_ be either a rebel, exposed to His\nvengeance, or a pardoned child, shielded by His love. Which is it?\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Silly man is like the foolish chickens, though the kite\n     comes and takes away many of their fellows, yet the rest\n     continue pecking the ground, never heeding their owner,\n     never minding their shelter. Death comes and snatches away\n     one man here, a second there; one before them, another\n     behind them, and they are killed by death, undone for ever;\n     yet they who survive take no warning, but persist in their\n     wicked, ungodly ways (Job. iv. 20, 21).--_Swinnock,_ 1673.\n\n     A plough is coming from the far end of a long field, and a\n     daisy stands nodding, and full of dew-dimples. That furrow\n     is sure to strike the daisy. It casts its shadow as gaily,\n     and exhales its gentle breath as freely, and stands as\n     simple and radiant and expectant as ever; and yet that\n     crushing furrow, which is turning and turning others in its\n     course, is drawing near, and in a moment it whirls the\n     heedless flower with sudden reversal under the sod! And as\n     is the daisy, with no power of thought, so are ten thousand\n     thinking sentient flowers of life, blossoming in places of\n     peril, and yet thinking that no furrow of disaster is\n     running in toward them--that no iron plough of trouble is\n     about to overturn them. Sometimes it dimly dawns upon us,\n     when we see other men's mischiefs and wrongs, that we are\n     in the same category with them, and that perhaps the storms\n     which have overtaken them will overtake us also. But it is\n     only for a moment, for we are artful to cover the ear, and\n     not listen to the voice that warns us of danger.--_Beecher._\n\n [2]    The wounds I might have healed!\n          The human sorrow and smart!\n        And yet it never was in my soul\n          To play so ill a part:\n        But _evil is wrought by want of thought,\n          As well as want of heart!_--_Hood._\n\n\n\nTHINGS TO BE CONSIDERED.\n\n     i. 3. _My people doth not consider._\n\nThe universe is regulated by fixed laws, by which God preserves and\ngoverns all things. Man is endowed with rational powers, intellectual\nfaculties, capable of apprehending these laws, whether they become\nknown to him by revelation or by his own discoveries, and of using\nthem as his guides. His well-being depends upon his harmony with\nthem, and his dignity and bliss on the right application of his\nmental powers. One of Satan's main stratagems is to endeavour to\nhinder him from using them aright; to induce him to act without\nforethought or reflection, and to incite him to act merely on\nimpulse, feeling, or passion.[1] As a result of these artifices, the\ngreat mass of mankind live without thought, and are borne in stupid\ninsensibility to the eternal world. Thus God complains of the\ninfatuation of Israel, \"My people doth not consider.\" To consider is\nto think deliberately, to reflect maturely. There are many subjects\nto which our consideration should be attentively and diligently\ngiven. We should consider--+I. The character and will of God.+ His\n_words_ should lead us to this. If you see a beautiful picture, or\npiece of sculpture or mechanism, you naturally direct your thoughts\nto the artist or mechanist who has produced it. The grandeur of the\ndivine works surrounds you, and ought you not to consider the\nwondrous Architect of the whole? His _relationship to you_ should\ninduce it. Your existence is derived from Him, and He fashioned you,\nand bestowed on you all your endowments. He is your Father, your\nbountiful Preserver. Besides, you are ever in His hand, ever before\nHis eyes, He surrounds you. And He is great, wise, powerful, holy,\nand just. His love and favour are heaven; His anger and frowns are\nhell. +II. Ourselves.+ What are we? What our powers? our\ncapabilities? our end and destination? the claims of God? our duties\nto others? the improvement we should make of the present? the\npreparation we should make for the future? Are we answering the end\nof our being? &c. +III. Our spiritual state before God.+ Is it one of\nignorance, or of knowledge? folly, or wisdom? guilt, or pardon?\ncondemnation or acceptance? alienation, or sonship and adoption?\nsafety, or imminent peril? Are we heirs of wrath or perdition, or of\nGod and salvation? +IV. The importance of life.+ Life is the seedtime\nfor eternity, the period of probation, the only opportunity of\nsecuring eternal blessedness. How short it is, how fragile, how\nuncertain! How criminal to waste it, to pervert it! &c. +V. The\nsolemnities of death+ (Deut. xxxii. 29). Consider its certainty, its\nprobable nearness, its truly awful character. Try to realise it.\nConsider if you were now dying, &c.[2] +VI. The great concerns of\neternity.+ The judgment-day. Heaven, with its eternal glories; hell,\nwith its everlasting horrors. Eternity itself, how solemn, how\noverwhelming! How blissful to the saint! how terrific to the sinner!\nETERNITY! +VII. That salvation which will fit us for living, dying,\nand for eternity.+ Provided by the mercy of God, obtained by the Lord\nJesus Christ, revealed in the gospel, offered to every sinner,\nreceived by simple faith, and which delivers from guilt, pollution,\nfear, and everlasting wrath. +VIII. Our present duty and interest.+\nMen are supposed to care naturally for these. But their care usually\nrelates merely to the body, and the things of time. Consider whether\nit is not your _duty_ to obey and serve God; whether it is not your\n_interest_ (1 Tim. iv. 8). +IX. That there is no substitute for\nreligion+ (Jer. ii. 13).\n\n_Application._--Urge consideration upon all present. 1. _Some have\nnever considered._ Now begin. Retire and reflect; weigh and consider\nthese things. 2. _Some have considered occasionally_--in church, or\nwhen sick, in the house of bereavement, &c. Cultivate the _habit_ of\nconsideration,[3] and carry into effect the conclusions to which you\nwill inevitably come. 3. _There is hope for all who will consider._\n4. _They are hopeless who will not consider._[4]--_Jabez Burns, D.D.,\nPulpit Cyclop\u00e6dia,_ vol. ii. pp. 34-37.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Satan doth his utmost, that sinners may not have any\n     serious thoughts of the miserable state they are in while\n     they are under his rule, or hear of anything from others\n     which might the least unsettle their minds from his\n     service. Consideration, he knows, is the first step to\n     repentance. He that doth not consider his ways what they\n     are, and whither they lead him, is not likely to change\n     them in haste. Israel stirred not until Moses came, and had\n     some discourse with them about their woful slavery and the\n     gracious thoughts of God towards them, and then they begin\n     to desire to be gone. Pharaoh soon bethought him what\n     consequence might follow upon him, and cunningly labours to\n     prevent it by doubling their task. \"Ye are idle, ye are\n     idle, therefore ye say, Let us go, and do sacrifice unto\n     the Lord. Go therefore and work.\" Thus Satan is very\n     jealous of the sinner, afraid every Christian that speaks\n     to him, or ordinance that he hears, will inveigle him. By\n     his good-will he should come at neither; no, nor have a\n     thought of heaven or hell from one end of the week to the\n     other, and that he may have as few as may be, he keeps him\n     full-handed with work. The sinner grinds, and he is filling\n     the hopper that the mill may not stand still. Ah, poor\n     wretch! was ever slave so looked to? As long as the devil\n     can keep thee thus, thou art his own sure enough. The\n     prodigal \"came to himself\" before he came to his father. He\n     considered with himself what a starving condition he was\n     in; his husks were poor meat, and yet he had not enough of\n     them; and how easily he might mend his commons if he had\n     but grace to go home and humble himself to his father! Now,\n     and not till now, he goes.--_Gurnall,_ 1616-1679.\n\n  [2]                         The sand of life\n        Ebbs fastly to its finish. Yet a little,\n        And the last fleeting particle will fall\n        Silent, unseen, unnoticed, unlamented.\n        Come, then, sad thought, and let us meditate,\n        While meditate we may. We have now\n        But a small portion of what men call time\n        To hold communion.--_H. K. White._\n\n  [3]   He sat within a silent cave, apart\n          From men, upon a chair of diamond stone;\n          Words he had not, companions he had none,\n        But steadfastly pursued his thoughtful art;\n        And as he mused he pulled a slender string\n          Which evermore within his hand he held;\n          And the dim curtain rose which had concealed\n        His thoughts, the city of the immortal king:\n        There, pictured in its solemn pomp, it lay\n          A glorious country stretching round about,\n          And through its golden gates passed in and out\n        Men of all nations, on their heavenly way.\n          On this he mused, and mused the whole day long,\n          Feeding his feeble faith till it grew strong.\n                                         --_George Craly._\n\n [4] No man is in so much danger as he who thinks there is no\n     danger. Why, when the bell rings, when the watchman rends\n     the air with cries of \"Fire! _Fire!_ FIRE!\" when in every\n     direction there is the pattering of feet on the sidewalk,\n     and when the engines come rattling up to the burning house,\n     one after another the inmates are awakened, and they rush\n     out; and they are safest that are most terrified, and that\n     suffer most from a sense of danger. One only remains\n     behind. He hears the tumult, but it weaves itself into the\n     shape of dreams, and he seems to be listening to some\n     parade, and soon the sounds begin to be indistinct in his\n     ear, and at length they cease to make any impression upon\n     him. During all this time he is inhaling the deadly gas\n     with which his apartment has become filled, gradually his\n     senses are benumbed, and finally he is rendered unconscious\n     by suffocation. And, in the midst of peril, and the thunder\n     of excitement, that man who is the least awake, and the\n     least frightened, is the very man that is most likely to be\n     burned up.--_Beecher._\n\n\n\nRELIGIOUS CONSIDERATION.\n\n     i. 3. _My people doth not consider._\n\nIn a former discourse we noticed that one of Satan's chief devices\nwas to keep men from consideration, and we referred to a variety of\nsubjects upon which it is important that we should reflect. We now\ncall your attention to _the true character of religious\nconsideration._\n\n+I. It should be serious and earnest.+ The subjects are too solemn\nand weighty to be hastily dismissed. It must not be a mere cursory\nsurvey, a rapid glance at these great concerns, but a careful,\ndeliberate contemplation of them; just as a prisoner about to be\ntried for a capital offence would consider his defence, or a wrecked\nmariner how he shall escape a watery grave, or a traveller how to\naccomplish some momentous journey or voyage. If it be done lightly\nand hastily, it will not profit us or please God. +II. It should be\nprayerful.+ The exercise will be irksome to the natural heart. We\nshall be disposed to give it up, or do it slightingly. The grace of\nGod alone can give the spirit necessary for the right discharge of\nit. Therefore begin, continue, and follow it out with prayer.\n+III. It should be pursued in connection with a diligent use of the\npublic means of grace.+ Hearken to the Divine Word as it is read in\nthe sanctuary, and to the preaching of the gospel, Christian\nconversation, &c. Consideration will not profit us if God's means and\nordinances are neglected. All are needful to the soul, as wind, sun,\nrain, and dew are all needful to the ripening of fruit. +IV. It\nshould be continued and persevering.+ Not too much to devote a\nportion of every day to it. The first and last moments would be thus\nprofitably exercised,[1] _and it must be followed out._[2]\n\nIn conclusion, notice +some reasons why you should consider.+\n1. _Because you have powers to do so._ God made you for this end,\nthat you should consider. In neglecting this, you despise your own\nsouls, you sink to below the level of the brute creation. They do\nanswer the end of their existence, and obey their several instincts.\n\"The ox knoweth his owner.\" Nearly every creature disposes of its\ntime and means wisely; but an inconsiderate man defaces the faculties\nwithin him. 2. _Because it is your duty._ God enjoins it--He urges,\nexpostulates. To neglect it is, therefore, to despise God and rebel\nagainst Him. 3. _It is essential to the possession of true religion._\nVarious are the ways in which God brings man to Himself; by a variety\nof instruments and means, but none without consideration. Manasseh in\nprison--Jonah in the belly of the whale--the prodigal in his misery,\n&c. It is the first great step towards saving religion. 4. _By\nprudent men, it is never neglected in worldly things._ In entering\nupon any contract, in buying and selling, in all business\nengagements, in all secular pursuits. We consider, in reference to\nthe body, our houses, food, and raiment, our families, &c. Are the\nsoul's eternal concerns the only things not deserving of it? 5. _God\nmay compel you to consider._ By bereaving you of the dearest objects\nof your hearts, by afflicting your bodies, by embittering all earthly\ngood. Is it not better to avoid these corrections, sorrows, and\ngriefs? 6. _You may consider when it is too late._ Perhaps on the\nverge of eternity, if not in eternity itself. The foolish virgins\nconsidered when the cry was heard: the rich man considered too late;\nthe wicked will consider in the great day of Christ's wrath, when\nthey cry to the rocks and hills, &c. The consideration of the lost in\neternity will be in vain--will be bitter beyond description--will be\neverlasting, and as horrible as it is durable. Therefore, consider\n_now,_ while consideration may yet profit you.--_Jabez Burns, D.D.,\nPulpit Cyclop\u00e6dia,_ vol. ii. pp. 37-39.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Make up your spiritual accounts daily; see how matters\n     stand between God and your souls (Ps. lxxvii. 6). Often\n     reckonings keep God and conscience friends. Do with your\n     heart as you do with your watch--wind it up every morning\n     by prayer, and at night examine whether it has gone true\n     all that day, whether the wheels of your affections have\n     moved swiftly toward heaven. Oh call yourself often to\n     account; keep your reckonings even, and that is the way to\n     keep your peace.--_Waters,_ 1696.\n\n [2] The end of all arts and sciences is the practice of them.\n     And as this is to be confessed in all other arts, so it\n     cannot be denied in divinity and religion, the practice\n     whereof doth in excellency surmount the knowledge and\n     theory, as being the main end whereunto it tends. For to\n     what purpose do men spend their spirits and tire their wits\n     in discerning the light of truth, if they do not use the\n     benefit of it to direct them in all their ways? (Ps.\n     cxix. 59.)--_Downame,_ 1642.\n\n\n\nINIQUITY A BURDEN.\n\n     i. 4. _A people laden with iniquity._\n\n_A very surprising description:_ \"A people laden with _iniquity._\" On\naccount of their punctilious and costly observance of the Mosaic\nritual (see vers. 11-15), the Jews imagined that they deserved the\ncommendation of Heaven; but God pronounced them to be \"a people laden\nwith iniquity.\" _Men_ often form very different estimates of the same\nthing; _e.g.,_ buyer and seller (Prov. xx. 14). There is often as\nmarked a difference between the divine and human estimates of\ncharacter (Luke xviii. 11; Rev. iii. 17). This is so because God and\nmen judge by different standards; men take into account only their\noccasional good actions; God judges by that feature of their\ncharacter which is predominant.[1] So judging, He condemned these\nmost \"religious\" Jews. What is His estimate of _us?_\n\n_A very instructive description:_ \"A people _laden_ with iniquity.\"\nThe conception is that of a nation that has gone on adding sin to\nsin, as a man gathering sticks in the forest adds fagot to fagot,\nuntil he staggers beneath the load; that which was eagerly sought\nafter becomes an oppressive burden. How true this is! There are many\nnational burdens; despotism, an incapable government, excessive\ntaxation, &c., but the worst and most oppressive of all is a nation's\niniquities.\n\nThe iniquities of a nation constitute a burden that impede it--1. _In\nits pursuit of material prosperity._ With what desperate intensity\nthis English nation toils! and for what end? Chiefly that it may\naccumulate wealth. How greatly it is impeded in this pursuit by its\ncostly government! But how much more by its costly vices! On strong\ndrink alone this nation expends a larger sum than the whole amount\nboth of imperial and local taxation--more than one hundred millions\nannually! Other vices that are nameless, how much they cost, and what\na hindrance they are to the nation in its pursuit of wealth! 2. _In\nits pursuit of social happiness._ What a crushing burden of sorrow\nthe nation's iniquities impose upon it! 3. _In its pursuit of moral\nand intellectual improvement._ According to a monkish legend, the\nchurch of St. Brannock's, in Braunton, Devon, could not be erected on\nits original site, because as fast as the builders reared up the\nwalls by day, by night the stones were carried away by invisible\nhands. A like contest goes on in our own land. The nation's virtues\nare toiling to elevate the national character morally and\nintellectually, using as their instruments the school, the church,\nthe press; but as fast as the virtues build, the vices pull down. In\nall these respects the nation's iniquities constitute its heaviest\nburden.\n\n_Consequently,_ 1. To give a legal sanction to vices, or to connive\nat what promotes them, for the sake of certain additions to the\nnational revenues, is suicidal folly of the grossest kind. 2. Those\nare the truest national benefactors who do most to abate the national\niniquities. The palm for truest patriotism must be awarded, not to\n\"active politicians,\" but to faithful preachers, Sunday-school\nteachers, temperance reformers, &c. 3. Vices of all kinds should be\nbranded, not only as sins against God, but as treasons against\nsociety; and all good men should, in self-defence, as well as in a\nspirit of enlightened patriotism, band themselves together for their\noverthrow. That is a mistaken spirituality which leads some good men\nto leave imperial and local affairs in the hands of the worldly and\nthe vicious. We are bound to labour as well as to pray that God's\nwill may be done \"on earth as it is in heaven,\" and that \"His\nkingdom\" may come in our own land.[2]\n\nThat which is true of nations is true also of individuals; the\nheaviest burdens which men can take upon themselves are vices. Vices\nlay upon men a burden--1. _Of expense._ Even so-called \"indulgences\"\nare costly; many professing Christians spend more annually on tobacco\nthan they give to the cause of missions. Vices keep millions poor all\ntheir lives.[3] 2. _Of discredit._ 3. _Of sorrow,_ clouding all the\npresent. 4. _Of fear,_ darkening all the future.\n\nThere is this terrific feature about the burden of iniquity--there is\nnone so hard to be got rid of. It is hard to inspire a nation or a\nman with the desire to get rid of it. How nations and men hug their\nvices, notwithstanding the miseries they entail! It is still harder\nto accomplish the desire! Society is full of men who stagger and\ngroan under this burden, from which they strive in vain to free\nthemselves. In them the fable of Sinbad, unable to rid himself of the\nold man who he has taken upon his shoulders, has a melancholy\nrealisation. These men feel themselves to be helpless, and their case\nwould indeed be hopeless were it not that God has laid help for us on\nOne who is mighty to save. Cry to Him, ye burdened ones, and obtain\nrelease!\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Men are to be estimated, as Johnson says, by the mass of\n     character. A block of tin may have a grain of silver, but\n     still it is tin; and a block of silver may have an alloy of\n     tin, but still it is silver. The mass of Elijah's character\n     was excellence; yet he was not without the alloy. The mass\n     of Jehu's character was base; yet he had a portion of zeal\n     which was directed by God to great ends.--_Cecil._\n\n [2] As Christians are to think of living for awhile in the\n     world, it is not unreasonable for them to be affected with\n     its occurrences and changes. Some plead for a kind of\n     abstracted and sublimated devotion, which the circumstances\n     they are placed in by their Creator render equally\n     impractical and absurd. They are never to notice the\n     affairs of government, or the measures of administration;\n     war, or peace; liberty, or slavery; plenty, or\n     scarcity,--all is to be equally indifferent to them; they\n     are to leave these carnal and worldly things to others. But\n     have they not bodies? Have they not families? Is religion\n     founded on the ruins of humanity? When a man becomes a\n     Christian, does he cease to be a member of civil society?\n     Allowing that he be not the owner of the ship, but only a\n     passenger in it, has he nothing to awaken his concern in\n     the voyage? If he be only a traveller towards a better\n     country, is he to be told that because he is at an inn\n     which he is soon to leave, it should not excite any emotion\n     in him whether it be invaded by robbers or consumed by\n     flames before the morning? In the peace thereof ye shall\n     have peace; and are not Christians to provide things honest\n     in the sight of all men? Are they to detach themselves\n     while here from the interests of their fellow-creatures; or\n     to rejoice with them that rejoice, and weep with them that\n     weep? Is our religion various affected by public\n     transactions? Can a Christian, for instance, be indifferent\n     to the cause of freedom, even on a pious principle? Does\n     not civil liberty necessarily include religion? and is it\n     not necessary to the exertions of ministers, and the\n     spreading of the gospel?--_Jay._\n\n [3] \"What are you going to take that for?\" said an old labourer\n     to a young one who was about to drink a glass of ale. \"To\n     make me work,\" was the reply. \"Yes,\" answered the old man,\n     \"you are right; that is just what it will do for a\n     certainty: I began to drink ale when I was about your age,\n     and it has made me work until now!\"\n\n\n\nTRANSMITTED DEPRAVITY.\n\n     i.4. _A seed of evil-doers, children that are corrupters._\n\nTransmitted depravity is--+I. A doctrine of Scripture. II. A fact in\nhuman life.+[1] _Application_--1. God will not fail to make\nallowance for it in dealing with us. 2. We should make allowance for\nit in judging our fellow-men. Our censures should be mingled with\ncompassion. 3. By self-restraint and a life of virtue we should\nendeavour as far as it is possible to cut off from our children this\nand entail. A bias towards good may be transmitted as a bias towards\nevil.[2] 4. In the _education_ of our children, we should be\nespecially solicitous to check and prevent the development of the\nfaults we have transmitted to them, that so, though they are \"a seed\nof evil-doers,\" they may not themselves be \"corrupters.\"\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] As colour and favour, and proportion of hair and face and\n     lineament, and as disease and infirmities of the body, so,\n     commonly, the liabilities and dispositions and tempers of\n     the mind and affections become hereditary, and run in the\n     blood. An evil bird hatches an evil egg, and one viper will\n     breed a generation of vipers. Most sins pass along from the\n     father to the son, and so downward, by a kind of lineal\n     descent, from predecessors to posterity, and that for the\n     most part with advantage and increase, whole families being\n     tainted with the special vices of their stock. John the\n     Baptist speaks of \"a generation of vipers;\" and if we\n     should but observe the condition of some families in a long\n     line of succession, might we not espy here and there even\n     whole generations of drunkards, and generations of\n     swearers, and generations of idolaters, and generations of\n     worldlings, and generations of seditious, and of envious,\n     and of riotous, and of haughty, and of unclean persons, and\n     of sinners in other kinds.--_Sanderson,_ 1587-1662.\n\n     Original or birth sin is not merely a doctrine in religion,\n     it is a fact in man's world acknowledged by all, whether\n     religious or not. Let a man be providing for an unborn\n     child: in case of distribution of worldly property, he will\n     take care to bind him by conditions and covenants which\n     shall guard against his fraudulently helping himself to\n     that which he is to hold for or to apportion to another. He\n     never saw that child; he does not know but that child may\n     be the most pure and perfect of men; but he knows it will\n     not be safe to put temptation in his way, because he knows\n     he will be born in sin, and liable to sin, and sure to\n     commit sin.--_Alford,_ 1810-1871.\n\n [2] While children are the children of Christian parents, as\n     _they_ were children of Christian parents, the presumptions\n     are that they will turn out right; not without parental\n     training, but, that being implied, the presumptions are\n     that they will, by the force of natural law, tend in that\n     direction. All the presumptions are that the children of\n     moral and sensible parents will become moral and sensible.\n     Only the grossest neglect and the most culpable exposure to\n     temptation will overrule the presumption and likelihood\n     that the children of good parents will be good. There may\n     be opposing influences; there may be temptations and\n     perversions that shall interrupt the natural course of\n     things; but this does not invalidate the truth that there\n     is a great law by which like produces like. And I say that\n     under this law the Christian parent has a right to this\n     comforting presumption--\"My children have all the chances\n     in their favour by reason of the moral constitution which\n     they have inherited.\"\n\n     I know multitudes of families in which the moral element is\n     hereditary; and it is not surprising that the children of\n     these families are moral. Moral qualities are as\n     transmissible as mental traits or physical traits. The same\n     principle applies to every part of the human constitution.\n     And where families have been from generation to generation\n     God-fearing, passion-restraining, truth-telling, and\n     conscience-obeying, the chances are ninety-nine in every\n     hundred in favour of the children.--_Beecher._\n\n\n\nFORSAKING THE LORD.\n\n     i. 4. _They have forsaken the Lord._\n\nHow many souls are guilty of forsaking the Lord? They forsake Him by\nyielding to what are called \"little sins.\"[1] Then they are further\nremoved from Him by habitual wickedness.\n\n+I. This conduct is surprising.+ Is it not most surprising that men\nshould forsake the great God, their Creator and Benefactor? He is\nall-powerful. He is all-wise. He is all-loving. The soul cannot have\na better helper in difficulty, or a truer and wiser friend in sorrow.\nFrom the Godward aspect of the case nothing is more surprising than\nthat men should forsake God; but from the manward aspect of things\nthis is not surprising, for man is carnal, and the carnal mind is\nenmity against God. Satan draws the soul from God. It chases a\nphantom into the great darkness, and finds in the end that it has\nwandered from the Infinite Being.\n\n+II. This conduct is criminal.+ We should esteem it criminal to\nforsake a parent, to forsake a benefactor, to forsake a master. But\nthis offence is small compared to that of the soul when it wanders\nfrom the Lord. It exhibits _insubordination._ It rejects the Supreme\nMoral Ruler of the universe. It exhibits _ingratitude._ It forsakes\nits Redeemer. It exhibits _folly,_ for away from Christ the soul\ncannot obtain true rest.\n\n+III. This conduct is inexcusable.+ The soul can give no true reason,\nor valid excuse, for such unholy conduct. The Lord has dealt\nbountifully with it, and therefore it has no ground of complaint. He\nis attractive in character. He is winning in disposition. He is\nkindly in the discipline of life. He gives holy influences to draw\nthe soul to Himself. Hence man has no excuse for forsaking God.\n\n+IV. This conduct is common.+ The world of humanity has forsaken God.\nOne by one souls are returning, and are being welcomed to Christ and\nto heaven. Many agencies are at work for the return of souls to the\nheavenly kingdom. Let us seek to make them efficient. Let us pray\nthat they may be successful. Have you forsaken God?--_J. S. Exell._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] There is many a man who evinces, for a time, a steadfast\n     attention to religion, walking with all care in the path of\n     God's commandments, &c., but who, after awhile, declines\n     from spirituality, and is dead, though he may yet have a\n     name to life. But how does it commonly happen that such a\n     man falls away from the struggle for salvation? Is it\n     ordinarily through some one powerful and undisguised\n     assault that he is turned from the faith, or over one huge\n     obstacle that he falls not to rise again? Not so. It is\n     almost invariably through little things. He fails to take\n     notice of little things, and they accumulate into great. He\n     allows himself in little things, and thus forms a strong\n     habit. He relaxes in little things, and thus in time\n     loosens every bond. Because it is a little thing, he counts\n     it of little moment, utterly forgetting that millions are\n     made up of units, that immensity is constituted of atoms.\n     Because it is only a stone, a pebble, against which his\n     foot strikes, he makes light of the hindrance; not caring\n     that he is contracting a habit of stumbling, or of\n     observing that whenever he trips there must be some\n     diminution in the speed with which he runs the way of God's\n     commandments, and that, however slowly, these diminutions\n     are certainly bringing him to a stand.\n\n     The astronomer tells us, that, because they move in a\n     resisting medium, which perhaps in a million of years\n     destroys the millionth part of their velocity, the heavenly\n     bodies will at length cease from their mighty march. May\n     not, then, the theologian assure us that little roughnesses\n     in the way, each retarding us, though in an imperceptible\n     degree, will eventually destroy the onward movement,\n     however vigorous and direct it may at one time have seemed?\n     Would to God that we could persuade you of the peril of\n     little offences! We are not half as much afraid of your\n     hurting the head against a rock, as of your hurting the\n     foot against a stone. There is a sort of continued\n     attrition, resulting from our necessary intercourse with\n     the world, which of itself deadens the movements of the\n     soul; there is, moreover, a continued temptation to yield\n     in little points, under the notion of conciliating; to\n     indulge in little things, to forego little strictnesses, to\n     omit little duties; and all with the idea that what looks\n     so light cannot be of real moment. And by these littles,\n     thousands, tens of thousands, perish. If they do not come\n     actually and openly to a stand, they stumble and stumble\n     on, getting more and more careless, nearer and nearer to\n     indifference, lowering the Christian standards, suffering\n     religion to be peeled away by inches, persuading themselves\n     that they can spare without injury such inconsiderable\n     bits, and not perceiving that in stripping the bark they\n     stop the sap.--_Melvill._\n\n\n\nMORAL OBDURACY.\n\n     i. 5. _Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt\n     more and more._\n\n+I. The danger of despising the Divine chastisements.+ Heedlessness\ndestroys the very power of taking heed. +II. The terribleness of the\npeace which is often the portion of the wicked.+ Like the cessation\nof pain in a sick man, which indicates that mortification has set in,\nit may be only a sign that God has given them up as irreclaimable\n(Hos. iv. 17).[1] +III. The folly of expecting sanctification as the\ninevitable result of suffering.+ Contrary to the expectation of the\nUniversalists, the sufferings of the lost may only confirm them in\ntheir impenitence (Rev. ii. 9, 11, 21).[2]\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] While God visits us at all, it is a sign He thinks of us.\n     The present life is not the time for punishment devoid of\n     mercy. While the debtor is on his way to prison, he may\n     agree with his adversary, and escape the messenger's hands.\n     While the sick man feels pain, there is vitality and\n     activity in his constitution, and he may recover. And\n     therefore I think it must be a terrible thing to have one's\n     perdition sealed; to have the process already closed; both\n     depositions and sentence, and laid up in God's chancery, as\n     an irreversible doom, and so him who is its object troubled\n     no further, but allowed the full choice of his\n     pleasures,--as one permits a man, between sentence and\n     execution, his choice of viands, in full certainty that\n     when his hour hath tolled the terrible law will take its\n     course. How smoothly glides along the boat upon the wide,\n     unruffled, though most rapid stream that hurries it onward\n     to the precipice, over which its waters break in thunder!\n     How calm, and undisturbed by the smallest ripple, slumbers\n     its unreflecting steersman! Or for one rock in the midst of\n     its too smooth channel, against which it may be dashed and\n     whirled about, to shake him from this infatuated sleep! It\n     is the only hope that remains for him. Woe to him if to the\n     end his course be pleasant! That end will pay it\n     all!--_Wiseman._\n\n [2] Afflictions leave the wicked worse, more impenitent,\n     hardened in sin, and outrageous in their wicked practices.\n     Every plague on Egypt added to the plague of hardness on\n     Pharaoh's heart; he that for some while could beg prayers\n     of Moses for himself, at last comes to that pass that he\n     threatens to kill him if he come to him any more. Or, what\n     a prodigious height do we see some come to in sin after\n     some great sickness or other judgment! Oh, how grossly and\n     ravenous are they after their prey, when once they got off\n     their clog and chain from their heels! When physic works\n     not kindly, it doth not only leave the disease uncured, but\n     the poison of the physic stays in the body also. Many\n     appear thus poisoned by their afflictions.--_Gurnall,_\n     1617-1679.\n\n     Trust not in any unsanctified afflictions, as if these\n     could permanently and really change the condition of your\n     heart. I have seen the characters of the writing which the\n     flames had turned into a film of buoyant coal; I have seen\n     the thread which has been passed through the fire retain,\n     in its cold grey ashes, the twist it had got in spinning; I\n     have found every shivered splinter of the flint as hard as\n     the unbroken stone: and let trials come, in Providence,\n     sharp as the fire and ponderous as the crushing hammer,\n     unless a gracious God send along with these something else\n     than these, bruised, broken, bleeding as thy heart may be,\n     its nature remains the same.--_Guthrie._\n\n\n\nNEEDLESS STRIPES.\n\n     i. 9. _Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt\n     more and more._\n\n\nThat sin should not go unpunished is a law of our own hearts, and it\nis a law of God. Punishment is intended to be remedial;[1] but\nremedies that are intended to cure sometimes irritate, and God's\nremedies may act in two ways--they may make a man better, or they may\nmake him worse.[2] There are those who \"kick against the pricks,\" and\nas the result of afflictions which their own sins have brought upon\nthem, become desperate. Chastisement is then of no further use, and\nlike a father weary of correcting the child who has proved\nirreformable, God may say, \"Why should,\" &c. (Hos. iv. 17). Terrible\nmeaning, then, may lurk in these words: they may speak of that state\nin the sinner's career when his moral malady has become incurable,\nwhen the Good Physician feels that His severest and most searching\nremedies are of no avail, when God withholds His hand, and says, \"He\nthat is filthy, let him be filthy still.\"[3] So some here understood\nthese words.\n\nBut a more gracious meaning may be contained in them; they may be the\nfirst note of that tender Divine invitation which is fully expressed\nin ver. 18. For mark, God begins here to reason with men,--bids them\nlook at themselves, their situation, the fatal folly of sinning when\nsin brings its own sure punishment. What need of these disasters?\nNote: the first aim of the Gospel is to make the sinner understand\nthat sin and its torments are alike of his own seeking; repentance\ncannot come until he feels this.\n\nThese words may then be regarded as implying--+I. That there is no\ninherent necessity that sinners should continue to be stricken.+\n1. There is no reason _in the nature of God_ (Ezek. xviii. 23). God\nis love. Love may ordain laws for the general security and safety,\nthe breaking of which may be attended with terrible consequences; but\nyet God has no delight when these consequences overwhelm the\ntransgressor. He pities even while He punishes, and is on the outlook\nfor the very first beginnings of penitence, that He may stay His\nhand.[4] 2. There is no reason _in the nature of man._ As man is not\nimpelled by any inherent necessity to sin, but in every sin acts by\ndeliberate choice, so neither is he compelled to repeat his\ntransgressions. Even when he has done wrong, his consciousness\ntestifies that he might have done right, and it is precisely on this\naccount that his conscience condemns him! +II. That a way of avoiding\nthe merited punishment is open.+ We know what that way is. The\nprophet saw it afar off, and rejoiced (ver. 18; ch. liii. 5, 6). \"Why\nshould ye be stricken any more,\" when Christ has been stricken for\nyou? The way of reconciliation is open: avail yourselves of it with\npatience, with thankful joy!--But if men despise the offered grace,\nlet them know that when the doom from which they _would not_ be\ndelivered comes crashing down upon them, they will neither have nor\nmerit any pity. Even the Angel of Mercy will answer them, \"Ye have\ndestroyed yourselves!\"--_W. Baxendale._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] When Almighty God, for the merits of His Son, not of any\n     ireful mind, but of a loving heart towards us, doth correct\n     and punish us, He may be likened unto a father; as the\n     natural father first teacheth his dear beloved child, and\n     afterwards giveth him warning, and then correcteth him at\n     last, even so the Eternal God assayeth all manner of ways\n     with us. First He teacheth us His will through the\n     preaching of His Word, and giveth us warning. Now if so be\n     that we will not follow Him, then He beateth us a little\n     with a rod, with poverty, sickness, or with other\n     afflictions, which should be esteemed as nothing else but\n     children's rods, or the wands of correction. If such a rod\n     will not do any good, and his son waxeth stubborn, then\n     taketh the father a whip or a stick, and beateth him till\n     his bones crack; even so, when we wax obstinate, and care\n     neither for words nor stripes, then sendeth God unto us\n     more heavy and universal plagues. All this He doth to drive\n     us unto repentance and amendment of our lives. Now truth it\n     is, that it is against the father's will to strike his\n     child; he would much rather do him all the good that ever\n     he could. Even so certainly, when God sendeth affliction\n     upon our necks, there lieth hidden under that rod a\n     fatherly affection. For the peculiar and natural property\n     of God is to be loving and friendly, to heal, to help, and\n     to do good to His children, mankind.--_Wermullerus,_ 1551.\n\n     The surgeon must cut away the rotten and the dead flesh,\n     that the whole body be not poisoned, and so perish; even so\n     doth God sometimes plague our bodies grievously, that our\n     souls may be preserved and healed. How deep soever God\n     thrusteth His iron into our flesh, He doeth it only to heal\n     us; and if it be so that He kill us, then will He bring us\n     to the right life. The physician employeth one poison to\n     drive out another; even so God in correcting us useth the\n     devil and wicked people, but yet all to do us\n     good.--_Wermullerus,_ 1551.\n\n [2] Sorrow is in itself a thing neither good nor bad; its value\n     depends on the spirit of the person on whom it falls. Fire\n     will inflame straw, soften iron, or harden clay; its\n     effects are determined by the object with which it comes in\n     contact. Warmth develops the energies of life, or helps the\n     progress of decay. It is a great power in the hothouse, a\n     great power also in the coffin; it expands the leaf,\n     matures the fruit, adds precocious vigour to vegetable\n     life; and warmth, too, develops with tenfold rapidity the\n     weltering process of dissolution. So, too, with sorrow.\n     There are spirits in which it develops the seminal\n     principle of life; there are others in which it prematurely\n     hastens the consummation of irreparable decay.--_F. W.\n     Robertson._\n\n [3] As long as the physician hath any hope of the recovery of\n     his patient, he assayeth all manner of means and medicine\n     with him, as well sour and sharp as sweet and pleasant; but\n     as soon as ever he beginneth to doubt of his recovery, he\n     suffereth him to have whatever himself desireth. Even so\n     the heavenly Physician, as long as He hath any hope to\n     recover us, will not always suffer us to have what we most\n     desire; but as soon as He hath no more hope of us, then He\n     suffereth us for a time to enjoy all our own\n     pleasure.--_Wermullerus,_ 1551.\n\n [4] It is harder to get sin felt by the creature, than the\n     burden, when felt, removed by the hand of a forgiving God.\n     Never was tender-hearted surgeon more willing to take up\n     the vein, and bind up the wound of his fainting patient,\n     when he hath bled enough, than God is by His pardoning\n     mercy to cast the troubled spirit of a mourning\n     penitent.--_Gurnall,_ 1617-1679.\n\n\n\nTOTAL DEPRAVITY.\n\n     i. 5-8. _The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.\n     From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no\n     soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying\n     sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither\n     mollified with ointment. Your country is desolate, your\n     cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour in\n     your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by\n     strangers. And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in\n     a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a\n     besieged city._\n\nBy these powerful figures the prophet sets forth the moral corruption\nand its impending calamities of the people to whom he ministered.\n[Note that in vers. 7, 8, the prophet speaks as if the future were\nalready present; so clear and vivid is his view of it.] +I. A whole\nnation may become morally corrupt.+ Vice may defile and degrade all\nclasses of society. +II. The natural tendency of national corruption\nis not to abate, but to spread and increase.+ Vices are \"_putrefying_\nsores.\" As in the body physical a disease or wound in one member may\npoison the whole body, so in the body politic the vice of any one\nclass tends to spread through all society.--These two considerations\nshould lead us--1. _To pray constantly and earnestly for our\ncountry._ \"Christian England\" left to itself, and unrestrained by\nDivine grace and mercy, would soon become as Sodom and Gomorrah.\n2. _Not to be selfishly indifferent to the sins of the classes of\nsociety to which we do not happen to belong._ This were as foolish as\nit would be for a man to give no heed to the fact that his\nneighbour's house was on fire, in forgetfulness or the other fact\nthat fire spreads; or as if in the body the head were indifferent to\nthe fact that the foot had received a poisoned wound. 3. _To put\nforth earnest efforts for the repression of public vices._ Mere\npassive reprobation of them will be of no avail. Nor can we\nreasonably hope that time will abate and lessen them. No; these\n\"sores\" are _\"putrefying;\"_ and if the body politic is ever to be\nrestored to moral health, they must be \"closed, bound up, and\nmollified with ointment.\" In some cases this \"ointment\" must be moral\nsuasion, in other cases legal coercion. This principle is already\nrecognised in regard to cockfighting, the sale of indecent books and\npictures, &c. +III. In a modified sense, the declarations of our text\nare true of every human being.+ The doctrine of \"total depravity\" has\nbeen preached in such a manner as to discredit it, and statements\nhave been made in exposition of it which would imply that every child\ncomes into the world as wicked as Nero left it (not only depraved in\nevery faculty, but in every faculty totally depraved!) This\nrepresentation of the doctrine is contrary both to Scripture (2 Tim.\niii. 13; 1 Pet. iv. 4, &c.) and to fact. But our rejection of this\nexaggerated form of it must not lead us to reject the doctrine\nitself. Our whole personality has been \"depraved\"--debased and\ndeteriorated--by sin; the whole man--his affections, passions,\nunderstanding, reason, imagination, and will--has been impaired by\nthe \"fall;\" just as by certain diseases _all_ the functions of the\nbody are disordered.[1] The natural tendency of this inborn\ncorruption is not to lessen with increasing years, but to intensify;\nas a matter of fact, _aged_ sinners are always the vilest and most\nmalignant. These facts--1. _Disclose man's need of a redemptive power\nexternal to himself._ Our moral corruption is not like one of those\nminor diseases which are best left to \"nature;\" it is like a cancer\nor a malignant fever--if it is left to run its course, it will kill\nus. There is in us no _vis medicatrix_ capable of overcoming and\nexpelling it. If we are to be restored to moral soundness, it must be\nby a Power external to us. 2. _Should lead us to accept with\ngratitude the proffered help of the Great Healer._ We all need His\nhelp. Without it we shall grow worse day by day. His help will avail\nfor us, however desperate may be our case; as it was in the days of\nHis flesh physically, so it is now morally and spiritually (Matt.\niv. 23, 24; xiv. 36). +IV. Moral depravity brings on physical\nmisery.+ The desolation set forth in vers. 7, 8, was the natural\nconsequence of the depravity denounced in vers. 5, 6. By an\neverlasting and most righteous decree a bad character and a bad\ncondition are linked together, and can be only for a very little\nwhile disassociated. This is true both of nations and individuals.\nSin inevitably leads to sorrow. Of this fact we have ten thousand\nevidences in this present world. Hence also the realm of unrelieved\nwickedness in the realm of unmitigated woe. Were man always\nreasonable beings, the fearfulness and the certainty of the\nconsequences of sin would be sufficient and prevailing arguments for\nrepentance and amendment of life. Let them prevail with us (Ezek.\nxviii. 30, 21).\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] It is not only the inferior powers of the soul which this\n     plague of sin has seized, but the contagion has ascended\n     into the higher regions of the soul. The most supreme, most\n     spiritual faculty in man's mind, the understanding power of\n     man, is corrupted, and needs renewing. To a carnal\n     understanding not enlightened by the Word, this always has\n     been and is the greatest paradox. Indeed, when blind\n     reason, which thinks it sees, is judge, it is not strange\n     that this corruption of the understanding should be a\n     wonder to it. The reason, being the supreme faculty of all\n     the rest, which judges all else, and is judged by none but\n     itself, because of its nearness to itself, it least\n     discerns itself. As a man's eye, though it may see the\n     deformity of another member, yet not the bloodshot that is\n     in itself, but it must have a glass by which to discern it.\n     And so, though even corrupt nature discerns the rebellions\n     of the affections and sensual part of man by its own light,\n     as the heathens did, and complained thereof, yet it cannot\n     discern the infection and defilement that is in the spirit\n     itself, but the glass of the Word is the first that\n     discovers it; and when that glass is also brought, there\n     had need by an inward light of grace, which is opposite to\n     this corruption, to discover it.--_T. Goodwin,_ 1600-1679.\n\n\n\nGOD'S RELUCTANCE TO PUNISH.\n\n     i. 9. _Except the Lord of hosts had left us a very small\n     remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have\n     been like unto Gomorrah._\n\nGod had humbled His people because of their transgressions, but He\nhad not utterly destroyed them, as He might have done in strict\njustice. This reminds us--1. That the punishments that befall wicked\nmen in this world frequently fall short of their deserts. 2. That\nthis disproportion between guilt and chastisement occurs because God\nis not so much concerned to punish sin as to reclaim sinners. God\nchastises, in the first instance, that He may correct, and it is with\nreluctance that He increases the severity of His strokes.[1]\n\nThese facts should lead us--1. _To adore the divine benignity._ How\nworthy of our love and worship is this God who is no mere vindictive\navenger of broken law, but a loving Father who chastens us, not for\nHis pleasure, but for our profit! 2. _To gratefully acknowledge the\nmercy that has mingled with the judgments which our sins have drawn\ndown upon us_ (Lam. iii. 10).[2] 3. _To shrink with abhorrence from\nany abuse of the divine long-suffering._ The fact that God is so\nreluctant to punish, instead of encouraging us in rebellion, should\nincite us to prompt and loving obedience. Nothing can be more _base_\nthan to \"turn the grace of God into lasciviousness;\" and nothing\ncould be more dangerous[3] (Prov. xxix. 1).\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] See note [1] from outline \"Needless Stripes,\" page 18.\n\n [2] If in an affliction we would pour forth to God such\n     acceptable prayers as may obtain comfort in our crosses and\n     deliverance from all our calamities, we must confess our\n     sins, and humbly acknowledge that we deserve to be\n     overwhelmed with much more heavy plagues and punishments.\n     And so the Lord will excuse us when we accuse ourselves,\n     remit our sins when we remember them, and absolve us from\n     punishment when in all humility we acknowledge that we have\n     justly deserved the fearfullest of His plagues. For if we,\n     who have but a little of the milk of mercy, are moved with\n     compassion when either our sons or our servants acknowledge\n     their faults, and offer themselves of their own accord to\n     suffer that punishment which they have deserved, how can we\n     doubt that God, whose love and mercy towards us are\n     infinite and incomprehensible, will be pitiful and ready to\n     forgive us when He sees us thus humbled?--_Downame,_ 1644.\n\n [3] Take heed of abusing this mercy of God. Suck not poison out\n     of the sweet flower of God's mercy: do not think that\n     because God is merciful you may go on in sin; this is to\n     make mercy your enemy. None might touch the Ark but the\n     priests, who by their office were more holy: none may touch\n     the ark of God's mercy but such as are received to be holy.\n     He that sins because of mercy shall have judgment without\n     mercy. Mercy abused turns to fury (Deut. xxix. 19, 20).\n     \"The mercy of the Lord is upon them that fear Him.\" Mercy\n     is not for them that sin and fear not, but for them that\n     fear and sin not. God's mercy is a holy mercy; where it\n     pardons, it heals.--_Watson,_ 1696.\n\n\n\nTHE SUMMONS TO JERUSALEM.\n\n     i.10. _Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give\n     ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah._\n\nThe prophet being about to make a still more terrible announcement,\nputs forth a renewed call for attention. It is well worthy of our\nstudy. We find in it--\n\nI. A STARTLING DESCRIPTION. \"Rulers of Sodom, . . . people of\nGomorrah.\" What an astonishing declaration is this, that Sodom,\nGomorrah, and Jerusalem are synonymous terms! It reminds us--+1. That\nman may be morally alike to those from whom they think themselves the\nfurthest removed.+ Many a Protestant who hates the very name of Rome\nis himself a little Pope: he never doubts his own infallibility, and\nis ready to anathematise all who dare to dissent from him. Many a man\nwho has never stood in the felon's dock is a thief at heart.[1] The\npeople of Jerusalem were ready to thank God that they were not as\nSodom and Gomorrah, whereas they really resembled the people they\ndespised. For, like the inhabitants of those guilty cities, they had\nbeen living--(1) _In habitual self-indulgence._ Self-indulgence may\nvary in its forms, but in its essential nature it is ever the same.\nThe inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah had pandered to the lusts of\nthe body, the inhabitants of Jerusalem to the lusts of the mind (see\nvers. 17, 23; iii. 16, &c.) (2) _In habitual defiance of God._ The\nsins of which they were guilty were as plainly condemned in God's\nWord as were those by which the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah\npolluted themselves. All sin is rebellion against God,[2] and the\nmanner in which we sin is comparatively unimportant (James ii. 10).\nIf we rebel against God, it does not matter much with what weapons we\nfight against Him. +2. That men may be utterly unconscious of their\nown real character.+ Self-delusion as to character is almost\nuniversal. Man can live in the practice of gross sin without any\ncompunction of conscience. Laodicea and the foul criminal David are\nat peace until the rebukes of God begin to crash like thunders over\ntheir heads (Rev. iii. 17; 2 Sam. xii. 7). As such delusion is most\ncommon, so also it is most disastrous. It renders reform impossible.\nIt sends men blindfolded into eternity to the most appalling\nsurprises.[3] The remedy for it is earnest, searching, prayerful\nself-examination, conducted in the light of God's Word.[4] +3. That\nGod describes men according to their essential character.+ He does\nnot take men according to their own estimates of their character and\nconduct, and ticked them accordingly. His description of man is often\nprecisely the opposite of that which they would give of themselves,\nand even of what men would give of them. His neighbours as well as\nhimself would doubtless have described the prosperous farmer (Luke\nxii. 16) as a shrewd and wise man, but God pronounced him to be a\nfool. So here, these men who prided themselves that they were rulers\nof Jerusalem, the holy city, were declared to be \"rulers of Sodom,\"\nthe vilest of cities. Are we quite sure that God describes _us_ as we\nhave been accustomed to describe ourselves?\n\nII. A SOLEMN SUMMONS. \"Hear the _word_ of the Lord; . . . give ear\nunto the _law_ of our God.\" What is the law to which attention is\nthus emphatically called? It is the great truth announced in the\nfollowing verses (11-15), that +worship offered by ungodly men is not\nonly without value, but is positively hateful in the sight of God.+\nThe most flaming zeal concerning the externals of religion is often\nfound in men of unholy life.[5] Judas was evidently so zealous in\nsuch matters as completely to delude his fellow-disciples: even when\nChrist announced that there was a traitor in their midst, no\nsuspicion turned towards him; the eleven were more ready to suspect\nthemselves than him (Matt. xxvi. 21). Attention to the externals of\nreligion is in itself a good thing; but unless it be conjoined with\nintegrity and benevolence, it will secure for us at the last not the\ncommendation but the condemnation of the Judge (Matt. xxiii. 23).\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] To us there seems a wide difference between the judge, with\n     the robes of office on his back, mind in his eye, and\n     dignity in his mien, and that poor, pale, haggard wretch at\n     the bar, who throws stealthy glances around, and hangs his\n     head with shame. Yet the difference that looks so great to\n     man may be very small in the eyes of God; and would look\n     small in ours if we knew the different upbringing and\n     history of both. The judge never knew what it was to want a\n     meal; the felon often went cold and hungry to bed. The one,\n     sprung of wise, kind, reputable, and perhaps pious parents,\n     was early trained to good, and launched, with all the\n     advantages of school and college, on an honourable and high\n     career; while the other, bred up a stranger to the\n     amenities of cultivated and Christian society, had no such\n     advantages. Born to misery, his struggles with misfortune\n     and evil began at the cradle. None ever took him by the\n     hand to lead him to church or school. A child of poverty,\n     and the offspring of abandoned parents, he was taught no\n     lessons but how to swear, and lie, and drink, and cheat,\n     and steal. The fact is, it is just as difficult for some to\n     be honest as it is easy for others. What merit has that\n     judge in his honesty? None. He has no temptation to be else\n     than honest. And so, I suspect, much of the morality of\n     that unblemished character and decent life in which many\n     trust, saying to some poor guilty thing, \"Stand aside, I am\n     holier than thou,\" and pluming themselves on this, that\n     they have not sinned as others have done--is due, less to\n     their superior virtue, than to their more favourable\n     circumstances. Have they not sinned as others have done? I\n     reply, They have not been tempted as others have been. And\n     so the difference between many honest men and decent women\n     on the one hand, and those on the other hand on whom a\n     brand of infamy has been burned, and the key of a prison\n     turned, may be just the difference between the green branch\n     on the tree and the white ashes on the hearth. This is\n     bathed in the dews of night and fanned by the breath of\n     heaven, while that, once as green, has been thrust into the\n     burning fire--the one has been tried in a way that the\n     other has not.--_Guthrie._\n\n [2] As every sin is a violation of the law, so every violation\n     of the law reflects upon the lawmaker. It is the same\n     offence to coin a penny and a piece; the same to\n     counterfeit the seal of a subp\u0153na, as of a pardon. The\n     second table was writ by the hand of God as well as the\n     first, and the majesty of God, as He is the lawgiver, is\n     wounded in an adultery and a theft as well as in an\n     idolatry or a blasphemy.--_Donne,_ 1573-1631.\n\n [3] Is there anything more terrible than a false confidence? It\n     is an awful thing to wake up and find that what we have\n     been trusting in is rotten. To embark gaily in a ship that\n     on mid-ocean proves to be worm-eaten, and leaky; for a man\n     who believed himself to be wealthy to receive tidings that\n     the failure of a bank has made him a beggar; for a sick man\n     rejoicing in the cessation of his pain to be told by his\n     physician that that is due only to the setting in of\n     mortification that precedes death;--what horrible\n     disappointments are these! But what poor and faint image\n     they furnish of the horror of that man who lives in a state\n     of delusion as to his spiritual condition, who dies in\n     peace, imagining falsely that he is Christ's, and who, when\n     he has traversed the valley of the shadow of death--when he\n     has reached that point from which there is no return, finds\n     that the doors of heaven are shut against him, discovers\n     that he is shrouded by thick darkness, and begins to feel\n     the fires of hell kindling upon him! Can you picture to\n     yourself his astonishment, his terror, his despair? Do not\n     tell me that such a case is not conceivable--Christ\n     declares that such cases are frequent (Matt. vii. 21-25).\n\n [4] \"Examine yourselves:\" A metaphor from metal, that is\n     pierced through to see if it be gold within.\n     Self-examination is a spiritual inquisition set up in one's\n     soul: a man must search his heart for sin as one would\n     search a house for a traitor: or as Israel sought for\n     leaven to burn it.--_Watson,_ 1696.\n\n     This duty of examining and proving supposes that there is\n     some sure standard, which if we go by, we are sure not to\n     be deceived. Not that rule is the Word of God. But as in\n     matters of doctrine men have left the Scripture, the sure\n     rule, and taken up antiquity, universality, tradition, and\n     the like for their pride, and by this means have fallen\n     into the ditch; so in matters of godliness, when we should\n     try ourselves according to the characters and signs that\n     the Scripture deciphers, we take up principles in the\n     world, the applause of others, the conversation of most in\n     the world. And thus it is with us as men in an hospital,\n     because every one is either wounded or lame, or some way\n     diseases, therefore none are offensive to each\n     other.--_Burgess._\n\n     Men compare themselves with men, and readily with the\n     worst, and flatter themselves with that comparative\n     betterness. This is not the way to see spots, to look into\n     the muddy streams of profane men's lives; but look into the\n     clear fountain of the Word, and there we may both discern\n     and wash them; and consider the infinite holiness of God,\n     and this will humble us to the dust.--_Leighton,_ 1611-1684.\n\n [5] Fruit-trees that bring forth the fairest and most beautiful\n     blossoms, leaves, and shoots, usually bring forth the\n     fewest and least fruits; because where nature is intent and\n     vigorously pressing to do one work, spending its strength\n     there, it is not at the same time weak about other works;\n     but distinct and several works of nature, in moderate and\n     remote degree, are all promoted at the same time. Generally\n     those persons who are excessive and most curious about the\n     forms of duties, have least of the power of godliness. The\n     Pharisees were extremely careful about the outside of God's\n     worship. So it was among us of late years; bowing at the\n     name of Jesus, the communion-table, surplice, common\n     prayer, &c.,--those and suchlike were pressed with all\n     eagerness and strictness. The body of religion was large\n     and monstrous, but without a soul: or, if any, it was lean\n     and feeble. These persons are like the Indian fig-tree that\n     Pliny speaks of, which had leaves as broad as targets, but\n     fruits no bigger than a bean. This is a foul fault among us\n     at this day: men stand more about the forms of worship than\n     about the power of it: they look so much after the way,\n     manner, and circumstances that they almost lose the\n     substance; things which are but as husks or shells to the\n     kernels, or as leaves in respect of fruits.--_Austen,_ 1656.\n\n     Many are set upon excess of ceremonies, because they are\n     defective in the vital parts, and should have no religion\n     if they had not this. All sober Christians are friends to\n     outward decency and order; but it is the empty\n     self-deceiver that is most for the unwarrantable inventions\n     of man, and useth the worship of God but as a masque or\n     puppet-show, where there are great doings with little life,\n     and to little purpose. The chastest woman will wash her\n     face; but it is the harlot, or wanton, or deformed, that\n     will paint it. The soberest and the comeliest will avoid a\n     nasty or ridiculous habit, which may make them seem\n     uncomely where they are not; but a curious dress and\n     excessive care doth signify a crooked or deformed body, or\n     a filthy skin, or, which is worst, an empty soul, that hath\n     need of such a covering. Consciousness of such greater want\n     doth cause them to seek these poor supplies. The gaudiness\n     of men's religion is not the best sign that it is sincere.\n     Simplicity is the ordinary attendant of sincerity. It hath\n     long been a proverb, \"The more ceremony, the less\n     substance; and the more compliment, the more\n     craft.\"--_Baxter,_ 1615-1691.\n\n\n\nREJECTED SACRIFICES.\n\n     i. 11. _To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices\n     unto me? saith the Lord._\n\nTry to conceive what emotions would spring up in the breasts of the\nmen to whom these words were first addressed--men who with most\nscrupulous care had fulfilled the requirements of a costly ceremonial\nworship, the respectable, the orthodox of their day. With what\nindignation they would rebuke the prophet, and how triumphantly they\nwould remind him that all the sacrifices which they offered, and all\nthe ceremonies they observed, were of Divine appointment! And,\ndoubtless, to their rebuke they would add a protestation that they\nhad had a sincere delight in the services, which, they would not\ndoubt, had come up as a sweet-smelling savour before the Lord. Both\nthese allegations they might have made with truth, but the prophet\nwould have dismissed them as irrelevant. What he denounced was not\nsacrifices, but certain sacrifices offered by particular individuals\nwhose wickedness disqualified them for taking part in Divine worship.\n\"To what purpose is the multitude of _your_ sacrifices,\" &c.\n\nBut why should the wickedness of the worshippers cause the rejection\nof the worship, seeing that _it_ is of Divine appointment?\nBecause--1. _Sacrifices are in themselves worthless to God._ He does\nnot need, nor is He enriched by our offerings (Ps. l. 7-13).\n2. _Sacrifices were instituted merely to be expressions of and helps\nto human piety, and are worthless when there is no piety to be\nexpressed or fostered by them._ Outward worship is to religion just\nwhat a bank-note is to commerce; it is valuable only in so far as it\nis really representative of something beyond itself. The worship\nwhich does not really represent penitence, faith, and love in the\nworshipper is a falsehood, and is necessarily repulsive to the God of\ntruth, and to the offerer of it it is a deadly hurt. As the sunlight\nwhich develops life only hastens the putrefaction of the dead, so the\nvery services which help to sanctify and ennoble the saintly may more\ncompletely disqualify the insincere for heaven. 3. _Piety towards God\nis proved, not by costly sacrifices and stately ceremonies, even\nthough pungent emotions are experienced by those who offer and take\npart in them, but by its pervasive influence on the character and the\nlife._ In family life love is proved by obedience; and to our\nHeavenly Father the protestations of reverence and love which are\noffered by men who live in disregard and defiance of His requirements\nare naturally and necessarily repulsive (1 Sam. xv. 22, 23). No\nelaborateness or costliness of ceremonial worship can atone for the\nabsence of godliness in the lives of the worshippers; sacrifices are\nno equivalents for sanctification; and by the love of sin in the soul\nof the pretended worshipper even a divinely-appointed ritual is\nrendered abhorrent to God.\n\nJudaism and its ritual are now things of the past, but men still need\nto be reminded of the facts now pointed out. The men of our day,\nafter committing during the week all the sins denounced in the\nprophecies of Isaiah, assemble in the sanctuary on Sunday, and,\nbecause they enjoy its services, they imagine that they are\nwell-pleasing to God, and will bring down His blessing on themselves.\nTo-day, as of old, men need to be told plainly that public worship\nmay be an abomination to God, and that, instead of making those who\njoin in it more sure of heaven, it may, by confirming them in their\nself-delusion, make their eternal damnation more certain.\n\nThere is another side to all this. While \"the sacrifice of the wicked\nis an abomination to the Lord,\" _\"the prayer of the upright is His\ndelight\"_ (Psa. cxlvii. 11; l. 23). Concerning the \"true\nworshippers,\" who \"worship the Father in spirit and in truth,\" it is\ndeclared that \"the Father _seeketh_ such to worship Him.\" How\nwonderful, how astonishing is that! That GOD, whom angels,\narchangels, and all the shining hosts of heaven adore, should not\nmerely condescend to accept the worship of men upon earth, but that\nHe should _seek_ such worship! Think much of that surprising and\ncomforting assurance. It used to seem to me almost too wonderful to\nbe true, but I believe and understand it now. I am helped to\nunderstand it almost every day; for almost every day my little girl\nsteals away from her nursemaid. I hear her climbing laboriously up\nthe stairs; it is an immense journey for her little legs; and then\npresently she knocks at my door, and calls me by my name. I am often\nbusy when she comes; she interrupts me when it is not pleasant to be\ninterrupted; but, notwithstanding, I rejoice that there is so much\nlove for me in her heart that she thinks it worth while to climb up\nso far, just to see me for a moment and then be sent down again. So\nthe marvellous _\"seeketh\"_ is explained by the word that comes before\nit! The \"FATHER seeketh such to worship Him\"! When His children come,\nand knock at His door, and call \"Abba, Father!\" He listens with a joy\nthat only a father can understand.\n\n        \"His saints are precious in His sight;\n         He views His children with delight;\n         He sees their hope, He knows their fear,\n         And looks, and loves His image there.\"\n\n\n\nTRUE AND FALSE RELIGION.\n\n     i. 11, 16, 17. _To what purpose is the multitude of your\n     sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord. I am full of the\n     burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I\n     delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of\n     he-goats. . . . Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil\n     of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;\n     learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed,\n     judge the fatherless, plead for the widow._\n\nWhat was the business of the ancient prophet? Not merely to predict\nevents. His chief work was to make men realise vividly the presence\nof God. Religions, in order to their permanence, require system. But\nreligious systems, with their creeds, forms, and ceremonies, have an\ninevitable tendency to coldness and deadness. The prophet was sent to\ncounteract this tendency. It was his mission to restore to great\nwords their great meanings, to cause moral principles to reassert\nthemselves as the lords of conscience and of will--in a word, to\nprophesy on the dry bones of a decaying religion until there came\nupon them flesh and sinew, and there passed into them the breath of\nspiritual life. Such a mission was that of Isaiah. In his time\nreligion was in a state of petrifaction, nay, rather of putrefaction.\nFrom this fact his prophetic message takes its keynote. It begins\nwith an invective that reminds us of John the Baptist.\n\nWhat was the condition of things that provoked his indignation? Not a\nlack of religious observances; there was a redundancy of them. That\nwhich caused a righteous anger to burn with him vehemently was their\nperversion of the sacrificial system to which they gloried, their\ndissociation of it from the moral law, to which God intended it to be\nonly a supplement. It was given to teach men the hatefulness of sin,\nand the duty of consecration to God; but they separated it from the\nmoral law, and allowed all its spiritual meaning to drop out of it.\nInstead of using it as a help to morality, they were making it the\nsubstitute for morality. Coming up red-handed from their murders, and\nreeking with their foul vices, they stood up before God, claiming His\nfavour; for were they not sacrificing to Him, yea, in accordance with\nthe regulations Himself had given? No wonder that a man with veracity\nin him and a love of righteousness should pour out upon such men and\nsuch offerings the whole wrath of his nature.\n\nFrom this exposition take the following practical lessons--1. _All\nforms of religion have a tendency to lose their original purity and\nfreshness._ As a stream, clear at its fountain-head, but turbid\nbefore it reaches the sea; as our planet, which physicists say was\nflung off at first from the sun a glowing mass of light and heat, has\nbeen cooling down ever since; so is it with religions and churches.\nAs a rule, their history has been one of gathering accretions and of\ndiminishing purity and power in proportion to their distance from\ntheir fountain-head. So was it with Judaism. So has it been with\nChristianity. Contrast Christianity as we have it in St. Paul's\nepistles, all aglow with fervour and love, and that of the time of\nLeo X., with its professed head and most of his court professed\ninfidels, and the officials of the Church selling indulgences to sin\nfor money! Luther lit the fire again; but Protestantism has had its\nillustrations of the same law. Witness the state of things in this\ncountry in the last century. In view of this fact let the Church pray\nfor prophetic spirits who shall in each generation rekindle the dying\nfires; and, apart from the influence of specially-gifted men, let\neach Church betake itself continually to the Fountain-head of\nspiritual life. 2. _False religiousness is worse than none at all._\nIsaiah says, not simply that such observances are of no avail with\nGod, but that they are abominations to Him. We can see the reason.\nSuch a religion as that which Isaiah denounced works harm to the\nindividual and to the cause of godliness generally; to the\nindividual, but inspiring him with a vain confidence; to the cause of\ngodliness, by furnishing points for the shafts of ridicule, by which\nfaith is killed in many hearts. It would be difficult to say who are\nthe greatest promoters of infidelity--professed atheists or\nhypocritical religionists. 3. _It is a perilous thing to overlook the\nconnection between impression and practice in religion._ In vers. 16\nand 17, the prophet shows us what the true nexus between them is.\n\"Your ceremonies and observances will do you no good unless you\npractise the morality, the judgment, mercy, and love to which they\npoint.\" Our power of receiving impressions is under a directly\nopposite law from our power of practice. The former steadily\ndecreases by exercise, the latter as steadily increases. This is so\nin religion, as well as in other things. The impression produced upon\nthe Jews by the sacrifices would decrease as they were repeated,\nunless by them they were led to practical righteousness, and their\nwhole system would in time become utterly powerless as a moral\nincentive; just as, if a man is for a few mornings wilfully deaf to\nan alarum in his bedroom, it presently loses its power even to waken\nhim. The same law will operate with us. The preaching of the gospel\nis intended to produce impression, and that again to lead to\npractice. If the latter does not follow _at once,_ the chances are\nall against its ever following, because the impressions will become\nfeebler with each repetition. A fact this for all hearers to ponder.\n4. _Religious observances and machinery of all kinds have their end\nin the development of character._ This was so in Isaiah's time. It is\nso now. If their religious observances were not leading them to\n\"cease to be evil,\" and to \"learn to do well,\" but were hindering\nthem from doing so, it were better for them to give them up. So our\ncreeds, organisations, ministers, &c., are of use only as related to\ncharacter. They are the scaffolding, character is the building; they\nare the tools, that the work. If no building is going on, this parade\nof scaffolding is an imposture, and had better be swept away.--_J.\nBrierley, B.A._\n\n\n\nTHE POSSIBILITIES OF PUBLIC WORSHIP.\n\n     i. 13. _It is iniquity, even this solemn meeting._\n\n+I. Public worship is a thing of Divine appointment.+ A considerable\npart of the earlier books of Scripture is occupied with injunctions\nto observe it, and with directions for its conduct. All the best men\nof ancient times made public worship part of the business of their\nlives. David, Josiah, Hezekiah, Ezra, and Nehemiah made great\nsacrifices that it might be duly honoured. Our Lord Himself, who set\naside the traditions of men, was careful to observe this Divine\nordinance; besides attending the great feasts, He attended the\nsynagogue every Sabbath-day (Luke iv. 16). The apostles and early\nChristians were in this respect His true followers (Acts ii. 46;\niii. 1). And we are expressly warned against neglect of it (Heb.\nx. 24, 25). +II. Public worship may be a means of communion with\nGod.+ It was this possibility that induced men to build the Temple,\nthat there might be a recognised place of meeting, not only with each\nother, but with God. There God did often meet with them (Ps.\nlxiii. 2, xxvii. 4, &c.) The temple now is wherever devout men are\nassembled for worship, and God, in the person of His Son, has\nexpressly promised to be in their midst (Matt. xviii. 20).\n+III. Consequently public worship may be a thing of the highest\nprofit to man.+ Upon those to whom communion with God is indeed\nvouchsafed, public worship exerts a transforming and ennobling\ninfluence.[1] They are uplifted for a season above the cares, the\nsorrows, and the joys of life; they receive new strength for the\nperformance of life's duties and the bearing of life's burdens; from\nthe mount of supplication they come down bearing a more real and\nabiding likeness to God than that which in the old time gave to the\ncountenance of Moses an overwhelming splendour. +IV. It may also be a\nthing supremely acceptable to God.+ When His children assemble to\nunite in expressing their common thankfulness, trust, and love for\nHim, He listens with fatherly delight.[2] Compared with angelic\nworship, human worship is a very poor and imperfect thing; it is but\nan earthen vessel compared with a chalice of silver or of gold; but\nthe emotions of gratitude, trust, and love with which it is filled,\nmake it precious in His sight. There is a reversal of our Lord's\nsaying (Matt. xxiii. 19): the rude altar is hallowed by the spiritual\nsacrifice.\n\nThese are some of the possibilities of public worship; but they are\nnot the only ones. The reverse of all this may be true. The worship\nmay be observed and offered without any real regard to the Divine\nwill and pleasure; it may separate God and men still more widely; it\nmay be a curse to those who partake in it, and it may be a grievous\noffence to the Holy One of Israel.\n\nLet us recall some of the things in connection with public worship\nwhich are apt to satisfy men. They are such as these: a crowded\nassembly; sweet singing; a noble liturgy; an eloquent sermon; a large\ncollection. When these things are combined in any service, we are apt\nto felicitate ourselves exceedingly. But upon that very service God\nmay look with unqualified condemnation. The crowd may have assembled\nfor reasons very far removed from a desire to worship God; the\nsinging may have been merely an artistic performance; the liturgy may\nhave been made up of prayers such as that which a newspaper described\nas \"the most eloquent ever _addressed to a Boston audience;_\" the\nsermon may have had for its supreme object the glorification of the\npreacher; the contributors to the collection may have been moved\nmerely by a desire to place the name of their congregation at the\nhead of the subscription-list published in the newspapers on the\nfollowing day. The whole thing may have been of the earth, earthy,\nand this may have been God's verdict concerning it, \"It is iniquity,\neven the solemn meeting.\"\n\nWhat, then, are the elements in worship essential to its acceptance\nwith God? 1. _That it be offered by His people._ Not from rebels\nagainst His authority will He accept expressions of homage;[3] in\ntheir lips such expressions are mockeries vile and horrible as those\nwherewith in Pilate's judgment-hall the Roman soldiers jeered at the\nSon of God (Matt. xxvii. 27-29). 2. _That it be offered with\nreverence,_ with that sweet and solemn awe which is born of a\nrecognition of God's nearness and of His exceeding glory (Ps.\nlxxxix. 7).[4] 3. _That it be the expression of love_--love singing\nin the hymns, breathing in the prayers, awakening \"godly sorrow\" for\nthe sins of the past, leading to sincere and resolute dedication of\nthe whole being to God for the future. Where these principles animate\nthe worshippers, they will be governed by them also in daily life;\ntheir whole life will be a service and sacrifice well-pleasing in the\nsight of God, and what are called their \"acts of worship\" will not be\nartificial flowers stuck on to dead and rotting branches for their\nadornment, but sweet, natural blossoms, upon which God will smile,\nand which He will pronounce \"very good.\"\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] The mind is essentially the same in the peasant and the\n     prince; the forces of it naturally equal in the untaught\n     man and in the philosopher; only the one of these is busied\n     in meaner affairs and within narrower bounds, the other\n     exercises himself in things of weight and moment; and this\n     is that put the wide distance between them. Noble objects\n     are to the mind what the sunbeams are to a bud or flower:\n     they open and unfold, as it were, the leaves of it, put it\n     upon exerting and spreading itself every way, and call\n     forth all those powers that lie hid and locked up in it.\n     The praise and admiration of God, therefore, brings this\n     advantage along with it, that it sets our faculties upon\n     their full stretch, and improves them to all the degrees of\n     perfection of which they are capable.--_Atterbury,_\n     1663-1732.\n\n [2] No doubt the prayers which the faithful put up to heaven\n     from under their private roofs, were very acceptable unto\n     Him; but if a saint's single voice in prayer be so sweet to\n     God's ear, much more the Church choir, His saints' prayers\n     in consort together. A father is glad to see any one of his\n     children, and makes him welcome when he visits him, but\n     much more when they come together, the greatest feast is\n     when they all meet as his house. The public praises of the\n     Church are the emblem of heaven itself, when all the angels\n     and saints make but one consort. There is a wonderful\n     prevalency in the joint prayers of His people. When Peter\n     was in prison, the Church meets and prays him out of his\n     enemies' hands. A prince will grant a petition subscribed\n     by the hands of a whole city, which maybe he would not at\n     the request of a private subject, and yet love him well\n     too. There is an especial promise to public prayer: _\"Where\n     two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I\n     in the midst of them.\"_--_Gurnall,_ 1617-1679.\n\n [3] If a person was to attend the levee of an earthly prince\n     every court-day, and pay his obeisance punctually and\n     respectfully, but at other times speak and act in\n     opposition to his sovereign, the king would justly deem\n     such a one an hypocrite and an enemy. Nor will a solemn and\n     stated attendance on the means of grace in the house of God\n     prove us to be God's children and friends,--if we confine\n     our religion to the church walls, and do not devote our\n     lips and lives to the glory of that Saviour we profess to\n     love.--_Salter._\n\n [4] A remembrance of God's omnipresence will quell distractions\n     in worship. The actual thoughts of this would establish our\n     thoughts, pull them back when they begin to rove, and blow\n     off all the froth that lies on the top of our spirits. An\n     eye taken up with the presence of one object is not at\n     leisure to be filled with another; he that looks intently\n     upon the sun shall have nothing for a while but the sun in\n     his eye. Oppose to every intruding thought the idea of the\n     Divine omnipresence, and put it to silence by the awe of\n     His majesty. When the master is present, scholars mind\n     their books, keep their place, and run not over the forms\n     to play with one another; and the master's eye keeps an\n     idle servant to his work, that otherwise would be gazing at\n     every straw, and prating to every passenger. How soon would\n     the remembrance of this dash all extravagant fancies out of\n     countenance, just as the news of the approach of a prince\n     would huddle up their vain sports, and prepare themselves\n     for a reverent behaviour in his sight. We should not dare\n     to give God a piece of our heart, when we apprehend Him\n     present with the whole; we should not dare to mock one that\n     we knew were more inwards with us than we are with\n     ourselves, and that beheld every motion of our mind as well\n     as action of our body.--_Charnock,_ 1628-1680.\n\n     I have sometimes had the misfortune to sit in concerts\n     where persons would chatter and giggle and laugh during the\n     performances of the profoundest passages of the symphonies\n     of the great artists; and I never fail to think, at such\n     times, \"I ask to know neither you, nor your father and\n     mother, nor your name: I know what you _are,_ by the way\n     you conduct yourself here--by the want of sympathy and\n     appreciation which you evince respecting what is passing\n     around you.\" We could hardly help striking a man who should\n     stand looking upon Niagara Falls without exhibiting\n     emotions of awe and admiration. If we were to see a man\n     walk through galleries of genius, totally unimpressed by\n     what he saw, we should say to ourselves, \"Let us be rid of\n     such an unsusceptible creature as that.\"\n\n     Now I ask you to pass upon yourselves the same judgment.\n     What do you suppose angels that have trembled and quivered\n     with ecstatic joy in the presence of God, think when they\n     see how indifferent you are to the Divine love and goodness\n     in which you are perpetually bathed, and by which you are\n     blessed and sustained every moment of your lives? How can\n     they do otherwise than accuse you of monstrous ingratitude\n     and moral insensibility, which betoken guilt as well as\n     danger?--_Beecher._\n\n\n\nGOD OPPRESSED.\n\n     i.14. _Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul\n     hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear\n     them._\n\nIt is the Almighty who here speaks, and His speech is a protest to\nmen who imagined that by their worship they would conciliate and\nplease Him. Their worship He rejects: it was polluted by the\npollution of those who offered it. Instead of cleansing them, as they\nvainly dreamed, they had defiled it. It is the Almighty who speaks,\nand in what terms of intensity of pain! He speaks as one who has long\nbeen burdened by a load that has at length become intolerable.\nStrictly speaking, it is of worship offered to Him by ungodly men\nthat He here expressed His abhorrence; but it is not conceivable--it\nis contrary to repeated declarations of His Word to suppose--that\nthis is the only form of human transgression that is grievous to Him;\nand therefore we may fairly widen our contemplation, and consider--\n\n+I. God's sensibility to human sin.+ God is unchangeable; with Him\nthere is no fickleness or caprice (James i. 17); this is one of the\nglories of His nature. But how strangely have philosophers and\ntheologians interpreted this sublime declaration! They have presented\nus with a deity impassive as the stars, which shine with equal\nsplendour upon the display of great virtues and the perpetration of\nhideous crimes, calm, serene, undisturbed by anything that takes\nplace on earth. Not such is the God of the Bible. He thrills with\nintensest emotions of delight or of disapprobation, of joy or of\nsorrow (Jer. ix. 24; Nahum i. 6; Zeph. iii. 17; Gen. iii. 6). Let\nphilosophers call these \"anthropomorphic representations\" if they\nwill, but words have no meaning if such declarations do not teach\nthat God is stirred by emotions which are determined by the character\nand conduct of men. He is no cast-iron deity: He is \"the living God.\"\nSin is hateful to Him, because 1. _It is an infraction of that order\nwhich He has established for the moral well-being of the universe._\nAs the Sovereign of the universe, He is bound to resent and to punish\nany injury done to the meanest of His subjects.[1] 2. _It is a\ndefiance of His authority._ Every sinner is a rebel against the\nauthority of the King of kings; and that king would be unworthy of\nhis crown who could see his authority defied without feeling any\nemotion of displeasure, or without taking steps to vindicate his\nauthority. It was precisely this selfish and pusillanimous weakness\nthat made our Stephen despised and hated by his subjects. With God\nthere is longsuffering and tender mercy, but there is no weakness.\nSin is more than a defiance of God's authority; it is--3. _An offence\nagainst His feelings._ It is contrary to what we may call His\ninstincts.[2] That which is contrary to our best instincts fills us\nwith disgust and anger. What profound emotion is stirred in a man of\ngenerosity and benevolence by a story of oppression and wrong!\n_e.g.,_ the effect upon David of Nathan's parable (2 Sam. xii. 5).\nWhole communities have been roused to uncontrollable indignation by a\ncrime of unusual atrocity, even though no member of the community has\nbeen directly affected thereby. \"Lynch Law.\" So all sin, as sin,\narouses the Divine disgust and indignation. \"My _soul_ hateth.\"\n4. _It is a degradation of those whom God loves._ We all condemn and\nloathe drunkenness; but who of us loathes it as does that mother who\nis being hurried by it to an untimely and dishonoured grave? God\nloves us more than any mother ever loved her son, and His hatred of\nsin is proportioned by His love for us whom it degrades and\ndestroys.[3] 5. _It is often a wrong inflicted on those whom He\nloves._ Few men sin without wronging others as well as themselves.\nNow with what anger do we burn when we detect our children defrauding\nand oppressing each other! But between the sputtering of a\nlucifer-match and the glowing fires of a volcano, there is not so\nmuch disparity as between the anger which the spectacle of sins\nagainst brotherhood kindles in us and that which it rouses in God\n(Jer. ix. 9). To form any adequate conception of the offensiveness of\nsin to God, we must remember that these considerations do not operate\nsingly, but operate in combination to make it hateful to Him. How\nmarvellous, then, is His endurance of it! Consider, then--\n\n+II. God's patience with human sin.+ He speaks here of being\n\"troubled\" by the worship of ungodly men; it is a burden of which He\nis \"weary.\" Why, then, does He bear it for a moment? Why, then, does\nHe not give quick vent to the indignation that burns within Him, and\nconsume His troubles with swift destruction? He bears with\nus--1. _That by His patience He may appeal to our better feelings._\nHe does us good, and not evil (Matt. v. 45), that we may be made\nashamed to sin against such generosity. When men are not altogether\nhardened in iniquity, there is nothing so likely to overcome them as\na requital of wrongs by blessing,[4] especially where he who so\nrequites it has full power to avenge himself. By His long-suffering,\nGod has led countless thousands to repentance. 2. _That He may set us\nan example of self-restraint._ It is because He is Himself so slow to\nanger, that He is able to warn us against vindictiveness. God does\nnot only lay upon us precepts of excellence: He Himself embodies\nthem. 3. _That He may place the righteousness of his judgments beyond\ndispute._ A space of grace and forbearance seems necessary to enable\nonlookers to perceive that the awful doom which at length will come\nupon sinners is fully deserved, and is perfectly consistent with His\nown mercifulness. If \"Wisdom\" had not \"called,\" reproved, counselled,\n\"stretched out her hands\" in entreaty, the stern words in which she\nannounces the awful and irrevocable doom of her despisers would shock\nus (Prov. i. 20, 32). 4. _That a moral probation may be rendered\npossible._ If punishment always instantly and obviously followed\ntransgression, the world would be ruled by terror so overwhelming\nthat free agency would be destroyed, and virtue consequently rendered\nimpossible. For such reasons as these, God bears with sinners, and\n\"sentence against an evil work\" is not executed speedily.\n\n+III. God's protest against human sin.+ God suffers under human sin,\nbut He does not suffer in silence: He vehemently protests against it.\nTwo reasons should lead us to heed this protest:--1. _Gratitude._ He\nmight have sent vengeance without warning. His protests and\nthreatenings are proofs of His love. All that is noblest and best in\nus should lead us to give instant and thankful heed when God appeals\nto us, and says, \"Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate!\"\n(Jer. xliv. 4). But if sin has so debased your nature that higher\nconsiderations such as this cannot move you, then I appeal--2. to\nyour _instinct of self-preservation._ God's protest against sin is no\nunmeaning form: His threatenings against sin are no empty words\n(Prov. xxix. 1). Rightly considered, the sinner's untroubled\ncondition is the most awful of all warnings.[5]\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] The tempter persuadeth the sinner that it cannot be that\n     God should make so great a matter of sin, because the\n     thoughts of a man's heart, or his words, or deeds, are\n     matter of no great moment, when man himself is so poor a\n     worm, and whatever he doth is no hurt to God. But if God so\n     much regard us as to make us, and preserve us continually,\n     and to become our Governor, and make a law for us and judge\n     us, and reward His servants with no less than heaven; then\n     you may easily see that He so much regardeth us, as to\n     observe whether we obey or break His laws. He that so far\n     careth for a clock or watch, as to make it and wind it up,\n     doth care whether it go true or false. What do these men\n     make of God, who think He cares now what men do! Then He\n     cares not if man beat you, or rob you, or kill you, for\n     none of this hurteth God. And the king may say, \"If any\n     murder your friends and children, why should I punish him?\n     he hurt not me.\" But justice is to keep order in the world,\n     and not only to preserve the governor from hurt: God may\n     not be wronged, though He be not hurt. And He will make you\n     pay for it, if you hurt others; and smart for it, if you\n     hurt yourself.--_Baxter,_ 1618-1691.\n\n [2] Our sin is not so much a violation of a law that lies\n     outside of the bosom of God, as it is a disregard of the\n     feelings and nature of God Himself. You will by a moment's\n     reflection see that there is a marked distinction between\n     personal feeling infringed upon and law transgressed. The\n     magistrate sits upon the bench, and a culprit is brought\n     before him. There are two ways in which that culprit may be\n     considered as transgressing. He may have broken the law of\n     the land, which the magistrate represents officially, but\n     not personally. The magistrate regards him as a culprit, to\n     be sure. But suppose that, in the exercise of truth and\n     justice by a pure administration or decision, the\n     magistrate arouses the anger of the culprit, and he insults\n     him to his face, and in his own court; is there any\n     difference between his former crime, which was the\n     violation of the law of the land, and in his latter crime,\n     which is a transgression of the feeling of the magistrate,\n     sitting as a magistrate?\n\n     It is the same everywhere. When you employ men in your\n     affairs, you know that there is a distinction between a\n     disregard of the rules of business, and a personal\n     disagreement with yourself. You know that when a man\n     offends against you, his wrong is more heinous and\n     provoking than when he offends against your rules or laws.\n     We know that a child may violate the laws of morality as\n     they are established by the Word of God and by the consent\n     of the community; that he may violate the civil law of the\n     land in which he dwells; that he may violate the rules and\n     regulations of a well-ordered family; and yet, though all\n     these courses of conduct are grievous wrongs which shock\n     the parent, not be as culpable as when he treads on the\n     feelings of the parent. There are exigencies in which the\n     child flies, as it were, in the heart of the father and\n     other, and does not so much violate their command as their\n     living feeling; intolerable and more flagrant than simply\n     setting aside and forgetting or transgressing a law. In\n     other words, it is possible to break a statute; that is one\n     kind of transgression. It is possible, also, to sin by\n     directly infringing upon the heart and the feeling; that is\n     another kind of transgression, and one that is considered\n     more stinging, more intolerable, and more unforgivable than\n     any other.\n\n     Now God and His law are one, in the sense in which we\n     approach Him as moral beings--one in such a sense that when\n     we offend against His moral law, we offend against His own\n     personal feeling. He is not a magistrate for whom a system\n     has been framed, and to the administration of which He\n     comes under a sense of justice. He is a universal Father,\n     administering according to His own instincts, His own\n     tastes, His own affections, His own feelings, among His\n     children. God's law is God's self, pervading the universe,\n     and our transgression is a personal affront of God Himself.\n     Just as when your taste, or your love, or your conscience,\n     is violated by the direct act of another person against\n     yourself, the offence is greater than if any exterior canon\n     were broken; so it is when we violate the Divine commands.\n\n     This conception of God should quicken every moral\n     sensibility, and make a life of sin painful and distasteful\n     to us. It is one thing to sin against a government, and\n     another thing to sin against a being. There are a great\n     many children that will sin against the family\n     arrangements, who would not sin against their mother. There\n     is many a child to whom the mother says, \"My dear child,\n     you know your father has made a law in this family, that\n     such and such things shall not be done, and you know you\n     have broken that law three of four times; now, for my sake,\n     avoid breaking it again.\" The child feels, when the mother\n     interposes herself, that there is something that touches\n     him which did not when it was only a law of the family that\n     he was setting aside.\n\n     Now, God puts Himself in just that position, and the motive\n     of obedience and righteousness is this: that God is the\n     tenderest, the most patient, the gentlest, and the dearest\n     friend that we have; that He knows everything within and\n     without; and that though we are sinful and wicked, He, in\n     His infinite compassion and mercy, forgives us, and says,\n     \"Do not sin against me, nor against mine.\"--_Beecher._\n\n     When a man defrauds you in weight, he sins against _you,_\n     not against the scales, which are only the instruments of\n     determining true and false weight. When men sin, it is\n     against God, and not against His law, which is but the\n     indicator of right and wrong. You care little for sins\n     against God's law. It has no blood in its veins, no\n     sensibility. Now, every sin that you commit is personal to\n     God, and not merely an infraction of His _laws._ It is\n     casting javelins and arrows of base desire into His loving\n     bosom. I think no truth can be discovered which would be so\n     powerful upon the moral sense of men, as that which should\n     disclose to them that sinning is always a personal offense\n     against a personal God. Law without is only an echo of\n     God's heart-beat within.--_Beecher._\n\n [3] Is there any human being who so hates the sin of a child,\n     or the companion of that friend? To whose eye so much as to\n     the eye of the lover is a defect a thing to be abhorred? Is\n     there anywhere in the world such compassion as is found in\n     a father or in a mother over the sin or fault of the child?\n     Yea, with evil associates, with growing bluntness of\n     feeling, with accumulating evasions and deceits, with a\n     development of serpent passions, with a life by day and by\n     night that emasculates manliness, the mother sees her boy\n     going steadily down, step by step; and in her nightly\n     vigils, with strong crying and tears, she pours herself out\n     before God, abhorring with unutterable detestation all\n     these terrible evils that threaten the life and immortality\n     of her son; and for years she carries in her soul the\n     suffering that ought to be in his, and bears his sin, his\n     sorrow, and his shame, and lies humiliated, and bowed down\n     in the dust, the just for the unjust.--_Beecher._\n\n     God hates sin, because it destroys what He loves. He could\n     live high and lifted up above all noise of man's groaning,\n     all smoke of his torment; but His nature is to come down\n     after man--to grope for him amid all the dark pollutions of\n     sin, and, if possible, to rescue and cleanse him.\n\n     God hates sin very much, as mothers hate wild beasts. One\n     day a woman stood washing beside a stream. She was in a\n     wild frontier country, and the woods were all around. Her\n     little, only child was playing about near her. By and by\n     she missed the infant's prattle, and, looking about, she\n     called its name. There was no answer. Alarmed, the mother\n     ran to the house, but her babe was not there. In wild\n     distress the poor woman now fled to search the woods, and\n     there she found her child. But it was only its little\n     _body_ that she clasped to her heart. A wolf had seized her\n     treasure, and when, at last, she rescued it from those\n     bloody fangs, its spirit had gone. Oh, how that mother\n     hated wolves! And do you know that this is the very figure\n     Christ uses to show what feeling He has towards the sin\n     that is seeking to devour His children?--_Beecher._\n\n     It makes a difference to God how we act. His happiness is\n     affected by the conduct of His children; for His heart is\n     the heart of a father. If, when my child sins, a pang goes\n     through my own soul, and I fly to rescue him from further\n     iniquity, it is because God struck into my breast a little\n     spark of what in Him is infinite.--_Beecher._\n\n [4] A group of rough men were assembled at a tavern one night.\n     One man boasted that it did not make any difference what\n     time he went home, his wife cheerfully opened the door, and\n     provided an entertainment if he was hungry when he got\n     home. So they laid a wager. They said: \"Now, we'll go along\n     with you. So much shall be wagered. We'll bet so much that\n     when you go home, and make such a demand, she will resist\n     it.\" So they went along at two or three o'clock in the\n     morning and knocked at the door. The door opened, and the\n     man said to the wife: \"Get us a supper.\" She said: \"What\n     shall I get?\" He selected the articles of food. Very\n     cheerfully were they provided, and about three or four\n     o'clock in the morning they sat down at the table--the most\n     cheerful one in all that company the Christian wife--when\n     the man, the ruffian, the villain, who had demanded all\n     this, broke down and said: \"I can't stand this. O what a\n     wretch I am!\" He disbanded that group. He knelt down with\n     his Christian wife and asked her to pray for the salvation\n     of his immortal soul, and before the morning dawned they\n     were united in the faith and hope of the Gospel. A patient,\n     loving, Christian demeanour in the presence of\n     transgression, in the presence of hardness, in the presence\n     of obduracy and crime, is an argument from the throne of\n     the Lord Almighty.--_Talmage._\n\n [5] Since we know God to be grievously displeased with sin,\n     here is something awful in His keeping silence while it is\n     committed under His eye. If a child comes home conscious of\n     having offended a parent, and the parent says nothing all\n     that night, but merely looks very grave, the child is more\n     frightened than he would be by a sharp rebuke or severe\n     punishment, for if such rebuke or punishment were\n     inflicted, he would at least know the worst; but when the\n     parent is silent, he knows not what may be hanging over\n     him. So when we remember how many things plainly offensive\n     to God are going on all around us, it is a terrible thought\n     that He is still silent. We fear that He is but getting\n     ready to take vengeance on those who defy Him. And so that\n     passage which we have quoted from the Psalms carries on the\n     train of thought in what follows. \"God is a righteous\n     judge, strong and patient, and God is provoked every day.\n     If a man will not turn, He will whet His sword, He hath\n     bent His bow, and made it ready.\"\n\n     In countries where earthquakes happen, a dead silence\n     always goes before the earthquake. Nature seems hushed into\n     an awful stillness, as if she were holding her breath at\n     the thought of the coming disaster. The air hangs heavily;\n     not a breath fans the leaves; the birds make no music;\n     there is no hum of insects; there is no ripple of streams;\n     and this while whole houses, and even cities sometimes, are\n     hanging on the brink of ruin. So it is with God's\n     silence,--it will be followed, when it seems deepest, by\n     the earthquake of His judgments. And so the holy Apostle\n     writes to the Thessalonians: \"When they shall say, Peace\n     and safety\" (from the fact of God's being so still and so\n     dumb), \"Then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as\n     travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not\n     escape.\"--_Goulburn._\n\n\n\nWORTHLESS HUSKS.\n\n     i. 15. _And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide\n     mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will\n     not hear._\n\nThe Jews had been likened unto the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah\n(ver. 10). As such, they are summoned to listen to a series of\ndeclarations of which this is the sum, that worship without holiness\nis a solemn mockery. Confining ourselves to our text only, we may see\nthat it teaches us--+I. The worthlessness of ritualism without\nspirituality.+ \"When ye spread forth your hands,\" &c. 1. _Ritualism\nis an essential element of public worship._ There must be some form\nby which thought can be expressed, and the devotions of others\nguided. There may be too little, or too much, but _some_ is\nindispensable.[1] 2. _Ritualism may be the expression of earnest\nspiritual life, and a help thereto._ It may be the outcome of a\nsincere feeling and deep piety--such was the ritual which David and\nhis devout companions devised and elaborated for the service of the\nTemple. It was costly and magnificent beyond even that which is\nobserved in St. Peter's at Rome; but as practised by them it was as\nspiritual as the baldest service that has ever been conducted in the\nbarest conventicle. A splendid ritual may be acceptable to the Most\nHigh, and the followers of George Fox must not imagine that they are\nthe only persons who worship God \"in spirit and in truth.\" 3. But\n_ritualism may be, and often is, only a form._ It may mean only an\nexhibition of millinery, a scrupulous observance of a prescribed\nseries of postures and genuflexions. It may be, according to a too\nsuggestive phrase, merely a service \"performed.\" In this case God\npasses it by with contempt. To all engaged in such histrionic\nperformances He says, \"When ye spread forth your hands,\" &c.\nSupplication without desire will never draw down the Divine\nbenediction. +II. The worthlessness of prayer without purity of\nheart.+ \"When ye make many prayers, I will not hear.\" 1. _Prayer is a\nnecessity of the Christian life._ A consciousness of weakness and\nwant, and a profound conviction of God's power and willingness to\nsuccour him, prompts the Christian to make \"many prayers.\" And each\nsupplication so inspired finds its way to the throne and heart of\nGod. To hear and answer the prayers of His children is one of our\nHeavenly Father's joys (ch. lxv. 24). 2. _But prayer, like ritualism,\ninstead of being the expression of a realised need, may be only an\nempty form._ The supplications that are offered may be uttered merely\nby rote, with as little feeling as a child recites the\nmultiplication-table; or they may be devices by which deluded men\nseek to propitiate that God whom they are offending by their conduct\nevery day,--mere lip-homage, which they imagine He will accept in\ncondonation of their habitual disregard of His will. In either case,\ntheir \"many prayers\" are worthless husks which He rejects with\ndisdain.\n\nIf we would have our worship accepted of God, there must\nbe--1. _Spiritual conceptions of His character._ These will prevent\nus from mocking Him by merely formal prayers or praises. 2. _A solemn\nrealisation of His presence._ How often this is lacking in those who\ntake part in the service of the sanctuary, and even in those who\nconduct them! But God is not throned in some distant heaven, to which\nour prayers struggle up we know not how: He is HERE! We shall never\nbe nearer to Him than we are to-day! 3. _An earnest endeavour after\nholiness in daily life_ (Ps. lxvi. 18). See why God would not regard\nthe uplifted hands of the Jewish supplicants--\"Your hands are full of\nblood.\" See also ch. lix. 1-3. To no rebel is access to the\npresence-chamber of the King of kings granted: this is the high\nprivilege of those only who can lift up \"holy hands\" (1 Tim.\nii. 8).[2]--_A. F. Barfield._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] The external part of religion is, doubtless, of little\n     value in comparison with the internal; and so is the cask\n     in comparison with the wine contained in it: but if the\n     cask be staved, the wine must perish. If there were no\n     Sundays or holydays, no ministers, no churches or religious\n     assemblies, no prayers or sacraments, no Scriptures read,\n     or sermons preached, how long would there be any religion\n     left in the world: and who would desire to live in a world\n     where there was none?--_Horne,_ 1730-1792.\n\n     Forms are necessary to religion as the means of its\n     manifestation. As the invisible God manifests His\n     nature--His power, wisdom, and goodness, in visible\n     material forms, in the bright orbs of heaven, in the\n     everlasting hills, in the broad earth with its fruits and\n     flowers, and in all the living things which He has\n     made,--so the invisible soul of man reveals its convictions\n     and feelings in the outward acts which it performs. As\n     there could be no knowledge of God without the visible\n     forms in which He reveals Himself, so there could be no\n     knowledge of the religion which exists in the soul of man\n     without the outward forms in which it expresses itself. A\n     form is the flag, the banner, the symbol of an inward life,\n     it is to a religious belief what the body is to the soul;\n     as the soul would be utterly unknown without the body, so\n     religion would be unknown without its forms, a light hidden\n     under a bushel, and not set up in a candlestick that it may\n     give light to all that are in the house.\n\n     Forms are necessary not only to the manifestation of\n     religion, but to its nourishment and continued existence. A\n     religion which expressed itself in no outward word or act\n     would soon die out of the soul altogether. The attempt to\n     embody truth and feeling, to express it in words and\n     actions, is necessary to give it the character of living\n     principle in the soul: in this respect forms are like the\n     healthy exercise which at once expresses and increases the\n     vigorous life of the body, or they may be compared to the\n     leaves of a tree, which not only proceed from its inward\n     life, but catch the vitalising influences of the light, the\n     rain and the atmosphere, and convey them down to the root.\n\n     What, then, is that formalism which is everywhere in the\n     Scripture, and especially in the discourses of our Lord,\n     described as an offence and an abomination in the sight of\n     God? I answer, formalism is the substitution of the outward\n     rite in the place of the inner spirit and life of the soul;\n     it is the green leaf which still hangs upon the dead branch\n     which has been lopped off.--_David Loxton._\n\n [2] God doth not institute worship-ordinances for bodily motion\n     only; when He speaketh to men He speaketh as to a man, and\n     requireth human actions from him, even the work of the\n     soul, and not the words of a parrot or the motion of a\n     puppet.--_Baxter,_ 1615-1691.\n\n     You think you serve God by coming to church; but if you\n     refuse to let the Word convert you, how should God be\n     pleased with such a service as this? It is as if you should\n     tell your servant what you have for him to do, and because\n     he hath given you the hearing, he thinks he should have his\n     wages, though he do nothing of that which you set him to\n     do. Were not this an unreasonable servant? Or would you\n     give him according to his expectation? It is a strange\n     thing that man should think that God will save them for\n     dissembling with Him; and save them for abusing His name\n     and ordinances. Every time you hear, or pray, or praise\n     God, or receive the sacrament, while you deny God your\n     heart and remain unconverted, you do but despise Him and\n     show more of your rebellion than your obedience. Would you\n     take him for a good tenant that at every rent-day would\n     duly wait on you, and put off his hat to you, but bring you\n     never a penny of rent? Or would you take him for a good\n     debtor that brings you nothing but an empty purse, and\n     expects you should take that for payment? God biddeth you\n     come to church and hear the Word; and so you do, and so far\n     you do well; but withal, He chargeth you to suffer the Word\n     to work upon your hearts, and to take it home and consider\n     of it, and obey it, and cast away from former courses, and\n     give your hearts and lives to Him; and this you will not\n     do. And you think that He will accept of your\n     service?--_Baxter,_ 1615-1691.\n\n\n\nREASONS FOR THE REJECTION OF PRAYER.\n\n     i. 15. _When ye make many prayers, I will not hear._\n\nGod has characterised Himself as \"the Hearer of prayer;\" and it is\nthe great consolation of His people that they cannot seek His face in\nvain. But here He declares that He will not hear the prayers of\nIsrael, however many. This solemn and momentous declaration may well\nlead us to inquire why prayer is, in many instances, rejected.\nPrayer, to be heard, must be both _right_ and _real._ If it possess\nneither of these characteristics, or only one of them--if it is\n_neither right nor real,_ or is _right without being real,_ or _real\nwithout being right_--it cannot fail to be rejected.\n\nI. A man may pray _rightly,_ either because he has been taught the\nprinciples of orthodoxy, or knows what language is conformable to\nthose principles, or because he uses prayers composed by spiritual\nmen, or, finally, because he used the very word prescribed or\nsanctioned by God Himself. But in all these cases, while his prayer\nmay be right, it may be altogether unreal. He may neither know the\nmeaning of the requests it contains, nor desire their fulfilment.[1]\nThus do many men pray for a free pardon for Christ's sake, for entire\nsanctification, and repeat the Lord's Prayer. There is nothing in the\nheart corresponding to what is expressed by the lips; nay, the heart\nand the mouth are often completely at variance with each other.\n\nII. Prayer may be _real without being right._ A man may really\nacknowledge mercies received, and petition for more; and yet neither\nthe acknowledgement nor the petition may be regarded by God. The\nacknowledgement and the petition have reference to mere earthly\ndesires already gratified or yet to be gratified. He thanks God that\nthe \"lusts have had the food which they craved;\" he prays that they\nmay never want it. Pride, vanity, the love of ease, pleasures, and\nworldly respectability are \"lusts\" on which he has hitherto\n\"consumed,\" and on which he intends still to \"consume,\" the good\nthings which God has given, or may yet give him. The secret soul of\nall his supplications is not any zeal for the glory of God, but\nselfishness. His prayers are of the earth, earthy. The spiritual\nblessings which God holds out in His right hand he passes by in\ncontemptuous neglect, and clamours for the natural blessings which\nare in God's left hand.\n\nIII. Both the faults of prayer above referred to are often found in\none and the same individual, and the guilt of both accumulated on one\nand the same head.\n\nLet it not be inferred from what has been said that we lay an\ninterdict on natural blessings, and forbid the seeking of them in\nprayer. Our Saviour has given us authority to ask for daily bread,\nand this fully warrants the conclusion that natural blessings, as\nwell as spiritual, may and ought to form a subject of prayer. We\nought to \"seek _first_ the kingdom of God and His righteousness,\" and\n_then_ ask Him to fulfil His promise of \"adding unto us all other\nthings.\"--_R. Nesbit, Discourses,_ pp. 308-319.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Will men's prayers be answered? Not if they pray as boys\n     whittle sticks--silently, hardly knowing or caring what\n     they are about. I have known men begin to pray about Adam,\n     and go on from him to the present time, whittling their\n     stick clear to a point, with about as much feeling, and\n     doing about as much good as the boy does.--_Beecher._\n\n        I often say my prayers,\n        But do I ever pray,\n        And do the wishes of my heart\n        Go with the words I say:\n        I may as well kneel down\n        And worship gods of stone.\n        As offer to the living God\n        a prayer of words alone,\n        For words without the heart\n        The Lord will never hear;\n        Nor will He to those lips attend\n        Whose prayers are not sincere.--_John Burton._\n\n\n\nA STARTLING CHARGE.\n\n     i. 15. _Your hands are full of blood._\n\nSuch is the reason which God assigns for turning a deaf ear to the\nprayers of His ancient people: the hands they lifted up to Him in\nsupplication were blood-stained. It was as if Cain, red with the\nmurder of Abel, had lifted up his hands in prayer to God for\nblessing. By this startling charge we are reminded--+I. That between\nthe estimates formed by God and man as to what takes place in the\nsanctuary there is often an infinite disparity.+ Behold the court of\nthe temple filled, apparently, with devout worshippers, who lift up\ntheir hands to heaven in earnest supplication,--what a pleasing\nsight! But God looks down, and says, \"Those hands are full of blood.\"\nThe same contrast is repeated in another form (ch. xxix. 13). Other\ncontrasts: Eli sees what he thinks to be a drunken woman; God sees a\nhumble supplicant (1 Sam. i. 12, 13). Men see an eminently religious\nman praying in the sanctuary; God sees a man prostituting prayer into\na means of self-glorification (Luke xviii. 11, 12). Men see a foul\nwretch whose presence in the sanctuary is a pollution; God sees a\nbroken-hearted penitent, and hastens to bless him (Luke xviii. 13,\n14). So it is in our sanctuaries to-day. +II. That God holds us\nresponsible for the ultimate consequences of our actions.+ The men\nwho thronged the temple in Isaiah's time, and whose prayers God\nrejected, were not bandits and murderers in the ordinary and coarse\nfashion by which men are brought to the scaffold. Yet the charge\nbrought against them was true. For there are other ways of murdering\nmen than by acts of violence of which human law takes note. By\ngrievous oppression millions of men have been brought to an untimely\ngrave. If a man destroys another by _slow_ poison, is he not as truly\na murderer as another who kills his victim by means of prussic acid?\nIn God's sight oppression is murder; and of oppression in its worst\nforms the Jews had been guilty (vers. 23; iii. 14, 15, &c.) It is in\naccordance with this declaration that opprobrium is heaped upon\nJeroboam as the man \"who made Israel to sin\" (2 Kings x. 29); and\nthat we are so sternly warned against leading others into\ntransgression (Matt. xviii. 6, &c.) This fact--1. _Casts some light\non the doctrine of future punishment._ The results of the evil\nactions of men go on eternally propagating themselves, and it is\ntherefore not unjust that the punishment of those actions should be\neternal also. 2. _Should cause us to halt when we are tempted to acts\nof unkindness and oppression._ Unwillingly we may thereby become\nmurderers. 3. _Should lead us to be most watchful as to the example\nwe set before others._ If we hold our false lights by which they are\ncaused to make shipwreck \"concerning faith\" and character, God will\nhold us responsible for the disaster (Rom. xiv. 15, &c.) +III. That\nsin is naturally indelible.+ These Jews came into the sanctuary with\nhands carefully cleansed, but yet in God's sight they were \"full of\nblood.\" 1. The stains of sin cannot be washed out by _time._ Time\nobliterates much, but it does not obliterate guilt. Men are apt to be\ntroubled in conscience about recent sins, but to be at ease\nconcerning those committed many years previously. But this is a\nmistake. Lapse of time makes no difference to God; the inscriptions\nin His books of record never fade. Hence the wisdom of David's prayer\n(Ps. xxv. 7). 2. The stain of sin cannot be washed out by _worship._\nThat it might be so was the vain dream of the Jews, as it is of\nmillions to-day. But worship itself is an offence when it is offered\nby ungodly men; so far from diminishing their guilt, it increases it\n(Prov. xxviii. 9, &c.) 3. The stain of sin cannot be washed out by\n_sorrow._ Sorrow for the past alters nothing in the past; the crime\nremains, no matter how many tears the criminal may shed.[1] 4. The\nstain of sin cannot be washed out even by _reformation of conduct and\ncharacter._ Men speak of \"turning over a new leaf,\" and when they\nhave done what this phrase implies, they are apt to be at peace. But\nthis also is a mistake. They forget that the old, evil leaf remains,\nand that for what is inscribed thereon God will call them to account.\nAs there is a \"godly sorrow\" and a \"worldly sorrow,\" so there is a\nreligious and an irreligious reformation of conduct. The former is\nthe result of evangelical repentance, and is of exceeding worth\n(Ezek. xviii. 27, 28); the latter is a mere act of prudence, and is\nof no moral account. In one way, and in one way only, can the stain\nof guilt be effaced from the human soul (1 John i. 7-9).\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Repentance _qualifies_ a man for pardon but does not,\n     cannot _entitle_ him to it. It is one of the most\n     elementary and obvious truths of morality, that the\n     performance of one duty cannot be any compensation for\n     neglect to perform another duty. But when a sinner is\n     penitent for his sins, he is merely doing what, _as a\n     sinner,_ he ought to do; and his feelings of contrition do\n     no more to absolve him from his guilt than the gratitude a\n     man feels to a doctor who has cured him from a dangerous\n     illness does to discharge the doctor's bill. As in this\n     case there ought to be both gratitude and payment, so in\n     the case of the sinner there must be both penitence and\n     atonement. The sinner's sorrow for his sin, while in itself\n     a proper thing, is no more an atonement for his sin than is\n     the remorse that fills the breasts of most murderers any\n     atonement for the murders they have committed. Judas was\n     sorry, profoundly and intensely sorry, for having betrayed\n     our Lord Jesus Christ, but did _that_ do away with the\n     guilt of that betrayal? Was Peter not to be blamed for his\n     denial of his Master, because afterwards \"he went out and\n     wept bitterly\"? Did the tears he shed give him any right to\n     say in after years--\"Yes, I denied my Lord, but I was sorry\n     for it, and so made it straight\"? Do you think that just as\n     with soap and water you can wash the dirt off your hands,\n     you can with a few tears, or with many tears, wash the\n     guilt of sin from off your soul? No delusion could be more\n     groundless. Oh no! You have the real fact and the true\n     philosophy of the matter in the well-known verse--\n\n        \"Not the labours of my hands\n         Can fulfil Thy law's demands.\n         Could my zeal no respite know,\n         _Could my tears for ever flow,_\n         All for sin could not atone:\n         THOU must save, and THOU alone.\"\n\n\n\nMORAL ABLUTION.\n\n     i. 16. _Wash you, make you clean._\n\nThis is one of a very numerous class of passages which summon sinners\nto the duty of moral purification, of thorough and complete\nreformation of character (Jer. iv. 14; James iv. 8; Jer. xviii. 11;\nEzek. xviii. 30-32, &c.) These passages are very clear and emphatic,\nbut they seem to be in opposition to others which assert man's\nnatural inability to do anything that is good (Matt vii. 18; Rom.\nvii. 18-23; John xv. 5), with others which teach that repentance is a\nDivine gift (Acts v. 31; 2 Tim. ii. 25), and with those which teach\nthat sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. vi. 11,\n&c.) The opposition is only apparent.[1] Every Divine command really\ninvolves a promise of the grace necessary for its accomplishment, and\nGod is ever ready to work with and in us \"to will and to do of His\ngood pleasure.\"[2] Fallen as we are, we yet retain the power of\nresponding to or of rejecting His admonitions; if we respond to them,\nthere instantly begins to flow into our souls that which will enable\nus to accomplish everything that God has required (Phil. iv. 13).\nThree great questions--+I. Why must we cleanse ourselves from evil?+\n1. _Because sin renders us offensive to God._ It is in itself\nrepulsive to Him, just as immodesty in all its forms and in every\ndegree is repulsive to a virtuous woman (Hab. i. 13; Prov.\nxxxi. 10-31). 2. _Because it is destructive to ourselves._ In\nphysical matters dirt and disease are inseparable, and so they are in\nspiritual. Moral pollution leads to moral decay. Sin is a leprosy\nthat eats away all the finer faculties of the soul. 3. _Because it\nrenders us dangerous to our fellow-men._ In the measure that we are\ncorrupt, we shall corrupt others. There is a terrible contagiousness\nin iniquity (Prov. xxii. 24, 25; Rev. xviii. 4). A sinner is a\nwalking pestilence. And 4. The special lesson of our text in its\nconnection--_Because otherwise access to the throne of grace will be\nclosed against us._ If it be not so with us now, yet there will come\na season when it will be supremely important to us that God should\nhear our prayers (a time of great trouble, or the hour of death), and\nhow awful will be our condition if God should then turn a deaf ear to\nus! But this is the doom of obdurate sinners (ver. 15; Jer. xi. 14,\n&c.) +II. How may we cleanse ourselves from evil?+ 1. _By resolutely\nputting off our old evil habits._ This is what Isaiah exhorted the\nJews to do (vers. 16, 17). Similar exhortations occur in the New\nTestament (Eph. iv. 25-29; Heb. xii. 1). Begin with the faults of\nwhich you are most conscious.[3] Begin and continue the great task of\nmoral reformation in humble dependence upon God. 2. _By prayer._ In\nearnest communion with God our views of duty and purity receive a\nmarvellous elevation, and we catch the inspiration of the Divine\ncharacter, so that iniquity, instead of being attractive, becomes\nhateful to us also.[4] 3. _By humble but resolute endeavours to copy\nthe example of our Lord Jesus Christ._ 4. _By intercourse with the\npeople of God._[5] 5. _By making the Word of God the only and\nabsolute rule of our life_ (Ps. cxix. 1). These are the means by\nwhich we may attain to moral purity in the future. Cleansing from the\nguilt of sin in the past is bestowed freely on all who believe in\nJesus (1 John i. 7-9). Yea, the guilt of a man whose hands are\nliterally \"full of blood\" may thus be washed away; _e.g.,_ Saul, the\npersecutor and murderer of the saints (Acts. xxii. 4, 16; 1 Tim.\ni. 16). +III. When may we cleanse ourselves from evil? NOW!+ this\nvery hour the task ought to be begun. 1. Difficult as the task is,\ndelay will only increase its difficulty.[6] 2. Now, because God's\ncommands brook no delay. (Ps. xcv. 7, 8). 3. Now! because now though\nGod may be willing to-day to grant you \"repentance unto life,\" by\nyour delay you may so provoke Him to anger that _to-morrow_\nrepentance may be denied you.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] There is no contradiction between these statements and the\n     command to repent. Whoever considers what repentance\n     is,--that it is a change of mind toward sin, so that what\n     once was loved is viewed with disgust, and what was pursued\n     with eagerness is shunned with abhorrence,--will perceive\n     at once that it can only be wrought in us by a Divine\n     power. Man's natural tendencies are toward evil; and a\n     river could as easily arrest itself on its way to the\n     ocean, and climb to the sources whence it sprang, as can\n     man without the help of the Holy Spirit learn to hate sin\n     because of what it is. \"Can the Ethiopian change his skin,\n     or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good that are\n     accustomed to do evil.\" The polluted fountain of our heart\n     will never cleanse itself. Repentance, like every other\n     gift, must come from the Father of lights.\n\n     But \"God works in us to will and to do of His good\n     pleasure.\" By His Holy Spirit He strives in every human\n     soul, awakening desires after a better and purer life. By\n     His longsuffering, by messages from His Word, by the\n     monitions of His providence, He strives to lead us to\n     repentance. But _we_ must repent. As while the earth cannot\n     bear fruit unless the sun shine upon it, it is still the\n     part of the earth to be fertile; so while we cannot repent\n     unless God aid us, it is our part to turn from evil.\n     Repentance cannot be exercised _for_ us; it must be\n     exercised _by_ us.\n\n     God commands you to repent, just as to the apostles, when\n     five thousand hungry men, besides women and children,\n     surrounded them, and their whole store was five loaves and\n     two fishes, Christ said, \"Give ye them to eat.\" The task is\n     as much beyond your unaided power as that was above theirs;\n     but address yourself to it as they did, in obedience to the\n     Divine behest, and you will receive power from on high to\n     accomplish not only it, but other tasks higher yet.\n\n [2] The Gospel supposeth a power going along with it, and that\n     the Holy Spirit works upon the minds of men, to quicken,\n     excite, and assist them in their duty. If it were not so,\n     the exhortations of preachers would be nothing else but a\n     cruel and bitter mocking of sinners, and an ironical\n     insulting over the misery and weakness of poor creatures,\n     and for ministers to preach, or people to hear sermons,\n     upon any other terms, would be the vainest expense of time\n     and the idlest thing we do all the week; and all our\n     dissuasives from sin, and exhortations to holiness and a\n     good life, and vehement persuasions of men to strive to get\n     to heaven, and to escape hell, would be just as if one\n     should urge a blind man, by many reasons and arguments,\n     taken from the advantages and comfort of that sense, and\n     the beauty of external objects, by all means to open his\n     eyes, and to behold the delights of nature, to see his way,\n     and to look to his steps, and should upbraid him, and be\n     very angry with him, for not doing so.--_Tillotson,_\n     1630-1694.\n\n [3] Rooting up the large weeds of a garden loosens the earth,\n     and renders the extraction of the lesser ones comparatively\n     easy.--_Elisa Cook._\n\n [4] There is an antipathy between sinning and praying. The\n     child that hath misspent the whole day in playing abroad,\n     steals to bed at night for fear of a chiding from his\n     father. Sin and prayer are such contraries, that it is\n     impossible at a stride to step from one to another. Prayer\n     will either make you leave off sinning, or sinning will\n     make you leave off prayer.--_Gurnall,_ 1617-1679.\n\n     The first true sign of spiritual life, prayer is also the\n     means of maintaining it. Man can as well live physically\n     without breathing, as spiritually without praying. There is\n     a class of animals--the cetaceous, neither fish nor\n     sea-fowl, that inhabit the deep. It is their home; they\n     never leave it for the shore; yet, though swimming beneath\n     its waves and sounding its darkest depths, they have ever\n     and anon to rise to the surface that they may breathe the\n     air. Without that these monarchs of the deep could not\n     exist in the dense element in which they live, and move,\n     and have their being. And something like what is imposed on\n     them by a physical necessity, the Christian has to do by a\n     spiritual one. It is by ever and anon ascending up to God,\n     by rising through prayer into a loftier purer region for\n     supplies of Divine grace, that he maintains his spiritual\n     life. Prevent these animals from rising to the surface, and\n     they die for want of breath; prevent him from rising to\n     God, and he dies for want of prayer. \"Give me children,\"\n     cried Rachel, \"or else I die.\" Let me breathe, says a man\n     gasping, or else I die. Let me pray, says the Christian, or\n     else I die.--_Guthrie._\n\n [5] Get some Christian friend (whom thou mayest trust above\n     others) to be thy faithful monitor. Or, that man hath a\n     great help for the maintaining the power of godliness that\n     has an open-hearted friend that dare speak his heart to\n     him. A stander-by sees more sometimes by a man than the\n     _actor_ can do by himself, and is more fit to judge of his\n     actions than he of his own; sometimes self-love blinds us\n     in our own cause, that we are over-suspicious of the worst\n     by ourselves, which makes us appear to ourselves worse than\n     we are. Now, that thou mayest not deprive thyself of so\n     great help from thy friend, be more to keep thy heart ready\n     with meekness to receive, yes, with thankfulness embrace a\n     reproof from his mouth. Those that cannot bear\n     plain-dealing hurt themselves most; for by this they seldom\n     hear the truth.--_Gurnalt,_ 1617-1679.\n\n [6] The more we defer, the more difficult and painful our work\n     must needs prove; every day will both enlarge our task and\n     diminish our ability to perform it. Sin is never at a stay;\n     if we do not retreat from it, we shall advance in it, and\n     the further on we go, the more we have to come back; every\n     step we take forward (even before we can return hither,\n     into the state wherein we are at present) must be repeated;\n     all the web we spin must be unravelled.\n\n     Vice, as it groweth in age, so it improveth in stature and\n     strength; from a puny child it soon waxeth a lusty\n     striping, then riseth to be a sturdy man, and after awhile\n     becometh a massy giant, whom we shall scarce dare to\n     encounter, whom we shall be very hardly able to vanquish;\n     especially seeing that as it groweth taller and stouter, so\n     we shall dwindle and prove more impotent, for it feedeth\n     upon our vitals, and thriveth by our decay; it waxeth\n     mighty by stripping us of our best forces, by enfeebling\n     our reason, by perverting our will, by corrupting our\n     temper, by debasing our courage, by seducing all our\n     appetites and passions to a treacherous compliance with\n     itself: every day our mind groweth more blind, our will\n     more resty, our spirit more faint, our passions more\n     headstrong and untamable; the power and empire of sin do\n     strangely by degrees encroach, and continually get ground\n     upon us, till it hath quite subdued and enthralled us.\n     First we learn to bear it; then we come to like it; by and\n     by we contract a friendship with it; then we dote upon it;\n     at last we become enslaved to it in a bondage, which we\n     shall hardly be able, or willing, to shake off; when not\n     only our necks are fitted to the yoke, our hands are\n     manacled, and our feet shackled thereby, but our heads and\n     hearts do conspire in a base submission thereto, when vice\n     hath made such impression on us, when this pernicious weed\n     hath take so deep root in our mind, will, and affection, it\n     will demand an extremely toilsome labour to extirpate\n     it.--_Barrow,_ 1630-1677.\n\n     Repentance is entirely in God's disposal. This grace is in\n     the soul from God, as light is in the air from the sun, by\n     continual emanation; so that God may shut or open His\n     hands, contract or diffuse, set forth or suspend the\n     influences of it as He pleases. And if God gives not\n     repenting grace, there will be a hard heart and a dry eye,\n     maugre all the poor frustraneous endeavours of nature. A\n     piece of brass may as easily melt, or a flint bewater\n     itself, as the heart of man, by any innate power of its\n     own, resolve itself into a penitential humiliation. If God\n     does not, by an immediate blow of His omnipotence, strike\n     the rock, these waters will never gush out. The Spirit\n     blows where it listeth, and if that blows not, these\n     showers can never fall.\n\n     And now, if the matter stands so, how does the impenitent\n     sinner know but that God, being provoked by his present\n     impenitence, may irrevocably propose within Himself to seal\n     up these fountains, and shut him up under hardness of heart\n     and reprobation of sense? And then farewell all thoughts of\n     repentance for ever.--_South,_ 1633-1716.\n\n\n\nA PLAIN COMMAND.\n\n     i. 16. _Cease to do evil._\n\nOne of the pretexts by which wicked men endeavour to excuse their\nneglect of religion is, that many of the doctrines of the Bible are\nmysterious. They are so necessarily, and that they are so is one\nproof that the Bible is from God. But however mysterious the\ndoctrines of Scripture may be, its precepts are plain enough. How\nplain is the command of our text! No man can even pretend that he\ndoes not understand it. If he does not obey it, he will not be able\nto plead that it is beyond his comprehension. We have--+I. A\nuniversal requirement.+ Certain of the precepts of Scripture concern\nonly certain classes of individuals (sovereigns, subjects, husbands,\nwives, &c.), but this command concerns us all. Your name is written\nabove it, and it is a message for _you._ +II. A most reasonable\nrequirement.+ It is wrong that needs justification, not right. The\nworst man in the community will admit that he _ought_ to \"cease to do\nevil.\" And he _can,_ if he will, not in his own strength, but in that\nwhich God is ever ready to impart to every man who desires to turn\nfrom sin. And not only ought and can men \"cease to do evil,\" it will\nbe to their advantage to do so. Sin has its \"pleasures,\" but they are\nbut \"for a season,\" and they are succeeded by pains and penalties so\nintense that the pleasures will be altogether forgotten. To exhort\nmen to \"cease to do evil,\" is to exhort them to cease laying the\nfoundation for future misery.[1] On every ground, therefore, this is\na most reasonable requirement. +III. A comprehensive requirement.+ It\nis not from certain forms of evil, merely, but from evil in all its\nforms, that we are required to abstain. \"Cease to do _evil!_\"[2] Sin\nmust be utterly forsaken! not great and flagrant sins only, but also\nwhat are called \"little sins.\"[3] These destroy more than great\nsins.[4] One sin is enough to keep us enslaved to Satan.[5] +IV. An\nimperative requirement.+ This is not a counsel, which we are at\nliberty to accept or reject; it is a command, which we disobey at our\nperil; a command of One who has full power to make His authority\nrespected. +V. A very elementary requirement.+ Men who have laid\naside certain evil habits, such as drunkenness, swearing, &c., are\napt to plume themselves on what they have done, and to regard\nthemselves as paragons of virtue. But this is a mistake. Ceasing to\ndo evil is but the beginning of a better life; it is but the pulling\nup of the weeds in a garden, and much more than this is needed before\n\"a garden\" can be worthy of the name. Those who have ceased to do\nevil must \"learn to do well.\"[6]\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] As where punishment is there was sin; so where sin is there\n     will be, there must be, punishment. \"If thou dost ill,\"\n     saith God to Cain, \"sin lies at thy door\" (Gen. iv. 7).\n     _Sin,_ that is _punishment_ for sin; they are so\n     inseparable, that one word implies both; for the doing ill\n     is the sin, that is within doors; but the suffering ill is\n     the punishment, and that lies like a fierce mastiff at the\n     door, and is ready to fly in our throat when we look forth,\n     and, if it do not then seize upon us, yet it dogs us at the\n     heels; and will be sure to fasten upon us at our greatest\n     disadvantage: _Tum gravior c\u00f9m tarda venit, &c._ Joseph's\n     brethren had done heinously ill: what becomes of their sin?\n     It makes no noise, but follows them slily and silently in\n     the wilderness: It follows them home to their father's\n     house; it follows them into Egypt. All this while there is\n     no news of it; but when it found them cooped up three days\n     in Pharaoh's ward, now it bays at them, and flies in their\n     faces. \"We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in\n     that we saw the anguish of his soul,\" &c. (Gen. xlii. 21).\n\n     What should I instance in that, whereof not Scripture, not\n     books, but the whole world, is full--the inevitable\n     sequences of sin and punishment? Neither can it be\n     otherwise \"Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?\"\n     saith Abraham. _Right,_ is to give every one his due: wages\n     is due to work; now \"the wages of sin is death:\" So then,\n     it stands upon no less ground than very necessary and\n     essential justice to God, that where wickedness hath led\n     the way, there punishment must follow.--_Hall,_ 1574-1656.\n\n [2] There may be a forsaking of a particular sin that has been\n     delightful and predominant without sincerity towards God,\n     for another lust may have got possession of the heart, and\n     take the throne. There is an alternate succession of\n     appetites in the corrupt nature, according to the change of\n     men's temper or interests in the world. As seeds sown in\n     that order in a garden, that 'tis always full of a\n     succession of fruits and herbs in season; so original sin\n     that is sown in our nature is productive of divers lusts,\n     some in the spring, others in the summer of our age, some\n     in the autumn, others in the winter. Sensual lusts flourish\n     in youth, but when mature age has cooled these desires,\n     worldly lusts succeed; in old age there is no relish for\n     sensuality, but covetousness reigns imperiously. Now he\n     that expels one sin and entertains another continues in a\n     state of sin; 'tis but exchanging one familiar for another;\n     or, to borrow the prophet's expression, \"'Tis as one should\n     fly from a lion, and meet with a bear that will as\n     certainly devour him.\"--_Salter._\n\n [3] Thou dost not hate sin if thou only hatest some one sin.\n     All iniquity will be distasteful in thy sight if God the\n     Holy Spirit has really made them to loathe iniquity. If it\n     say to a person, \"I will not receive you into my house when\n     you come dressed in such a coat;\" but if I open the door to\n     him when he has on another suit which is more respectable,\n     it is evident that my objection was not to the person, but\n     to his clothes. If a man will not cheat when the\n     transaction is open to the world, but will do so in a more\n     secret way, or in a kind of adulteration which is winked at\n     in the trade, the man does not hate cheating, he only hates\n     that kind of it which is sure to be found out; he likes the\n     thing itself very well. Some sinners, they say they hate\n     sin. Not at all; sin in its essence is pleasing enough, it\n     is only a glaring shape of it which they\n     dislike.--_Spurgeon._\n\n     If we would realise the full force of the term \"hatred of\n     evil,\" as it ought to exist in all, as it would exist in a\n     perfectly righteous man, we shall do well to consider how\n     sensitive we are to natural evil in its every form to pain\n     and suffering and misfortune. How delicately is the\n     physical frame of man constructed, and how keenly is that\n     slightest derangement in any part of it felt! A little mote\n     in the eye, hardly discernible by the eye of another, the\n     swelling of a small gland, the deposit of a small grain of\n     sand, what agonies may these slight causes inflict! That\n     fine filament of nerves of feeling spread like a wonderful\n     network of gossamer over the whole surface of the body, how\n     exquisitely susceptible is it! A trifling burn, or scald,\n     or incision, how does it cause the member affected to be\n     drawn back suddenly, and the patient to cry out! Now there\n     can be no question that if man were in a perfectly moral\n     state, moral evil would affect his mind as sensibly and in\n     as lively a manner--would, in short, be as much of an\n     affliction to him, as pain is to his physical frame. He\n     would shrink and snatch himself away, as sin came near to\n     his consciousness, the first entrance of it into his\n     imagination would wound and arouse his moral sensibilities,\n     and make him positively unhappy.--_Goulburn._\n\n [4] The worst sin is not some outburst of gross transgression,\n     forming an exception to the ordinary tenor of life, bad and\n     dismal as such a sin is; but the worst and most fatal are\n     the small continuous vices which root underground and\n     honeycomb the soul. Many a man who thinks himself a\n     Christian is in more danger from the daily commission, for\n     example, of small pieces of sharp practice in his business,\n     than ever was David at his worst. White ants pick a carcase\n     clean sooner than a lion will.--_Maclaren._\n\n [5] As an eagle, though she enjoy her wings and beak, is wholly\n     prisoner if she be held but by one talon, so are we, though\n     we could be delivered of all habit of sin, in bondage\n     still, if vanity hold us but by a silken thread.--_Donne,_\n     1573-1631.\n\n     Ships, when the tide rises and sets strongly in any\n     direction, sometimes turn and seem as if they would go out\n     upon it. But they only head that way, and move from side to\n     side, swaying and swinging without moving on at all. There\n     seems to be nothing to hinder them from sailing and\n     floating out to sea; but there is something. Down under the\n     water a great anchor lies buried in the mud. The ship\n     cannot escape. The anchor holds her. And thus are men\n     holden by the cords of their own sins. They go about trying\n     to discover some way to be forgiven, but yet keep good\n     friends with the devil that is in them.--_Beecher._\n\n [6] Thou hast laid down the commission of an evil, but hast\n     thou taken up thy known duty? He is a bad husbandman that\n     drains his ground, and then neither sows nor plants it.\n     It's all one if it had been under water as drained and not\n     improved. What if thou cease to do evil (if it were\n     possible) and thou learn'st not to do well? 'Tis not thy\n     fields being clear of weeds, but fruitful in corn, pays the\n     rent, and brings thee in thy profit; nor thy not being\n     drunk, unclean, or any other sin, but thy being holy,\n     gracious, thy having faith unfeigned, pure love, and the\n     other graces which will prove thee sound, and bring in\n     evidence for thy interest in Christ, and through Him of\n     heaven.--_Gurnell,_ 1617-1679.\n\n\n\nTHE GREAT TASK.\n\n     i. 17. _Learn to do well._\n\nNegative goodness is not enough to meet the Divine requirements.\nThose who have \"ceased to do evil\" must \"learn to do well.\" God\ndemands positive excellence.[1] The cultivation of well-doing is the\nsurest guarantee against evil-doing.[2]\n\n+I. Well-doing is a thing to be learned.+ We have been too prone to\nlook at it in its other aspect only, as a thing springing from faith\nand love, not as a thing to be cultivated. But see Phil. iv. 9;\n1 Tim. v. 4; Titus iii. 14; Matt. xi. 29; Heb. v. 3 All _experience_\nis in accordance with the teaching of these texts. Has any case\noccurred in which at the beginning of the Christian life a person was\nproficient in well-doing? Men are not born into the Christian life\nwith a perfect capacity to _do_ well, any more than they are born\ninto the natural life with a perfect capacity to _speak_ well.\nConversion is a beginning, not an ending.[3] We then begin to learn\nthe standards, methods, opportunities, and practice of excellence. In\nthe hour of conversion we do but pass into Christ's school, and begin\nto be His _disciples._ Well-doing is not to be learned in one lesson,\nnor in six lessons. [_Illustration:_ frequent advertisement, \"French\nin six lessons.\" Absurd!] It was only after a prolonged training and\nmost varied discipline that St. Paul could say, \"I have _learned_ in\nwhatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.\" Is _that_ a lesson\nto be acquired in a day? Let our own hearts supply further proof.\nLook within, and see the evils yet unsubdued, the excellences yet\nunattained, the difficulty with which many a duty is discharged, and\nyou will see the necessity of _learning_ to do well. We have\n_learned_ to do well only when it has become a _habit_ to us, when we\ndo it as easily and naturally as a well-trained merchant's clerk adds\nup a column of figures correctly. But can any _habit_ be acquired\nwithout prolonged practice?[4]\n\n+II. Well-doing is learned much in the same way as other things are\nlearned.+ Learning a language involves study, patience, perseverance,\npractice. Not otherwise can we learn to do well.[5]\n\n+III. In learning to do well, we need both inspiration and help.+ We\nhave both; the _inspiration_ in the example of our Lord (Acts x. 38;\nHeb. xii. 2); the _help_ in the gracious assistance of the Holy Ghost\n(Rom. viii. 26). Therefore, difficult as the task is, we may address\nourselves to it with good hope of success.--_William Jones._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] All the religion of some men runs upon _nots._ \"I am not as\n     this publican.\" That ground is nought, though it brings not\n     forth briars and thorns, if it yieldeth not good increase.\n     Not only the unruly servant (Matt. xxiv. 48, 49) is cast\n     into hell, but also the _idle_ servant (Matt. xxv. 30).\n     Meroz is cursed not for opposing and fighting, but for not\n     helping. Dives did not take away food from Lazarus, but he\n     did not give him any of his crumbs. \"I set up no other\n     gods;\" ay, but dost thou reverence and obey the true God?\n     \"I do not profane the Sabbath.\" Dost thou sanctify it? Thou\n     dost not wrong thy parents; but dost thou reverence them?\n     Thou dost not murder; but dost thou do good to thy\n     neighbour? Usually men cut off half of their bill, as the\n     unjust steward bade the man who owed a hundred set down\n     fifty. We do not think of sins of omission. If we are no\n     drunkards, adulterers, and profane persons, we do not think\n     what it is to omit respects to God, not to reverence His\n     holy majesty, not to delight in Him and His\n     ways.--_Monton,_ 1620-1667.\n\n [2] Fighting faults is the most discouraging thing in the\n     world. When corn reaches a certain height, no more weeds\n     can grow among it. The corn overshadows and grows them\n     down. Let men fill themselves full of good things. Let them\n     make their love and purity and kindness grow up like corn,\n     that every evil and noxious thing within them may be\n     overshadowed and die.--_Beecher._\n\n [3] No man is born into the full Christian character, any more\n     than he is born into the character of a man when he comes\n     into the world. A man at conversion is in the state of one\n     who has just come in to the possession of an old homestead.\n     He had the title, and he can make for himself a beautiful\n     home. But the dust, the dirt, and the cobwebs of years\n     choke all the rooms, and must be cleared away. Many sills\n     and beams are rotten, and must be replaced by new ones.\n     Chambers must be refitted, walls newly plastered, the whole\n     roof must be searched over, and every leak stopped. There\n     must be a thorough cleansing and repair before the mansion\n     is habitable; and when all this is done, it is only _an\n     empty house_ that the man has. The same kind of thing that\n     man has _who has trained himself into freedom from wrong,\n     without having become faithful in right deeds._--_Beecher._\n\n [4] Character is consolidated habit, and habit forms itself by\n     repeated action. Habits are like paths beaten hard and\n     clear by the multitude of light footsteps which go to and\n     fro. The daily restraint or indulgence of the nature, in\n     the business, in the hope, in the imagination, which is the\n     inner laboratory of the life, creates the character which,\n     whether it be here or there, settles the\n     destiny.--_J. Baldwin Brown._\n\n [5] It is not great, or special, or extraordinary experiences\n     which constitute in the best sense the _religious_\n     character. It is the uniform daily walk with God, serving\n     Him in little things as well as great--in the ordinary\n     duties and everyday avocations, as well as in the midst of\n     grave and eventful contingencies. As the sublimest symphony\n     is made up of separate single notes;--as the wealth of the\n     cornfield is made up of separate stalks, or rather of\n     separate grains;--as the magnificent texture, with its\n     gorgeous combinations of colour, is made up of individual\n     threads;--as the mightiest avalanche that ever came\n     thundering down from its Alpine throne, uprooting villages\n     and forests, is made up of tiny snowflakes;--so it is with\n     the spiritual life. That life is itself the grandest\n     illustration of the power of littles. Character is the\n     product of daily, hourly actions, words, thoughts; daily\n     forgivenesses, unselfishnesses, kindnesses, sympathies,\n     charities, sacrifices for the good of others, struggles\n     against temptations, submissiveness under trial. Oh it is\n     these, like the blending colours in a picture, or the\n     blending notes of music, which constitute the\n     man.--_Macduff._\n\n\n\nTHE NOBLEST ART.\n\n     i. 17. _Learn to do well._\n\n+I. To do well is a thing that requires to be learned.+ 1. _It does\nnot come to us naturally,_ as breathing and sleeping do. That which\ncomes to us naturally is to do evil. This is manifest in every child:\nit needs no teaching to do evil, but it needs a great deal of\nteaching before it will habitually do well. Nor does proficiency in\nwell-doing come to us even with our new birth. Then come new desires\nafter righteousness, but the knowledge and practice of righteousness\nhave to be learned.[1] At our new birth we are _born_ \"babes in\nChrist:\" manhood in Christ is reached only by _growth._[2] 2. _It is\nnot a thing we acquire unconsciously,_ as infants learn to see and\nhear, or as older persons acquire the accent of the country in which\nthey reside, or as invalids gain health at the seaside. Living in a\nreligious atmosphere will not of itself make us religious, nor will\nmere companionship with good men. Association with artists will not\nof itself make a man an artist; and association with Christians will\nnot of itself make any man a Christian. Judas was in constant\nassociation with Christ himself for more than three years, and at the\nend of that period, instead of doing well, he committed he foulest of\nall crimes. To do well is an _art,_ and, like every other art, it can\nbe mastered only by deliberate efforts of the will.[3] This is the\ntestimony both of _Scripture_ and _experience._ (See preceding\noutline.)\n\n+II. To do well is a thing that may be learned.+ Not all persons,\nhowever earnest their desires or persevering their efforts, can\nbecome poets, painters, statesman, orators. But to do well is an art\nin which all regenerate persons may become proficient, some with\ngreater ease than others, but to none is the task impossible. There\nis no vice which a regenerate man may not lay aside, no excellence to\nwhich he may not attain.\n\n+III. To do well is a thing that must be learned.+ It is an\nimperative demand which God makes upon all His people. We cannot\nsatisfy it by \"ceasing to do evil.\" It is not enough for the\n\"branches\" of the True Vine not to bring forth \"wild grapes;\" they\nmust bear _fruit_--_much_ fruit--to the glory of the Husbandman (John\nxv. 8). Not only must Christ's followers be \"blameless,\" they must be\n_conspicuous_ for excellence. \"Let your _light_ so SHINE before men\nthat they may _see_ your good works, and glorify your Father which is\nin heaven.\" These truths being settled in our minds, let us ask\nourselves.\n\n+IV. How this noblest of arts may be acquired.+ 1. _By setting before\nourselves, and carefully studying, the noblest models._ Thus do those\nwho would become proficient in other arts: music, painting,\nsculpture, architecture, &c. Now the great Master in the art of\nwell-doing was our Lord Jesus Christ: we must therefore study Him and\nHis works. But as it is often a help to the discovery of the secrets\nof a great master's excellences to study the works of his disciples,\nas thus our attention is sometimes directed to points we might\notherwise overlook, and as by the contrast between him and them, even\nwhen they have done their best, we get a clearer view of his\ntranscendent power--so it will be helpful to us to study the\ncharacter of Christ's noblest disciples,[4]--always, however, coming\nback to the study of _His_ character, remembering that we shall\nsucceed in doing well only in proportion as we become like _Him._\n2. _By becoming imbued with the principles by which the great masters\nin this art were animated._ Mere mechanical imitation is always a\npoor thing, and often a grotesque and pitiable thing; because\ncircumstances are continually varying. What kind of an English home\nwould the most exact reproduction of the most beautiful of all\nclassic villas be? The architect who forgot that the climate of\nEngland is not like that of Rome or Athens would be accounted a fool.\nYet many professed imitators of Christ have fallen into a similar\nmistake; they have imitated merely the outward circumstances of His\nlife, and have forgotten that the essential thing it to have \"the\n_mind_ that was in Christ.\" When we have _that,_ all else will follow\nas a matter of course. Now the great principle which governed Christ\nand His noblest disciples was love--love to God and man: a _docile_\nlove, which did not seek to please God in _its_ way, but in _His_\nway, and evermore searched the Scriptures to discover upon what\nthings God looks with delight. 3. _By patient and persevering\nendeavours to embody in our practice the truths we have thus\ndiscovered._ Only by such endeavours can the mastery in any art be\nwon. 4. _By fidelity in little things._ The master's ease is reached\nonly by the student's painstaking--by his careful endeavour to be\n_right_ in each individual note, line, shade, stroke, word. It is\n_thus,_ and thus only, that the _habit_ of doing well is gained.\n\n+V. Let us remember certain things for our own encouragement.+ 1. _We\nare not left to learn this art alone:_ we have the constant help of\nthe most reasonable, patient, and successful of all teachers. We are\ndisciples of _Christ._ How much that means! He does not expect us to\nbecome proficients in a few lessons. He remembers that the most\nadvanced of us are only little children in His great school. If He\nsees in us the earnest _desire_ and the resolute _endeavour_ to\nlearn, He is well satisfied.[5] He will most carefully adapt His\nmethods of instruction to our individual capacity. He will lead us on\nto the goal step by step. Already in countless thousands of instances\nHe has dealt successfully with most intractable materials: scholars\nwho seemed hopelessly dull and inapt He has so instructed that they\nhave passed the great examination that awaits us all at death; and\nthey are now carrying on their studies in the great university of\nheaven. 2. _In no other art does progress bring so much happiness:_\nthe testimony of a good conscience; consciousness of the approval of\nGod; a pleasant retrospect, brightening hopes. 3. _In no other art\ndoes proficiency ensure such rich rewards._ Proficiency in any other\nart can but win for us the honours and joys of earth; proficiency in\nthis will secure for us the honours and joys of heaven. It is one\ngreat doctrine of Scripture, that we are _saved_ through our faith:\nit is another, that we are _rewarded_ according to our works.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] The process of being born again is like that which a\n     portrait goes through under the hand of the artist. When a\n     man is converted, he is but the outline sketch of a\n     character which he is to fill up. He first lays in the dead\n     colouring. Then come the work of laying in the colours, and\n     he goes on, day after day, week after week, month after\n     month, year after year, blending them, and heightening the\n     effect. It is a life's work; and when he dies he is still\n     laying in and blending the colours, and heightening the\n     effect. And if men suppose the work is done when they are\n     converted, why should we expect anything but lopsided\n     Christian character?--_Beecher._\n\n     Who starts up a finished Christian? The very best men come\n     from their graves, like Lazarus, \"bound with\n     grave-clothes,\"--not like Jesus, who left the death-dress\n     behind Him; and, alas! in their remaining corruptions all\n     carry some of these cerements about with them, nor drop\n     them but at the gate of heaven.--_Guthrie._\n\n [2] God deals in spiritual proceedings, as in natural, to\n     extremes by the mean. We are not born old men; but first an\n     infant, then a man, then old. We are conceived of immortal\n     seed, born of the Spirit, so go on to perfection. There is\n     first a seed, then a plant, then a tree. We go not at one\n     jump into heaven, nor at one stroke kill the\n     enemy.--_Adams,_ 1643.\n\n [3] Cast a sponge into water, and, the fluid filling its empty\n     cells, it swells out before our eyes, increases more and\n     more. There is no effort here, and could be none; for\n     though once a living animal, the sponge is now dead and\n     dry. But it is not as sponges fill with water, nor to use a\n     Scripture figure often employed, and sometimes misapplied,\n     as Gideon's fleece was filled with dews, that God's people\n     are replenished with His grace. More is needed than simply\n     to bring ourselves in contact with ordinances, to read the\n     Bible, to repair on Sabbath to Church, to sit down in\n     communion seasons at the Lord's table.--_Guthrie._\n\n [4] God hath provided and recommended to us one example as a\n     perfect standard of good practice--the example of our Lord.\n     That indeed is the most universal, absolute, and assured\n     pattern; yet doth it not supersede the use of other\n     examples. Not only the valour and conduct of the general,\n     but those of inferior officers, yea the resolution of\n     common soldiers, doth serve to animate their fellows. The\n     stars have their season to guide us as well as the sun;\n     especially when our eyes are so weak as hardly to bear the\n     day. Even considering our infirmity, inferior examples by\n     their imperfection sometimes have a peculiar advantage. Our\n     Lord's most imitable practice did proceed from an immense\n     virtue of Divine grace which we cannot arrive to; it is in\n     itself so perfect and high, that we may not ever reach it:\n     looking upon it may therefore sometimes dazzle and\n     discourage our weakness. But other good men had assistance\n     in measure such as we may hope to approach unto; they were\n     subject to the difficulties which we feel; they were\n     exposed to the perils of falling which we fear; we may\n     therefore hope to march on in a reasonable distance after\n     them; we may, by help of the same grace, come near in\n     transcribing their less exact copy.--_Barrow,_ 1630-1677.\n\n [5] Gotthold observed a boy in a writing-school eyeing\n     attentively the line placed before him, and labouring to\n     write with equal correctness and beauty. Mark, said he to\n     the bystanders, how all perfection is the offspring of\n     imperfection, and how by frequent mistakes we learn to do\n     well. It is not required of this boy that his penmanship\n     shall equal that of the line. He satisfies his master by\n     the pains he takes; for these are a ground of hope that he\n     will progressively improve, and at last learn to write with\n     rapidity and elegance. We also have a pattern to copy. It\n     has been left us by the Lord Jesus Christ, and is His most\n     perfect and holy life. And think not that He extracts more\n     from us than the teacher does from the pupil. No, indeed;\n     if He find us carefully studying His example, and diligent\n     in our endeavours to imitate it, He exercises forbearance\n     towards our faults, and by His grace and Spirit daily\n     strengthens us to amend.--_Scriver,_ 1629-1693.\n\n\n\nTHE OPPRESSED AND THEIR RELIEF.\n\n     i. 17. _Relieve the oppressed._\n\nReligion means sympathy with man in his oppressed condition. The\ntruth alone can give men freedom. +I. The oppressed.+ 1. _There are\nthose oppressed by sinful habits._ Many men are their own tyrants.\nThey build their own prison, make their own fetters, and whip\nthemselves. Their oppression is the consequence of their sin. Such\nare to be relieved, however little they may appear to desire or\ndeserve it, by the compassion of the good. 2. _There are those\noppressed by commercial difficulty._ There are many men whose\ncommercial life is one continual struggle to get on, and to provide\nthose things honest in the sight of the world. They have small\ncapital. Fortune seems against them. They are active, but they do not\nsucceed. Such ought to be relieved by the generous consideration of\nthe good. 3. _There are those oppressed by domestic misfortune._ The\nwife has lost her husband. The children have buried their parents.\nThey are out alone in the wide world. They are liable to the\nthoughtless but stern oppression of men. Such must be relieved by the\ngood. 4. _There are those oppressed by religious bigotry._ There are\nmany great souls who are larger than a sect, oppressed by the\nconventionally orthodox. They are driven from their pulpits. They are\nexcommunicated from their synagogue. They need the relief of true\nsympathy. +II. Their relief.+ 1. _By personal sympathy._[1] Genuine\nsympathy is always a relief to an oppressed[2] It heals the soul and\nlightens the burden.[3] A kind word, a cheering look, is welcome to\nthe oppressed. 2. _By intelligent advocacy._ The cause of the\noppressed should be advocated where it is likely to be redressed.\nPolitics can be employed in no higher ministry than in seeking the\nrelief of the oppressed. 3. _By practical help._ Sympathy must not be\nsubstituted for personal and self-denying help. Words are well;\nsmiles are welcome; but personal help is the most effective to the\nremoval of oppression.--_J. S. Exell._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] We are all sons of one Father, members of one body, and\n     heirs of one kingdom, in respect of which near-linking\n     together there should be compassion and sympathy betwixt\n     us. If one member do but grieve, all suffer with it. When a\n     thorn is got into the foot, how is it that the back bows,\n     the eyes pry into the hurt, and the hands are busied to\n     pluck out the cause of the anguish? And we, being members\n     of one another, should bear with and forbear one the other,\n     the not doing whereof will stick as a brand upon our souls\n     that we are of the number of them that have forsaken the\n     fear of the Almighty.--_Spencer,_ 1658.\n\n [2] Certain it is, that nothing can better do it, so there is\n     nothing greater, for which God made our tongues, next to\n     reciting His praises, than to minister comfort to a weary\n     soul. And what greater pleasure can we have than that we\n     should bring joy to our brother, who, with his dreary eyes,\n     looks to heaven and round about, and cannot find so much\n     rest as to lay his eyelids close together, than that thy\n     tongue should be tuned with heavenly accents, and make the\n     weary soul to listen for light and ease; and when he\n     perceives that there is such a thing in the world, and in\n     the order of things as comfort and joy, to begin to break\n     out from the prison of his sorrows, at the door of sighs\n     and tears, and, by little and little, melts into showers\n     and refreshment? This is glory to thy voice and employment\n     fit for the brightest angel. But so have I seen the sun\n     kiss the frozen earth, which was bound up with images of\n     death, and the colder breath of the north; and then the\n     waters break from their enclosures, and melt with joy, and\n     run in useful channels; and the flies do rise again from\n     their little graves in the walls, and dance awhile in the\n     air, to tell that there is joy within, and that the great\n     mother of creatures will open the stock of her new\n     refreshment, become useful to mankind, and sing praises to\n     her Redeemer: so is the heart of a sorrowful man under the\n     discourses of a wise comforter; he breaks from the despairs\n     of the grave, and the fetters and chains of sorrow; he\n     blesses God, and he blesses thee, and he feels his life\n     returning: for to be miserable is death, but nothing is\n     life but to be comforted: and God is pleased with no music\n     from below so much as in the thanksgiving songs of relieved\n     widows, of supported orphans, of rejoicing and comforted\n     and thankful persons.--_Jeremy Taylor,_ 1612-1667.\n\n [3] Till we have reflected on it, we are scarcely aware how\n     much the sum of human happiness in the world is indebted to\n     this one feeling--sympathy. We get cheerfulness, and\n     vigour, we scarcely know how or when, from mere association\n     with our fellow-men; and from the looks reflected on us of\n     gladness and enjoyment we catch inspiration and power to go\n     on, from human presence and from cheerful looks. The\n     workman works with added energy from having others by. The\n     full family circle has a strength and a life peculiarly its\n     own. The substantial good and the effectual relief which\n     men extend to one another is trifling. It is not by these,\n     but by something far less costly, that the work is done.\n     God has ensured it by a much more simple machinery. He has\n     given to the weakest and the poorest power to contribute\n     largely to the common stock of gladness. The child's smile\n     and laugh are mighty powers in this world. When bereavement\n     has left you desolate, what substantial benefit is there\n     which makes condolence acceptable? It cannot replace the\n     loved ones you have lost. It can bestow upon you nothing\n     permanent. But a warm hand has touched yours, and its\n     thrill told you that there was a living response there to\n     your emotion. One look, one human sigh, has done more for\n     you than the costliest present could convey.--_Robertson,_\n     1816-1853.\n\n\n\nGOD'S IDEAL OF GOODNESS.\n\n     i. 17. _Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the\n     oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow._\n\nThis verse is more correctly translated thus--_\"Learn to do well;\nseek judgment, restrain the oppressor, right the fatherless, maintain\nthe cause of the widow.\"_--or, _\"Learn to do good; seek out judgment,\nredress wrong, judge the fatherless, befriend the widow.\"_\n\nThe form of these admonitions was determined by the sins of which the\nrulers of Jerusalem had been guilty. By them the course of justice\nhad been perverted (ver. 23; Micah iii. 11, &c.); wrongs had been\nleft unredressed, and oppressors unrestrained; the orphans and the\nwidows, having neither money to bribe nor power to overawe the\ncorrupt judges, had sought in vain for justice,--such judges as our\nLord has depicted in His parable (Luke xviii. 2) were common. The\nfour specific admonitions of this verse are a divinely-inspired\nexposition of the general admonition with which it commences. So\nregarded, we find it in _God's ideal of goodness._ The command is\ngiven, \"Learn to do well.\" Yes, but what is meant by learning to do\nwell? \"To do well,\" says the prophet, is \"to seek out judgment, to\nrestrain the oppressor, to judge the fatherless, to befriend the\nwidow.\"\n\nThis Divine ideal of goodness is in startling opposition to certain\nstandards of excellence widely accepted both in the Church and in the\nworld. It is in opposition (1) to the idea that _a good man is one\nwho does no harm._ How prevalent is the notion that a man who\nrefrains from injuring his neighbours is a person worthy of high\ncommendation! But to do no harm merely is to fall far short of the\nScripture standard of excellence.[1] It is in opposition (2) to the\nidea that _a man who confines himself to the cultivation of personal\nvirtues is a true follower of Christ._ In all our Churches there are\nmultitudes of persons whose \"religion\" is a purely selfish\nconsideration. They have been taught that certain excellences are\nnecessary to qualify them for admission to heaven, and to the\ncultivation of these excellences they address themselves assiduously,\nmerely that they may secure their own eternal well-being. But such\npersons fail to observe that the mind that was in Christ was not a\nspirit of self-seeking but of self-sacrifice. It is in opposition\n(3) to the idea that _the more spiritual a man is, the more\nindifferent he will be to what happens in the world._ It is precisely\nto concern as to what happens in the world that we are here called.\nWe are to \"seek out justice,\" to use all our influence that justice\nand righteousness shall prevail in the community in which we dwell.\nWe are not simply to mourn over wrongs; we are to redress them, and\nwe are to restrain the oppressors. Especially are we to see to it\nthat justice is done to the orphans, and to all helpless ones such as\nthey. The widow we are to befriend; she is to be our \"client,\" and we\nare to see to it that she is not wronged because God has been pleased\nto remove her natural defender. To live thus for others, to be the\nfriend of the friendless, the defender of the weak, the resolute\nopposer of all oppressors,--this and this only, is to realise the\nDivine ideal of goodness.[2]\n\nAPPLICATION.--1. _Men are good precisely in proportion as they are\nlike God._[3] Between a merely \"harmless\" man and God there is no\nresemblance. Between a man who lives only to secure his own\nwell-being and God there is a positive contrast. Between a man who is\nindifferent to the sorrows and the wrongs of his fellow-men there is\nstill greater contrast. He is not indifferent to what takes place on\nearth. It is His supreme glory that He burns with indignation against\noppression, and that He is the friend especially of the friendless\nand the weak (Ps. cxlvi. 7-9; cxlvii. 2-6). It is to resemblance to\nHim in these things, and not merely in abstinence from evil, that we\nare called (James i. 27). 2. _A selfish life is a godless life._ Men\nmay be eminently respectable members of society, and highly esteemed\nmembers of churches, and yet be utterly unlike God. Men who live only\nfor themselves, or to promote the happiness merely of their own\nhouseholds, and selfishly decline to take any part in philanthropic\nlabours, or in social and political movements which have for their\nobject the removal of public wrongs, are utterly out of sympathy with\nHim upon whose approval they reckon so confidently and so mistakenly.\nHad they any true love for God, they would have an unselfish love for\nmen, and would be quick to feel and to resent the wrongs that are\ndone them (1 John iii. 14, &c.) Dives was probably a highly\nrespectable citizen of Jerusalem, and on good terms with the\nauthorities of the temple, but the selfishness of his life sufficed\nat the last to exclude him from the Divine presence.[4] 3. _A godlike\nlife can never be a life of ease._ How many members of our churches\nhave incurred Christ's woe! (Luke vi. 26). Prudent men, they have\nbeen careful never to \"meddle\" in affairs of their neighbours; they\nhave never identified themselves with any revolutionary movements;\nagainst wrongs which have not troubled themselves they have never\nuttered words of flaming indignation! And yet they imagine themselves\nto be followers of Him who spoke of \"the cross\" which each of His\ndisciples would have to carry. What He meant by this saying is a\nmystery to them. But let them begin to endeavour to \"learn to do\nwell\" and this saying of His will be a mystery to them no longer. The\nworld will very soon hate them even as it hated Him. But this is one\nof the surest signs that we are His (John xv. 18, 19).\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] He is not half a saint who is but a negative saint. The\n     forbearance of gross corruptions is the easiest and least\n     part of religion, and therefore will not speak any man in a\n     state of salvation. The tree that is barren and without\n     good fruit is for the fire, as well as the tree that brings\n     forth evil fruit.\n\n     For men to think to excuse themselves that they do no hurt,\n     wrong neither man, woman, or child, and are not, as the\n     Pharisee said, as the publicans, who generally were\n     oppressors, it but a vain, foolish thing. The idle servant\n     might have said, \"Lord, I did no harm with my talent; I did\n     not lay it out in rioting and drunkenness, or any way to\n     Thy dishonour; I only hid it, and did not improve it,\"--yet\n     this was enough to condemn him. Can we call ground good\n     ground for bearing no weeds, if it never bring forth good\n     corn? Or do we count that servant a good servant who doth\n     not wrong his master in the estate by purloining or wasting\n     it, if he live idle all day, and neglect the business his\n     master appoints him?--_Swinnock,_ 1673.\n\n [2] A religion that does not take hold of the life that now is,\n     is like a cloud that does not rain. A cloud may roll in\n     grandeur, and be an object of admiration, but if it does\n     not rain, it is of little account so far as utility is\n     concerned. And a religion that consists in the observance\n     of magnificent ceremonies, but that does not touch the\n     duties of daily life, is a religion of show and of\n     sham.--_Beecher._\n\n [3] To be godly is to be godlike. The full accord of all the\n     soul with His character, in whom, as their native home,\n     dwell \"whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are\n     lovely,\" and the full conformity of the will to His\n     sovereign will, who is the life of our lives--this, and\n     nothing shallower, nothing narrower, is religion in its\n     perfection, and the measure in which we have attained to\n     this harmony with God is the measure in which we are\n     Christians. As two stringed instruments may be so tuned to\n     one keynote that if you strike the one, a faint ethereal\n     echo is heard from the other, which blends\n     undistinguishably with its parent sound; so drawing near to\n     God, and brought into unison with His mind and will, our\n     responsive spirits vibrate in accord with His, and give\n     forth tones, low and thin indeed, but still repeating the\n     mighty music of heaven.--_Maclaren._\n\n [4] They are selfish--because they have no motive of action\n     beyond themselves. They individualise existence. The spider\n     weaves a web, and that is its world. It retires into its\n     corner for observation, and has no concern for any\n     surrounding objects, except as they may be caught upon its\n     net, and appropriated to its use. So they who live without\n     God reticulate life with selfishness. Nothing concerns them\n     except as it may be drawn into the mesh of scheming for\n     ministering to their own wants and wishes.--_Bellew._\n\n\n\nGOD'S GRACIOUS INVITATION TO SINNERS.\n\n     i. 18. _Come now, and let us reason together, saith the\n     Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as\n     white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall\n     be as wool._\n\nIt is scarcely possible to conceive of a more interesting and\ndelightful exhibition of the love and mercy of God than is presented\nto us in these words; unless they had been found in the volume of\neternal truth, we might have justly doubted their veracity. For the\nspeaker is Jehovah, a Being infinitely happy and glorious in Himself.\nHe needs not, on His own account, the return of the sinner to\nHimself. Besides, He is the offended party. How marvellous, then,\nthat He should stoop to ask reconciliation with poor wretched man,\nthe rebel and traitor against heaven. Notice--+I. The characters\naddressed.+ Not such as excel in moral excellency, but in the vilest\nand most degraded of sinners. How apt we are to think that such are\npast reclamation. Yet it is to these that the invitation of our text\nis addressed--those whose sins are as scarlet and crimson. This\ndescription includes--1. _Those whose sins are glaring and manifest._\nIn the heart of men there is much evil that man or angel never sees.\nExternal circumstances act in the moral world as the shore to the\nocean, limiting and bounding its waters. The control thus exerted\nupon men is well for them, for society, and for the Church. But\nnumbers cast it off, sin in open day, and glory in their shame. Their\nsins are as scarlet or as crimson. 2. _Those whose iniquities are\nspecially productive of much evil and misery_--ringleaders in sin;\nridiculers of piety, who labour to throng the road to hell; ungodly\nmasters; ungodly heads of households, &c. 3. _Those who have sinned\nagainst great privileges and mercies_ (Matt. xi. 20-24). As it is\nwith nations and cities, so it is with individuals.[1] How many have\nhad privileges of a high character--pious parents, religious society,\na faithful ministry, special providences, &c. 4. _Backsliders,_ who\nby their fall have hardened others in iniquity, and caused them to\nscoff at religion. 5. _Aged transgressors._ +II. The invitation\npresented.+ \"Come and let us reason,\" &c. He wishes to have your\nstate and condition tested by reason. He gives you opportunities of\nself-defence; He is willing to hear all your motives, arguments, &c.\nNow, will you come to God, and reason with Him? What will you say?\n1. _You cannot plead ignorance._ You have seen the evil of your way,\nand yet have chosen it. 2. _You cannot plead necessity._ The Jews of\nold declared that they were not free agents, and that they could not\nhelp committing the sins of which they were guilty (Jer. vii. 10).\nThis is the grossest self-deception. It cannot be the will of God\nthat you should do evil (1 Thess. iv. 3; James i. 13; 1 Pet. i. 16).\nTo attribute our sins to Him is the most outrageous impiety. You have\nsinned freely; it has been your own act and choice. 3. _You must\nplead guilty._ Cast yourself on the mercy of God, pleading guilty,\nyou shall not be condemned, if--4. _You plead the merits of Christ._\nHe is \"the propitiation for our sin.\" Here is your hope, your plea.\nIn availing yourself of this plea, all that God requires is\nrepentance and faith. +III. The gracious promise.+--_Jabez Burns,\nD.D., Pulpit Cyclop\u00e6dia,_ iii. 161-165.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] All our sins are of a \"crimson\" dye, for remember, it is\n     not needful to have steeped our hands in a brother's blood\n     to make our guilt \"scarlet.\" God measures sins by\n     privileges. One evil thought in one man is as much as a\n     thousand crimes in another man.--_Vaughan._\n\n\n\nCLEANSING FOR THE VILEST.\n\n     i. 18. _Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as\n     white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall\n     be as wool._\n\nWe are informed by the Rabbins that the high priest bound a scarlet\nfillet round the neck of the scapegoat, and that when the priest\nconfessed his own sins and the sins of the people, the fillet became\nwhite if the atonement was accepted by God, but that if it was not\naccepted, the fillet remained scarlet still. The Rabbins further say\nthat the goat was led about twelve furlongs out of Jerusalem where it\nwas thrown down a precipice, and was mangled to atoms by the fall. In\ncase of the sacrifice being received by Heaven, a scarlet ribbon\nwhich hung at the door of the temple changed from scarlet to pure\nwhite. They affirm that it is to this changing of the fillet and\nribbon from scarlet to white that Isaiah refers in our text. While we\nregard these as fictions, and not as facts, they serve to illustrate\nthe nature and greatness of the change spoken of in it. +I. Scarlet\nand crimson represent sins of excessive and glaring notoriety.+\n1. The soul has been steeped in the dyeing element. 2. It has carried\naway as much of the dyeing quality as it can hold. It is twice dipped\nin the dye-vat. 3. The sins glare and arrest the eye like scarlet in\nthe sun. As the uniform of the British soldier is most conspicuous,\nso these sins glare in the eye (1) of society, (2) of conscience,\n(3) of Divine justice. +II. Scarlet and crimson symbolise the fast\nand permanent hold of these sins upon the soul.+ 1. The sins are not\na _stain_ but a _dye._ 2. The sins are not superficial: they have\npenetrated into the fabric, every thread of which has been dyed. The\nfaculties are the threads: the whole man the web. 3. The sins are not\ntypified by _any_ dye, but by _scarlet_ and _crimson,_ which are as\npermanent as the fabric they colour. They resist sun, dew, rain, the\nwash. +III. Scarlet and crimson becoming white as snow represents the\nperfect removal of the greatest sins.+ The colouring element is\nremoved. The soul is _restored._ The power that removes the sin yet\nsaves the soul. _Application._--There is hope, then, even for the\nvilest. The most desperately sinful need not\ndespair.[1]--_J. Stirling._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] In nature there is hardly a stone that is not capable of\n     crystallising into something purer and brighter than its\n     normal state. Coal, by a slightly different arrangement of\n     its particles, is capable of becoming the radiant diamond.\n     The slag cast out from the furnace as useless waste forms\n     into globular masses of radiating crystals. From tar and\n     pitch the loveliest colours are now manufactured. The very\n     mud of the road, trampled under foot as the type of all\n     impurity, can be changed by chemical art into metals and\n     gems of surpassing beauty; and so the most unpromising\n     materials, the most worthless moral rubbish that man cast\n     out and despise, may be converted by the Divine alchemy\n     into the gold of the sanctuary, and made jewels fit for the\n     mediatorial crown of the Redeemer. Let the case of Mary\n     Magdalene, of John Newton, of John Bunyan, of thousands\n     more, encourage those who are still in the gall of\n     bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. Seek to be\n     subjected to the same purifying process; lay yourselves\n     open to the same spiritual influences; yield yourselves up\n     into the hands of the Spirit to become His finished and\n     exquisite workmanship; seek diligently a saving and\n     sanctifying union with Christ by faith, and He will perfect\n     that which concerneth you, and lay your stones with fair\n     colours (Ps. lxviii. 13).--_Macmillan._\n\n\n\nCOMFORT FOR THE DESPONDING.\n\n     i. 18. _Come now, and let us reason together, saith the\n     Lord; Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as\n     white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall\n     be as wool._\n\nSome are kept in a desponding state--+I. By the views they entertain\nof the sovereignty of God and the doctrine of election.+ But--1. The\nelection of God, whatever it is, is an election _unto life,_ and not\nunto destruction. It should therefore be a source of encouragement,\nnot discouragement; it should awaken hope and joy, rather than\ndespondency. 2. God's election is _His_ rule of action, not yours:\nyours is the Bible.[1] 3. The thing you are required to believe in\norder to salvation is not your election, but God's truth. 4. In your\npresent state you have nothing to do with election;[2] but if you\nwill entertain the question, the _evidence_ is much more in favour of\nyour election than against it. +II. By the views they take of certain\nisolated passages of Scripture+ (Matt. xii. 31, 32; Heb. xii. 17;\nProv. i. 24-31). Not one of these passages, rightly understood, need\nquench your hope. Where there is one obscure passage that seems to\nmake against you, there is a hundred which plainly and positively\ntell you that if you turn you shall live, if you believe you shall be\nsaved. +III. By an apprehension that their repentance has not been\ndeep enough.+ But--1. The genuineness of your repentance is not to be\nestimated by the pungency of your feelings.[3] 2. It is not the depth\nof your feelings that is your warrant to come to Christ. 3. Your\npenitential feelings will not be likely to be increased by staying\naway from Christ. +IV. By the fear that they have gone too far and\nsinned too much to be forgiven.+ But, admitting the very worst you\ncan say of yourself, there is everything in the character of God, in\nthe work of Christ, in the power of the Spirit, in the experience of\nother sinners,[4] in the promises of the Bible, to inspire and\nsustain your hope.--_John Corbin._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Whatever the decrees of God be concerning the eternal state\n     of men, since they are secret to us, they can certainly be\n     no rule either of our duty or comfort. And no man hath\n     reason to think himself rejected of God who does not find\n     the marks of reprobation in himself--I mean an evil heart\n     and life. By this, indeed, a man may know that he is out of\n     God's favour for the present; but he hath no reason at all\n     from hence to conclude that God hath from all eternity and\n     for ever cast him off. That God calls him to repentance,\n     and affords him the space and means of it, is a much\n     plainer sign that God is willing to have mercy upon him,\n     than anything else can be that God hath utterly cast him\n     off. For men to judge of their condition by the decrees of\n     God, which are hid from us, and not by His Word, which is\n     near us, is as if a man wandering in the wide sea in a dark\n     night, when the heaven is all clouded, should resolve to\n     steer his course by the stars which he cannot see, but only\n     guess at, and neglect the compass which is at hand, and\n     would afford him much better and more certain\n     direction.--_Tillotson,_ 1630-1694.\n\n [2] We have no ground at first to trouble ourselves about God's\n     election. \"Secret things belong to God.\" God's revealed\n     will is, that all who believe in Christ should not perish.\n     It is my duty, therefore, knowing this, to believe: by\n     doing whereof I put that question, whether God be mine or\n     no? out of all question, for all that believe in Christ are\n     Christ's, and all that are Christ's are God's. It is not my\n     duty to look to God's secret counsel, but to His open\n     offer, invitation, and command, and thereupon adventure my\n     soul. In war men will venture their lives, because they\n     think some will escape, and why not they? In traffic beyond\n     the seas many adventure a great estate, because some grow\n     rich by a good return, though some miscarry. The husbandman\n     adventures his seed, though sometimes the year proves so\n     bad that he never sees it more. And shall not we make a\n     spiritual adventure, in casting ourselves upon God, when we\n     have so good a warrant as His command, and so good an\n     encouragement as His promise, that He will not fail those\n     that rely on Him?--_Sibbes,_ 1577-1635.\n\n [3] I see no reason to call in question the truth and sincerity\n     of that man's repentance who hates sin and forsakes, and\n     returns to God and his duty, though he cannot shed tears,\n     and express the bitterness of his soul by the same\n     significations that a mother does in the loss of her only\n     son. He that cannot weep like a child may resolve like a\n     man, and that undoubtedly will find acceptance with God.\n     Two persons walking together espy a serpent; the one\n     shrieks and cries out at the sight of it, the other kills\n     it. So it is with sorrow for sin; some express it by great\n     lamentations and tears, and vehement transports of passion;\n     others by greater and more real effects of detestation--by\n     forsaking their sins, by mortifying and subduing their\n     lusts; but he that kills it doth certainly best express his\n     inward enmity against it.--_Tillotson,_ 1630-1694.\n\n [4] Oh who can read of a _Manasseh,_ a _Magdalene,_ a _Saul,_\n     yes, an _Adam,_ who undid himself and a whole world with\n     him, in the roll of pardoned sinners, and yet turn away\n     from the promise, out of a fear that there is not mercy fit\n     in it to serve his turn? These are landmarks that show what\n     large boundaries mercy hath set for itself, and how far it\n     hath gone, even to take into its arms the greatest sinners\n     that make not themselves incapable thereof by final\n     impenitency. It were a healthful walk, poor doubting\n     Christian, for thy soul go to this circuit, and oft see\n     where the utmost stone is laid and boundary set by God's\n     pardoning mercy, beyond which He will not go.--_Gurnall,_\n     1617-1679.\n\n\n\nSIN AND GRACE.\n\n     i. 18. _Come now, and let us reason together, saith the\n     Lord; Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white\n     as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as\n     wool._\n\nFor an exposition of the symbolism of this verse, see note.[1]\n\nI. THE WONDERS OF DIVINE CONDESCENSION. 1. How marvellous that God\nshould condescend to \"reason\" with sinful men! Not thus do human\ngovernments deal with rebels against their authority. The stern\nproclamation goes forth, \"Submit, or die.\" To admit helpless rebels\nto a conference on equal terms (such as \"reasoning\" implies) is an\nidea that never occurs to earthly sovereigns; but (ch. lv. 8,\n9)--2. How marvellous that God should invite sinful men to reason\nwith Him, with a view to reconciliation with them! The result of such\nan investigation of their conduct could only be their condemnation;\nbut this is not God's ultimate design. He does not desire to\nhumiliate sinners, but to bring them to repentance and confession, in\norder that it may be possible for Him to pardon them. According to\nhuman standards, it would have been a great thing had God been\nwilling to be reconciled to those who have offended Him so\ngrievously; but how astonishing is this, that He, the offended party,\nshould seek to reconcile the offenders to Himself. (2 Cor. v. 18, 19;\nJohn iii. 19).\n\nII. THE POSSIBILITIES OF HUMAN SIN. \"Though your sins be as\nscarlet . . . though they be red like crimson.\" Sins that take\ncomplete possession of a man, and that are conspicuous to the public\neye, may be described as crimson and scarlet sins. How common such\nsins are! What a spectacle the human race must present to angelic\neyes! Scarlet and crimson sins are more common than we are apt to\nsuppose, because responsibility is in proportion to privilege. In\nproportion to the sinner's light is the sinner's guilt. Consequently\nthat which is a trivial fault in one man may be a crimson sin in\nanother. When an offence is contrary to a man's whole training,\nthough it may be a small matter in the sight of man, it may be as\nscarlet and crimson sin in the sight of God. In these possibilities\nof human sin we have--+1. A reason for universal watchfulness.+ Taken\neven in its most obvious sense, the possibility of which our text\nspeaks is the possibility of every man. There is no human being who\nmay not fall into crime. Many men, after living half a century\nblamelessly in the sight of men, suddenly yield to temptation, and\nare consigned to felons' cells. David was no stripling when he\ncommitted his great transgression. Said Hazael, \"Is thy servant a\ndog, that he should do this thing?\" Yet he did it! (2 Kings viii. 13,\n&c.) Peter rejected Christ's warning as incredible. Therefore (Rom.\nxi. 20; 1 Cor. x. 12).[2] +2. A reason for universal humiliation and\nprayer.+ Just because our privileges have been so great, God may put\na very different estimate upon our transgressions than we are\ndisposed to do. Therefore let us humbly seek pardon for the past, and\npreventing grace for the future (Ps. xix. 12, 13).\n\nIII. THE CERTAINTIES OF DIVINE GRACE. \"They shall be as white as\nsnow.\" Where sin abounds, grace shall more abound. In God there is\nmercy to pardon every sin,[3] and grace to cleanse from every form\nand degree of moral pollution. Here, then, we have--+1. A reason for\nrepentance.+ There is no argument so powerful as this: God is ready\nto forgive. Many a prodigal has been deterred from saying, \"I will\narise and go to my father,\" by a remembrance of his father's\nsternness, and by a doubt as to whether his father would receive him.\nBut no such doubt need deter _us._ We are not called to the exercises\nof a sorrow that will be unavailing. Our Father waits to be\ngracious.[4] Hear His solemn and touching message (ch. lv. 6, 7;\nTEXT). +2. An encouragement for those who are striving after moral\npurity.+ Many who try to live a Christian life grow discouraged.\nThere are discouragements that come from _without:_ the unfavourable\nspiritual atmosphere in which they live, the glaring inconsistencies\nof some of the professing Christians by whom they are surrounded, the\nlow tone of the spiritual life of those whose conduct is not so open\nto censure. Still sorer discouragements come from _within:_ the\nfaults that will not be shaken off; the evil tendencies that will\nmanifest themselves; the evil thoughts that will keep welling up from\nthe fountain of the heart, revealing its intense depravity. These\nthings are carefully hidden from men, but God knows them, and the\nbeliever knows them, and because of them is apt to grow discouraged.\nIt seems to him that he can never be \"made meet for the inheritance\nof the saints in light.\" But God has declared that he shall be: God\nhas undertaken to perfect him in purity. \"Be of good courage, all ye\nthat hope in the Lord.\" God is able to make all grace abound toward\nyou, and He is faithful to all His promises. See what He has promised\nin our text. He has already fulfilled this promise in innumerable\ncases (Rev. vii. 9), and He will fulfil it in yours. Be not\ndiscouraged because your moral progress is so slow. How long does the\nsun shine on the fruit seemingly in vain! All the summer the peach\nremains hard as a stone. But the sun is _not_ shining in vain. Some\nweek in the autumn this is seen. All at once it softens and becomes\nripe; not as a result of that one week's sun, but of all the sunlight\nand warmth of the preceding weeks. The chestnut opens in a night; but\nfor months the opening process is going on. In a moment many\nchemicals seem to crystallise, but the process of crystallisation\ngoes on long before it becomes apparent. So there is a ripening, a\ncrystallising, a cleansing process going on in the heart of the\nbeliever: though we see it not now, yet we shall have ample proof of\nit by and by. In this matter walk by faith, not by sight. Be of good\ncourage! We shall yet be \"white as snow.\"\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Jehovah here challenges Israel to a formal trial: _nocach_\n     is thus used in a reciprocal sense, and with the same\n     meaning as _nishpat_ in ch. xliii. 26 (Ges. \u00a7 51, 2). In\n     such a trial Israel must lose, for Israel's\n     self-righteousness rests upon sham righteousness; and this\n     sham righteousness, when rightly examined, is but\n     unrighteousness dripping with blood. It is taken for\n     granted that this must be the result of the investigation.\n     Israel is therefore worthy of death. Yet Jehovah will not\n     treat Israel according to His retributive justice, but\n     according to His free compassion. He will remit the\n     punishment, and not only regard the sin as not existing,\n     but change it into its very opposite. The reddest possible\n     sin shall become, through His mercy, the purest white. On\n     the two _hiphils_ applied to colour, see Ges. \u00a7 53, 2;\n     though he gives the meaning incorrectly, viz., \"to take a\n     colour,\" whereas the words signify rather to emit a colour,\n     not _colorem accipere,_ but _colorem dare. Sh\u00e2ne, bright\n     red (the plural _sh\u00e2nim,_ as in Prov. xxxi. 21, signified\n     materials dyed with _sh\u00e2ni_) and _tol\u00e2,_ warm colour, are\n     simply different names for the same colour, viz., the\n     crimson obtained from the cochineal insect, _color\n     coccineus._\n\n     The representation of the work of grace promised by God as\n     a change from red to white is founded upon the symbolism of\n     colours, quite as much as when the saints in the Revelation\n     (ch. xix. 8) are described as clothed in white raiment,\n     whilst the clothing of Babylon is purple and scarlet (ch.\n     xvii. 4). Red is the colour of fire, and therefore of life:\n     the blood is red because life is a fiery process. For this\n     reason the heifer, from which the ashes of purification\n     were obtained for those who had been defiled through\n     contact with the dead, was to be red; and the\n     sprinkling-bush, with which the unclean were sprinkled, was\n     to be tied around with a band of scarlet wool. But red, as\n     contrasted with white, the colour of light (Matt. xvii. 2),\n     is the colour of selfish, covetous, passionate life, is\n     which is self-seeking in its nature, which goes out of\n     itself only to destroy, and drives about with wild\n     tempestuous violence: it is therefore the colour of wrath\n     and sin. It is generally supposed that Isaiah speaks of red\n     as the colour of sin, because sin ends in murder; and this\n     is not really wrong, though it is too restricted. Sin is\n     called red, inasmuch as it is a burning heat which consumes\n     a man, and when it breaks forth consumes his fellow-man as\n     well. According to the biblical view, throughout, sin\n     stands in the same relation to what is well-pleasing to\n     God, and wrath in the same relation to love or grace, as\n     fire to light; and therefore as red to white, to black to\n     white, for red and black are colours which border upon one\n     another. In the Song of Solomon (ch. vii. 5), the black\n     locks of Shulamith are described as being \"like purple,\"\n     and Homer applies the same epithet to the dark waves of the\n     sea. But the ground of this relation lies deeper still. Red\n     is the colour of fire, which flashes out of darkness and\n     returns to it again; whereas white, without any admixture\n     of darkness, represents the pure, absolute triumph of\n     light. It is a deeply significant symbol of the act of\n     justification. Jehovah offers to Israel an _actio\n     forensis,_ out of which it shall come forth justified by\n     grace, although it has merited death on account of its\n     sins. The righteousness, white as snow and wool, with which\n     Israel comes forth, is a gift conferred upon it out of pure\n     compassion, without being conditional upon any legal\n     performance whatsoever.--_Delitzch, Commentary on Isaiah,_\n     vol. i. pp. 98, 99.\n\n     A subordinate point in the imagery is, that scarlet and\n     crimson were the _firmest_ of dyes, least capable of being\n     washed out.--_Dr. Kay._\n\n [2] The strong men are fallen; even Solomon himself, and David,\n     and Noah, and Lot, and Samson, and Peter, the lights of the\n     world, fell like stars from heaven. These tall cedars,\n     strong oaks, fair pillars, lie in the dust, whose tops\n     glittered in the air; that \"they which think they stand may\n     take heed lest they fall.\" Can I look upon these ruins\n     without compassion? or remember them without fear, unless I\n     be a reprobate, and my heart of flint? Who am I that I\n     should stand like a shrub, when these cedars are blown down\n     to the ground, and showed themselves but men? The best man\n     is but a man: the worst are worse than beasts. No man is\n     untainted but Christ. They who had greater gifts than we,\n     they who had deeper roots than we, they who had stronger\n     hearts than we, they who had more props than we, are fallen\n     like a bird which is weary of her flight, and turned back\n     like the wind, in the twinkling of an eye. What shall we do\n     then, when we hear of other men's faults? Not talk of them\n     as we do, but beware by them, and think--Am I better than\n     he? Am I stronger than Samson? Am I wiser than Solomon? Am\n     I chaster than David? Am I soberer than Noah? Am I firmer\n     than Peter? There is no salt but may lose its saltiness, no\n     wine but may lose its strength, no flower but may lose its\n     scent, no light but may be eclipsed, no beauty but may be\n     stained, no fruit but may be blasted, no soul but may be\n     corrupted. We stand all in a slippery place, where it is\n     easy to slide and hard to get up.--_Henry Smith,_ 1592.\n\n [3] Man may be willing to forgive a mite, the Lord a million;\n     three hundred pence and ten thousand talents are all one to\n     His mercy.--_Adams_, 1653.\n\n     He is rich in mercy, abundant in goodness and truth. Thy\n     sins are like a spark of fire that falls into the ocean, it\n     is quenched presently; so are all thy sins in the ocean of\n     God's mercy. There is not more water in the sea than there\n     is mercy in God.--_Manton,_ 1620-1667.\n\n     Why dost thou not believe in God's mercy? Is it thy sins\n     discourage? God's mercy can pardon great sins, nay, because\n     they are great (Ps. xxv. 11). The sea covers great rocks as\n     well as lesser sands.--_Watson,_ 1696.\n\n [4] Joy is the highest testimony that can be given to our\n     complacency in any thing or person. Love or joy is a fuel\n     to the fire; if love lay little fuel of desires on the\n     heart, then the flame of joy that comes thence will not be\n     great. Now God's joy is great in pardoning poor sinners\n     that come in; therefore His affection is great in the offer\n     thereof. It is made the very motive that prevails with God\n     to pardon sinners, \"Because He delighteth in mercy,\" \"Who\n     is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and\n     passeth by the transgression of the remnant of His\n     heritage? He retaineth not His anger for ever, for He\n     delighteth in mercy.\" God doth all this, \"because He\n     delighteth in mercy.\"\n\n     Ask why the fisher stands all night with his angle in the\n     river; he will tell you, because he delights in the sport.\n     Well, you know now the reason why God stands so long\n     waiting on sinners, months, years, preaching to them; it is\n     that He may be gracious in pardoning them, and in that act\n     delight Himself. Princes very often pardon traitors to\n     please others more than themselves, or else it would never\n     be done; but God doth it chiefly to delight and gladden His\n     own merciful heart. Hence the business Christ came about\n     (which was no other but to reconcile sinners to God) is\n     called \"the pleasure of the Lord\" (Isa.\n     liii. 10).--_Gurnall,_ 1617-1679.\n\n     Many people get a wrong idea of God by thinking of Him as\n     infinite only in justice and power; but infinite applies to\n     the feelings of God as much as to the stretch of His right\n     hand. There is nothing in His nature which is not\n     measureless. Many think God sits brooding in heaven, as\n     storms brood in summer skies, full of bolts and rain, and\n     believe that they must come to Him under the covert of some\n     apology, or beneath some umbrellaed excuse, lest the clouds\n     should break, and the tempest overwhelm them. But when men\n     repent towards God, they go not to storms, but to serene\n     and tranquil skies, and to a Father who waits to receive\n     them with all tenderness and delicacy and love. His eye is\n     not dark with vengeance, nor His heart turbulent with\n     wrath; and to repent towards His justice and vindictiveness\n     must always be from a lower motive than to repent towards\n     His generosity and love. When you wish to please God, treat\n     Him as one who feels sorry for sinners; treat Him as one\n     who longs to help those who need help; go to Him\n     confidingly. No matter how bad you are--the worse the\n     better. Old Martin Luther said, \"I bless God for my sins.\"\n     He would never have had such a sense of the pardoning mercy\n     of God if he had not himself been sinful. But as much as\n     you are wicked, God is glorious in restoring you to purity.\n     Let Him do for you those things which are the most generous\n     and magnanimous, and that will please Him best. He is a\n     Being whose feelings and affections move on such vast lines\n     of latitude and longitude, that the more you presume upon\n     His goodness, and cast yourself before Him saying, \"I need\n     a miracle of grace and mercy,\" the better He is pleased.\n\n     Now I beseech you to kindle up a thought of what your\n     mother would do if you were a sinful, heart-broken,\n     discouraged man, but repentant, saying, \"I have trod the\n     thorny way of life, and learned its mischief, can you,\n     mother, help me to begin anew?\" What mother would cast away\n     such a son? What father would not receive a son on such\n     terms? And if earthly parents can lift themselves up into\n     feelings of holy sympathy for a repentant child, what must\n     be the feelings of God when His children come to him for\n     help to break away from sin, and to lead lives of\n     rectitude? Read the 15th chapter of Luke, and find out what\n     God's feelings are; and then say, \"I will arise, and go to\n     my Father.\"--_Beecher._\n\n\n\nSELF-SCRUTINY IN GOD'S PRESENCE.\n\n     i. 18. _Come now, and let us reason together, saith the\n     Lord; Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as\n     white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall\n     be as wool._\n\nThe outflow of holy displeasure contained in the earlier portions of\nthis chapter would prepare us to expect an everlasting reprobacy of\nthe rebellious and unfaithful Church, but it is strangely followed by\nthe most yearning and melting entreaty ever addressed by the Most\nHigh to the creatures of His footstool.\n\nI. The text represents God as saying to the transgressors of His law,\n\"Come and let us reason together.\" The first lesson to be learned,\nconsequently, is +the duty of examining our moral character and\nconduct along with God.+ When a responsible being has made a wrong\nuse of his powers, nothing is more reasonable than that he should\ncall himself to account for this abuse. Nothing, certainly, is more\nnecessary. There can be no amendment for the future until the past\nhas been cared for. But that this examination may be both thorough\nand profitable, it must be made in company with the Searcher of\nhearts. For there are always two beings who are concerned with sin:\nthe being who commits it, and the Being against whom it is committed.\nWhenever, therefore, an examination is made into the nature of moral\nevil as it exists in the individual heart, both parties concerned\nshould share in the examination. Such a joint examination as this\nproduces a very keen and clear sense of the evil and guilt of sin.\nConscience, indeed, makes cowards of us all, but when the eye of God\nis felt to be upon us, it smites us to the ground. 1. When the soul\nis shut up along with the Holy One of Israel, there are great\nsearchings of heart. Man is honest and anxious at such a time. His\nusual thoughtlessness and torpidity upon the subject of religion\nleave him, and he becomes a serious and deeply-interested creature.\n2. Another effect of this \"reasoning together\" with God respecting\nour character and conduct is to render our views discriminating. The\naction of the mind is not only intense, it is also intelligent. The\nsinner knows that he is wrong, and his Maker is right--that he is\nwicked, and that God is holy. He perceives these two fundamental\nfacts with a simplicity and a certainty that admit of no debate. The\nconfusion and obscurity of his mind, and particularly the queryings\nwhether these things are so, begin to disappear like a fog when\ndisparted and scattered by sunrise. Objects are seen in their true\nproportions and meanings; right and wrong, the carnal mind and the\nspiritual mind, heaven and hell--all the great contraries that\npertain to the subject of religion--are distinctly understood, and\nthus the first step is taken towards a better state of things in the\nsoul.[1]\n\nII. The second lesson taught in the text is, that +there is\nforgiveness with God.+ If mercy were not a manifested attribute of\nGod, all self-examination, and especially all this conjoint Divine\nscrutiny, would be a pure torment and a pure gratuity. We have the\namplest assurance in the whole written revelation of God, but no\nwhere else, that \"there is forgiveness with Him, that He may be\nfeared.\" The text is an exceedingly explicit assertion of this great\ntruth. The very same Being who invites us to reason with Him and\ncanvass the subject of our criminality, in the very same breath, if\nwe may so speak, assures us that He will forgive all that is found in\nthis examination. And upon such terms cannot the criminal well afford\nto examine into his crime? The Divine pity outruns and exceeds the\ncrime. Paradoxical as it may appear, self-examination, when joined\nwith a distinct recognition of the Divine character, and a conscious\nsense of God's scrutiny, is the surest means of producing in a guilty\nmind a firm conviction that God is merciful, and is the swiftest way\nof finding Him to be so. Abhorrent as iniquity is to the pure mind of\nGod, it is nevertheless a fact that that sinner who goes directly\ninto this Dread Presence with all his sins upon his head, in order to\nknow them, to be condemned and crushed by them, and to confess them,\nis the one who soonest returns with peace and hope in his soul. For\nhe discovers that God is as cordial and sincere in His offer to\nforgive as He is in His threat to punish; and having, to his sorrow,\nfelt the reality and power of the Divine anger, he now, to his joy,\nfeels the equal reality and power of the Divine love. And this is the\none great lesson which every man must learn, or perish for ever.\n\nFrom these two lessons of our text we deduce the following practical\ndirections--1. _In all states of religious anxiety we should betake\nourselves instantly and directly to God;_ there is no other refuge\nfor the human soul but God in Christ. Are we sinners, and fear for\nthe final result of our life? Though it may seem like running into\nfire, we must, nevertheless, betake ourselves first and immediately\nto that Being who hates and punishes sin (1 Chron. xxi. 13). 2. _In\nall our religious anxiety we should make a full and plain statement\nof everything to God._ Even when the story is one of shame and\nremorse, we find it to be mental relief, patiently, and without any\nreservation or palliation, to expose the whole, not only to our own\neye, but to that of our Judge. For to this very thing have we been\ninvited. This is precisely the \"reasoning together\" which God\nproposes to us. God has not offered clemency to a sinful world with\nthe expectation or desire that there be, on the part of those to whom\nit is offered, such a stinted and meagre confession, such a glossing\nover and diminution of sin, as to make that clemency appear a very\nsmall matter. He well knows the depth and the immensity of the sin\nwhich He proposes to pardon, and has made provision accordingly. In\nthe phrase of Luther, it is no painted sinner who is to be forgiven,\nand it is no painted Saviour who is offered. The transgression is\ndeep and real, and the atonement is deep and real. The crime cannot\nbe exaggerated, neither can the expiation. He, therefore, who makes\nthe plainest and most childlike statement of himself to God, acts\nmost in accordance with the mind and will and gospel of God. If man\ncan only be hearty, full, and unreserved in confession, he will find\nGod to be hearty, full, and unreserved in absolution.--_W. G. T.\nShedd, D.D., The American Pulpit of the Day,_ vol. i. pp. 829-842.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Man is not straitened upon the side of the Divine mercy.\n     The obstacle in the way of his salvation is in himself; and\n     the particular, fatal obstacle consists in the fact that he\n     does not feel that he needs mercy. God in Christ stands\n     ready to pardon, but man, the sinner, stands up before Him,\n     like the besotted criminal in our courts of law, with no\n     feeling upon the subject. The Judge assures him that He has\n     a boundless grace and clemency to bestow; but the sinful,\n     hardened man is not even aware that he has committed a\n     dreadful crime, and needs grace and clemency. There is food\n     in infinite abundance, but no hunger upon the part of the\n     man. The water of life is flowing by in torrents, but men\n     have no thirst. In this state of things nothing can be done\n     but to pass a sentence of condemnation. God cannot forgive\n     a being who does not even know that he needs to be\n     forgiven. Knowledge, then, self-knowledge, is the great\n     requisite; and the want of it is the cause of perdition.\n     This \"reasoning together\" with God, respecting our past and\n     present character and conduct, is the first step to be\n     taken by any one who would make preparation for eternity.\n     As soon as we come to a right understanding of our lost and\n     guilty condition, we shall cry, \"Be merciful to me, a\n     sinner; create within me a clean heart, O God.\" Without\n     such an understanding--such an intelligent perception of\n     our sin and guilt--we never shall, and we never\n     can.--_Shedd._\n\n\n\nSINNERS SELF-DESTROYED.\n\n     i. 19-20. _If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the\n     good of the land; but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be\n     destroyed with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath\n     spoken it._\n\nDelitsch translates--_\"If ye then shall willingly hear, ye shall eat\nthe good of the land; if ye shall obstinately rebel, ye shall be\neaten by the sword: For the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it.\"_\n\nStranchey translates--_\"If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall feed\non the good of the land; but if ye refuse and rebel, the sword shall\nfeed on you,\"_ which brings out one of the contrasts of the verse\nstill more clearly. \"The promise of eating, _i.e.,_ of the full\nenjoyment of domestic blessings, and therefore of settled, peaceful\nrest at home, is placed in contrast with the curse of being eaten\nwith the sword.\"--_Delitsch._\n\nNote the close connection between these verses and verse 18. God\ncondescends to invite rebels to a conference with Himself, He is\nwilling to grant them the fullest forgiveness; but it is on the\ncondition of future obedience. On this condition He is prepared to do\nmore than forgive them,--He will enrich them with all needful\nblessings, of which peaceful enjoyment of the fruits of the earth is\nhere named as a symbol; but if they will not listen to His\ninvitation, accept His gracious offer, and yield the obedience He\nrighteously demands, then the vengeance they have deserved will come\nupon them. They have the matter entirely in their own hands; it rests\nwith them to determine whether their future shall be one of happiness\nor misery. Thus we are led to the great doctrine of these verses,\nthat _sinners are self-destroyed._\n\nThis is a doctrine frequently insisted on in Scripture (Ezek.\nxxxiii. 11; 2 Sam. xiv. 14; Hos. xiii. 9; 2 Pet. iii. 9). It is true\nin a twofold sense. +1. They sin voluntarily.+ God never foreordained\nany man to work iniquity.[1] Some are indeed surrounded from their\nbirth by evil influences, and on this account, as well as on account\nof that corrupt nature which we all inherit, they do sinful acts from\ntheir infancy, but they do not _sin_ until the dawn of moral\nconsciousness; and after that, every act of iniquity they perpetrate\nthey perpetrate voluntarily. +2. They suffer voluntarily.+ They do\nnot merely expose themselves to the penalty of sin, they take it upon\nthem voluntarily. God offers to remit it, on condition of their\nrepentance, but they reject the proffered boon; like a suicide who\nrepels the surgeon who would close his bleeding wounds.\n\nIn this fact that sinners thus destroy themselves we have--+I. A\nterrible illustration of the depth of human depravity.+ Sinners not\nonly hate God so much as to break His laws, but so much as to harden\nthemselves against His love, and to reject His mercy. +II. A\nsufficient vindication of the severities of the Divine justice.+\n1. No sinner in hell will be able to reproach God for his misery.\n2. We who contemplate the awful fact that human souls are suffering\nin hell have no right to reproach God for their sufferings. These\nsufferers deliberately turned their backs upon God and heaven, and\nwent of their own accord to perdition.\n\n_Application._--1. Before you to-day blessing and cursing, life and\ndeath are set; choose ye which ye will. 2. \"If ye be _willing,_\" God\nwill open to you all the treasures of His grace. But not otherwise!\nHe will compel no man to accept His mercy. 3. Whatever be your\nchoice, God will ratify it. If you choose destruction, you shall have\nit, and then you will not be able to revoke your choice (Prov.\ni. 22-31).\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] The argument which the fatalist bases upon organisation is\n     self-annihilating when applied to the common relations of\n     life. The fatalist himself does not believe in his own\n     doctrine; in speculative reasoning he is eager to charge\n     moral crime upon organic defect; yet, in practical\n     magistracy, he arraigns and condemns the criminal to\n     punishment. But how monstrous an outrage is this upon his\n     own creed! The criminal was compelled through stress of\n     organisation to commit the crime, yet the fatalist punishes\n     him for doing what he could not help! Let the principle of\n     the fatalist be admitted, and there is an end to all\n     legislation--an end, indeed, to the social compact itself.\n     All associated life is regulated by a system of restraints;\n     but restraint implies self-control, and self-control is\n     directly opposed to fatalism. Let a criminal plead that he\n     could not help committing a certain crime; and if the judge\n     allow the plea, he will at once treat the criminal as a\n     lunatic, and instruct the officers of justice accordingly.\n     Magistracy proceeds upon the principle that men can \"help\"\n     committing crime. All human legislation assumes a man's\n     power of self-regulation, and grounds itself on the grand\n     doctrine of man's responsibility to man. At this point,\n     upon the same principle in relation to God, Theology says,\n     You hold yourselves responsible to one another on all\n     social matters, you punish the criminal, you ignore the\n     plea of fatalism on all questions of property, order, and\n     security; now go further, heighten your own social base,\n     carry out to their logical issues your own principles and\n     methods, and you will reach all that God requires of man.\n     If it be urged that God gave the criminal his organisation,\n     the objection does not touch the argument. The argument is,\n     that in human consciousness the plea of fatalism is ignored\n     on all practical matters; away beyond all written statutes\n     there is a conviction that man can regulate his actions,\n     and ought to be held responsible for such regulation. Man\n     himself thus, by his own conduct and his own law, acquits\n     God of all charge upon this matter; the very recognition by\n     the magistrate of man's responsibility is itself a direct\n     acquittal of God from the accusations of fatalism. God need\n     not be interrogated upon the subject, for the magistrate\n     himself, faithful to the consciousness of universal\n     humanity, treats the fatalistic theory as an\n     absurdity.--_Joseph Parker._\n\n\n\nTHE CERTAINTY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE IMPENITENT.\n\n     i. 20. _If ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with\n     the sword; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it._\n\nLet a man look steadily at the sun for a few moments, and for a long\ntime afterwards he will see nothing else; whithersoever he turns, he\nwill behold the sun. Some men have looked at God's wondrous mercy so\nexclusively, that they can see in Him and His Word nothing but mercy,\nand they doubt, and teach others to doubt, whether God will fulfil\nHis threatenings against sin. Let such persons consider these three\nfacts--+I. That God's justice requires that He should execute His\nthreatenings against iniquity.+ He Himself would commit a frightful\ninjustice, and would be the worst active promoter and abettor of evil\nin the universe, if He were to treat all men alike. His mere delay to\ntake vengeance upon transgressors gives rise to some of the most\nperplexing of moral problems (Eccles. ix. 2, 3; Ps. lxxiii. 1-9,\n&c.), and if He were never to do so, the whole universe would be\ndriven into atheism. This is the tendency even of His merciful delays\n(Ps. x. 11; lxxiii. 11, &c.) +II. That God's truth requires that He\nshould execute His threatenings against iniquity.+ \"The mouth of the\nLord hath spoken it,\" and shall He not fulfil His Word? So settled is\nthe conviction of the human mind that He must do so, that it has been\nfound one of the greatest obstacles to the reception of the Gospel.\nHow God can be truthful, and yet pardon the sinner, it has\ntranscended the human mind to conceive. The atonement of Christ is\nthe _practical_ solution of this mystery. +III. That the history of\nHis ancient people shows that while in God there is a goodness most\nmarvellous and tender, on account of which we should praise Him\nevermore, there is also a severity so terrible, that on account of it\nall the world should stand in awe of Him.+ Remember what frightful\ncalamities (the sword, famine, pestilence, exile) God sent upon His\nancient people in this world; and shall we imagine that He who\ndisplayed such a capacity for sternness in this world will be found\nincapable of it in the world which is to come? Let us dismiss this\ndelusion which is at once utterly groundless and unspeakably\ndangerous.[1]\n\n_Application._--1. True reverence for God will lead us to accept with\nequal implicitness all the disclosures which He has been pleased to\ngive of His character He will be to us neither a God all mercy nor a\nGod all justice. In Him both these high qualities are found in equal\nperfection: they are not opponents, but allies. Each is always in\nabsolute harmony with the other. 2. True reverence for God will lead\nus to tremble in view of His threatenings, as well as to rejoice in\nview of His promises. 3. It is with the God of the Bible, and not\nwith the God of our own sentimental fancies, that we shall have to\ndeal with at the last. 4. If we take nature as our guide to the\ninterpretation of revelation, we shall find it easier to believe in\nGod's severity than in His benignity. In nature there are appalling\nindications of sternness. The world in which we now are is full of\nsuffering.[2] 5. It is in mercy that the threatenings of God's\njustice are now set forth.[3]\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] If Scripture be certainly true, then the most terrible\n     passages in it are certainly true; nothing is more hardly\n     believed by men than that which will be most tormenting to\n     their minds, when it is believed that none shall be saved\n     but the regenerate and holy; and those that live not after\n     the flesh, but the Spirit, and love God in Christ above all\n     the world, even their own lives; and that, besides these\n     few, all the rest shall be tormented in hell for ever. This\n     is the doctrine that flesh and blood will hardly down with.\n     They say or think they will never believe that God will be\n     so unmerciful; as if God must needs be less merciful than\n     man, because He is more just and holy, and will not be so\n     indulgent to their flesh and sin as they are themselves,\n     and would have Him to be. And I have known even godly men,\n     through the remnant of their corruption and darkness in the\n     things of God, and the violence of temptation, much\n     troubled with their unbelief in this particular. But God\n     cannot lie the Scripture being true, and the Christian\n     religion certainly true, every part of it must needs be\n     true. But because sensual nature looks for sensible\n     demonstration or proof, let me ask the unbelievers this one\n     question--\"Do you believe that which you see and feel, and\n     all the world feels as well as you?\" You know that all\n     mankind liveth here a life of trouble and misery; we come\n     into the world in a very poor condition, and we pass\n     through it in daily labour and sorrow, and we pass out of\n     it through the dreadful pangs of death. What incessant\n     labour have the most of them, how much want and misery, how\n     much care and grief! Do you not see and feel how sicknesses\n     do torment us? When one pain is over, another is at hand.\n     Have you not seen some under such terrible fits of the\n     gout, or stone, or other diseases, that they thought no\n     torment could be greater; some with their legs rotting and\n     must be cut off; some with loathsome cancers and leprosies\n     on them many years together; some that have lost their\n     eyesight, have lost almost all the comfort of life; some\n     that never could see; some that never could hear or speak?\n     I have known some in such pain that they have cried out\n     they did not believe there was greater in hell; some are\n     mad, and some idiots: are not all these in a very miserable\n     case? Now I would ask you further if God may, without any\n     unmercifulness, do all this to men, and that as a\n     chastisement in the way to bring them to repentance; if He\n     may, without unmercifulness, make a David cry out in\n     misery, and wash his couch with his tears; and make a Job\n     to lie scraping his sores on a dunghill; why should you\n     think he cannot, without unmercifulness, torment incurable\n     sinners in hell? Further, I would ask you this question;\n     suppose you had lived in Adam's paradise, or some condition\n     of pleasure and rest, where you never had tasted of\n     sickness, or labour, or want, or feared death, if God's\n     Word had there told you, but that man shall endure so much\n     misery as I have mentioned and men daily suffer, and should\n     die at last for his sin, would you have said, \"I will never\n     believe God would be so unmerciful?\" You that say so now,\n     would likely have said so then in this case; for feeling\n     the pleasure yourselves, you would on the same ground have\n     said, \"God is unmerciful if He should make man so\n     miserable;\" and yet you see and feel that God doth it, and\n     we know that He is not unmerciful.--_Baxter,_ 1615-1691.\n\n [2] Suffering comes to us through and from our whole nature. It\n     cannot be winked out of sight. It cannot be thrust into a\n     subordinate place in the picture of human life. It is the\n     chief burden of history. It is the solemn theme of one of\n     the highest departments of literature, the tragic drama. It\n     gives to fictions their deep interest: it wails through\n     much of our poetry. A large part of human vocations are\n     intended to shut up some of its avenues. It has left traces\n     on every human countenance over which years have passed. It\n     is not to a few the most vivid recollection of\n     life.--_W. Ellery Channing._\n\n [3] God indeed tells us of Hell, but it is to persuade us to\n     flee to heaven; and as a skilful painter fills the\n     background of his picture with his darker colours, God\n     introduces the smoke of torment, and the black\n     thunderclouds of Sinai, to give brighter prominence to\n     Jesus, the Cross of Calvary, and His love to the chief of\n     sinners.\n\n     His voice of terror is like the scream of the mother-bird\n     when the hawk is in the sky. She alarms her brood, that\n     they may run and hide beneath her feathers; and as I\n     believe that God hath left that mother dumb unless He had\n     given her wings to cover them, I am sure that He, who is\n     very \"pitiful,\" and has no pleasure in any creature's pain,\n     had never turned our eyes to the horrible gulf unless for\n     the voice that cries, \"Deliver from going down to the pit,\n     for I have found a ransom.\"\n\n     We had never heard of sin had there been no Saviour. We had\n     never heard of hell had there been no heaven. \"Sufficient\n     for the day is the evil thereof.\" And never had Bible light\n     flashed before the eyes of the sleeping felon, to wake him\n     from his happy dream, but that he might see the smiling\n     form of Mercy, and hear her as she says, with finger\n     pointing the way, \"Behold I have set before thee an open\n     door.\"--_Guthrie._\n\n\n\nMORAL DECLENSION.\n\n     i. 21-23. _How is the faithful city become an harlot![1] It\n     was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now\n     murderers.[2] Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed\n     with water: thy princes are rebellious, and companions of\n     thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after\n     rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the\n     cause of the widow come unto them._\n\n+I. Moral declensions may take place in the best of men.+ \"The\nfaithful city--silver--wine--princes,\" the very best things depraved.\n+II. There are no limits to the moral declensions that may take place\nin the best of men.+ \"The faithful city is become an _harlot_,\" &c.\nWe have here an argument--1. For universal _humility_ (1 Cor. x. 12;\nGal. vi. 1). 2. For universal _watchfulness_ (Mark xiv. 38). 3. For\nuniversal _prayer_ (Ps. xix. 12, 13; cxxxix. 23, 24).\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] \"The faithful city is become an harlot:\"--Jerusalem, the\n     daughter of Zion, the wife of the Holy One of Israel, has\n     broken the bond of her covenant with Him, has set at nought\n     the Divine constitution and order in which He originally\n     placed, and has continued to sustain her: and, as the\n     outward consequence and sign of this spiritual defection,\n     has actually fallen to the worship of other gods.\n     Throughout this prophecy Isaiah dwells chiefly on the sins\n     of the princes and rulers of the nation, and only\n     incidentally on those of the people; and accordingly he now\n     dilates on the characteristic vices of the former, which\n     are the fruits of their national unfaithfulness. Social and\n     political morality have vanished along with religious\n     faith; thieves and murderers are found instead of virtuous\n     citizens; the nobles and men in authority are the first to\n     break the laws they should enforce; the administration of\n     justice is so corrupt that the judges take bribes, connive\n     at the robbers whose booty they share, and permit the rich\n     man to pervert the law for the oppression of the fatherless\n     and widow, who have no patrons to demand, and no money to\n     buy, justice: and thus the aristocracy, setting aside all\n     belief that they hold their wealth and power in trust from\n     God for the benefit of the people under them, do but employ\n     these as irresistible engines for breaking down all rights\n     that can oppose them in their pursuit of luxury and\n     vice.--_Strachey._\n\n [2] Jerusalem was once full of such right; and Righteousness\n     was not merely there in the form of a hastily-passing\n     guest, but had come down from above to take up her\n     permanent abode in Jerusalem: she tarried there day and\n     night, as if it were her home. The prophet had in his mind\n     the times of David and Solomon, and also more especially\n     the time of Jehoshaphat (about one hundred and fifty years\n     before Isaiah's appearance), who restored the\n     administration of justice, which had fallen into neglect\n     since the closing years of Solomon's reign and the time of\n     Rehoboam and Abijah, to which Asa's reformation had not\n     extended, and reorganized it entirely in the spirit of the\n     law. It is possible also that Jehoiada, the high priest in\n     the time of Joash, may have revived the institutions of\n     Jehoshaphat so far as they had fallen into disuse under his\n     three godless successors; but even in the second half of\n     the reign of Joash the administration of justice fell into\n     some disgraceful state, at least as compared with the times\n     of David, Solomon, and Jehoshaphat, as that in which Isaiah\n     found it. The glaring contrast between the present and the\n     past is indicated by the expression _\"and\n     now.\"_--_Delitzch._\n\n\n\nAN ILLUSTRIOUS INHABITANT.\n\n     i. 21. _Righteousness lodged in it._\n\n+I. A High Commendation.+ Righteousness lodged in the city--not\nmerely visited it as a passing guest, but dwelt in it as a permanent\nabode [Alexander and Kay--\"had its _home_ there\"]. No greater praise\ncould be spoken of any city, nor can be uttered of any man. +1.+ _Let\nus do what we can to make our city worthy of this high commendation._\nMuch can be done in this direction by the combined, resolute, and\npersevering efforts of godly men. +2.+ _Let us try to deserve it\nindividually._ This may involve many sacrifices, but they will be\nmore than compensated. Righteousness is a royal guest, ennobling and\nenriching those with whom she dwells, and peace, prosperity, and joy\ninvariably follow in her train. +II. A mournful condemnation.+\nRighteousness _lodged_ in the city; lodged, not lodges! That noble\nand Divine inhabitant is departed. The palace in which she dwelt is\nin ruins. 1. Of how many _cities_ may this mournful declaration be\nmade! The cities in which Christianity achieved some if its first and\nnoblest triumphs are now Mohammedan and semi-heathen. They did not\nhold fast the truth, and now they are given over to error. We boast\nthat this is a Christian land, but its relapse into practical\nheathenism is not impossible. In every action there is a constant\ngravitation towards evil, which can only be resisted and overcome by\nconstant effort and earnest prayer. Let the churches of this land lay\nthis solemn fact to heart. 2. Of how many _men_ may this declaration\nbe made! How many even of the openly vicious and criminal were once\nrespectable members of society--yes, even honoured members of\nchurches! They were men \"subject to like passions as we are;\" and in\nwhat they are we have solemn warnings as to what we may become. Let\nthose who are most exalted, not in privileges only, but in moral\nexcellence, also watch and pray, lest sin enter even their hearts,\nand expel that Divine guest whose presence secures so many blessings\nand warrants so many hopes.\n\n\n\nTHE POSSIBLE DEGENERACY OF VALUABLE THINGS.\n\n     i. 22. _Thy silver is become dross._\n\nThere are many valuable and good things in the world that through\nvaried causes are rendered comparatively useless. They once were\nsilver, but now they are dross. +I. The silver of thy character has\nbecome dross because of little failings.+ There have been men known\nto all of us, of good moral characters, of lofty and heroic soul, but\nthey were betrayed into occasional faults,[1] which many condoned,\nwhich others magnified, but which they themselves did not correct,\nuntil at last their silver became dross. The character depreciated in\nmoral worth. It was no longer current as a thing of beauty. It had\nlost its value. +II. The silver of thy service has become dross\nbecause of unholy motives.+ Christian service is a good and precious\nthing, but how frequently is it rendered useless and vain by pride,\nby thoughts of self, and by secular motive.[2] It is, indeed, as\nsilver when rendered by a pure and loving heart, but alas! it too\noften becomes dross because of the unhallowed sentiment of the soul.\nThe mite of the widow cast into the treasury was as silver, but the\nmunificent gifts of the Pharisees were as dross. How much of the\nservice rendered to the great God in the pulpit, pew, and school, is\nbut dross! This is a solemn thought. +III. The silver of thy money\nhas become dross because of selfishness.+ We cannot estimate the\nwealth of a man by the money he has in possession, but often far\nbetter by the money he gives away. When men keep their riches to\nthemselves, solely for their own use, they cease to be rich--they are\nladen with coin that is not current; their silver has become dross.\nLiberality makes money worth its value.[3] Generosity preserves\nwealth from all degenerating influences. How many so-called rich men\nhave more dross than silver in this world. +IV. The silver of thy\ntalents has become dross because of indolence.+ Silver is bright when\nkept in use. Talents are valuable when active. The mind has talents\nof thought and sympathy and love. The hand has talents of help. The\nmouth has talents of blessing. Take care that thy silver does not\nbecome as dross.--_J. S. Exell._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] You need not break the glasses of a telescope, or coat them\n     over with paint, in order to prevent you from seeing\n     through them. Just breathe upon them, and the dew of your\n     breath will shut out all the stars. So it does not require\n     great crimes to hide the light of God's countenance. Little\n     faults can do it just as well. Take a shield, and cast a\n     spear upon it, and it will leave in it one great dent.\n     Prick it all over with a million little needle shafts, and\n     they will take the polish from it far more than the\n     piercing of the spear. So it is not so much the great sins\n     which take the freshness from our consciences, as the\n     numberless petty faults which we are all the while\n     committing.--_Beecher._\n\n [2] Our end or motive in acting determines more than anything\n     the quality of our actions. Not that a good end will\n     sanctify a bad action, but a bad end will vitiate every\n     action connected with it. If, for instance, in our\n     religious services we seek the applause of men, we must\n     expect no reward from God, the gratification of our pride\n     and vanity is all the reward that such polluted services\n     can obtain. In the account which is given of Jehu, we find\n     that the very same action which was rewarded on account of\n     its outward conformity with God's command, was punished on\n     account of the base principle by which he was influenced in\n     performing it. He did well in extirpating the seed of Ahab,\n     and was rewarded for it to the fourth generation: the blood\n     which was shed was imputed to him as murder. Nor is there\n     anything more common than for even religious persons to\n     mistake the path of duty through an inattention to their\n     own spirit. The disciples doubtless thought themselves\n     under the influence of a commendable zeal when they would\n     have called fire from heaven to consume a Samaritan\n     village; as did Peter, also, when he cut off the ear of\n     Malchus. We should therefore be peculiarly cautious with\n     respect to this, lest by the mixture of any selfish motive\n     or base affection we offend Him whom it is our desire and\n     endeavour to please.--_Simeon._\n\n [3] If we so love our riches that we would eternally possess\n     them, let us not hoard them up in the earth, where we are\n     sure to leave them, carrying nothing with us but the canker\n     of our coin, which shall bear witness against us at the Day\n     of Judgment; but let us send them before us into heaven,\n     delivering them unto the poor, who are God's factors and\n     receivers; and so having conveyed and made over our goods,\n     as it were by bills of exchange, we shall find the Lord a\n     sure and all-sufficient paymaster, who will give us more\n     than double usance, and yet pay us at the first sight. If\n     we would have our coin continue sweet and good for a good\n     space, let us know that there are for this purpose no\n     garners comparable to poor men's stomachs, which will\n     preserve our grain for our use unto life eternal. If we\n     would have our clothes preserved from moths, and to last\n     long, the backs of the naked are our safest\n     wardrobes.--_Downame,_ 1644.\n\n\n\nA TERRIBLE RESOLVE.\n\n     i. 24. _Therefore thus saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts,\n     the Mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine\n     adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies._\n\nConcerning many men, we may offer Christ's prayer, \"Father, forgive\nthem; for they know not what they do.\" They sin in ignorance, or\nrather without thought of their character and relation to God, and of\nthe doom which they are bringing upon themselves. There may be such\npersons before me now. Acting, then the part of a true and faithful\nfriend, I warn you--+I. That God counts you as His enemies.+ By\ncherishing your sins you defy His authority, and place yourself in a\nposition of hostility to Him.[1] +II. That God feels Himself,\ninjured, oppressed, and as it were hemmed in by your iniquities.+\nNote this most suggestive phrase, \"I will _ease me_ of mine\nadversaries,\" and see outline on verse 14. God's laws are His\nterritories, and by your transgressions you invade them. Your sins\nare _trespasses._ God feels toward you as the French feel towards the\nGermans who have taken possession of and settled down in Alsace and\nLorraine; you put upon God an indignity which He cannot and will not\nbear. +III.+ That while God endures your trespasses for a time, in\nthe merciful hope that by His forbearance you may be led to\nrepentance, +He will not restrain His anger for ever,+ but will\npresently give free vent to it,[2] and sweep you into that place\nwhere, though you may retain the disposition to sin against Him, you\nwill not have the power.\n\n_Application._--Now consider--1. That this is not the resolve of some\nfeeble being destitute of resources for the accomplishment of his\npurposes. He who thus solemnly warns you is \"the Lord of hosts, the\nMighty One of Israel.\" 2. Whether you have resources that will enable\nyou to cope with this adversary whose indignation you have aroused\n(Luke xiv. 31). If not, consider--3. What is the course that wisdom\nwould suggest to you in your present circumstances (Luke xiv. 32).[3]\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] If a king warns a city of traitors, and calls upon them to\n     search them out and send them away, and they never regard\n     the message, but willingly give them harbour and\n     entertainment, it is a sign that they are disaffected to\n     him: to cherish a sin after warning is open defiance of\n     God.--_Manton,_ 1620-1667.\n\n [2] At this first step we might reason on the testimony if we\n     pleased, instead of accepting it, and raise the objection\n     that to imagine passion in God, especially so turbid a\n     passion as anger, conflicts with our notions of His\n     character, and degrades Him in our apprehensions. Beware!\n     remember that in forming an estimate of the character and\n     proceedings of God, we are but little children forming an\n     estimate of the character and proceedings of a man of\n     matured experience. Were it not more reasonable, as well as\n     more reverent, to accept what He says, and to leave Him\n     afterwards to clear up any mystery which may envelope His\n     nature? I can indeed conceive in Him nothing turbid,\n     impetuous, or impulsive, such as sullies the clearness of\n     the human will. But this I can conceive, that there is in\n     Him some high perfection (more incomprehensible to my\n     finite capacity than the speculations of an astronomer to a\n     peasant child), of which anger is the most adequate\n     exponent to my mind, and which I must be content to think\n     of and speak of as anger, or else to remain in total\n     ignorance of it. And this also I can--not only conceive,\n     but most readily assent to, that in an absolutely perfect\n     nature there should be an utter abhorrence of, and\n     antipathy to, moral evil, most justly represented to simple\n     minds by the terms \"anger,\" \"curse.\" We have never seen a\n     perfect character; no perfect character, save one, ever\n     moved upon the earth: but the righteous man, who is\n     striving after and approximating to perfection, has often\n     crossed our path; and surely we have marked in him, that\n     the more righteous he is, the more doth he abhor (in the\n     language of Holy Scriptures) everything that is evil. What\n     is the effect upon one who breathes habitually the\n     atmosphere of communion with God, of catching in the\n     current tidings of the day the intelligence of some awful\n     outburst of depravity? When such an one passes on an errand\n     of mercy through the crowded alleys of a great city, and\n     the shouts of malignant execration and profaneness ring in\n     his ear, or with what feeling does he encounter these\n     symptoms of human degradation? Are they not like a foul\n     odour to his nostrils, or a jarring note to his ear, or an\n     abortion to his sight? Does he not turn away with loathing,\n     and recoil from such scenes and such sounds with an\n     antipathy strong in proportion to his goodness? And is it,\n     then, so hard to conceive that in perfect goodness there\n     may be a recoil from moral evil, something similar in kind\n     to this, though infinitely stronger in degree? And is not\n     such a recoil righteous, and a token of\n     righteousness?--_Goulburn._\n\n [3] Let us take heed, for mercy is like a rainbow, which God\n     set in the clouds to remember mankind: it shines here as\n     long as it is not hindered; but we must never look for it\n     after it is night, and it shines not in the other world. If\n     we refuse mercy here, we shall have justice there.--_Jeremy\n     Taylor,_ 1612-1667.\n\n\n\nTHE PURPOSE OF PUNISHMENT.\n\n     i. 24-27. _Therefore thus saith the Lord, the Lord of\n     hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine\n     adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies: and I will turn\n     mine hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and\n     take away all thy tin: and I will restore thy judges as at\n     the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning:\n     afterwards thou shall be called, The city of righteousness,\n     The faithful city. Zion shall be welcomed with judgment,\n     and her converts with righteousness._\n\nThe denunciation of the iniquity of Jerusalem (vers. 21-23) is\nfollowed by a solemn announcement of God's determination to punish\nit. +I. God will certainly punish sin.+ \"Ah, I will ease me of mine\nadversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies.\" See preceding outline,\nand that on verse 20. +II. In punishing sin God is not moved by any\nvindictive purpose.+ True, He speaks here of taking vengeance upon\nHis enemies, but these words coming from the lips of Jehovah must not\nbe interpreted as we should have to interpret them if they came from\nthe lips of a Genghis Khan or a Tippoo Saib. We must remember that\nthis is the utterance of the Mighty One of Israel, who is infinitely\nuplifted above every unholy passion. Whatever misconstruction the\nphrase, taken alone, might be open to, is entirely obviated by the\ndeclarations which follow it, which teach us--+III. That God's aim\neven in the severest chastisements is the reformation of the\noffenders, and their restoration to true blessedness.+ For what\npurpose will He turn His hand upon Jerusalem? Not that He may destroy\nher, but that He may purify her, as silver is purified in the\nfurnace; and through this painful process she is caused to pass, that\nshe may be restored to her former dignity and blessedness.  It is for\nthese purposes that God chastises nations and individuals to-day.\n\n_Application._--1. Those who are living sinful lives may certainly\nexpect severe judgments. Sin and sorrow are inseparably linked, and\nGod is solemnly pledged not to \"clear\" the guilty. 2. Those on whom\njudgments on account of sin have fallen should neither despise them\nnor be driven by them to despair (Heb. xii. 5). These are two great\nevils. Indifference to chastisement brings on still severer\nstrokes.[1] God will break the stubborn sinners who refuse to bend\n(ver. 28).[2] Despair defeats the very object for which our\nchastisements are sent, and is itself a grievous offence against God.\nInstead of yielding to despair, we should be filled with hope, for\nGod has loving purposes towards us, and our prayer should be, not\nthat the afflictions should be removed, but that God's purposes in\nthem should be fulfilled. It is worth while to go into the furnace,\nif thereby we may be cleansed from the dross by which we are defiled.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] The physician, when he findeth that the potion which he\n     hath given his patient will not work, seconds it with one\n     more violent; but if he perceive the disease to be settled,\n     then he puts him in a course of physic, so that _medic\u00e8\n     miser\u00e8_ (he shall have at present but small comfort of his\n     life). And thus doth the surgeon too: if a gentle plaster\n     will not serve, then he applies that which is more\n     corroding, and, to prevent a gangrene, he makes use of the\n     cauterising knife, and take off the joint or member that is\n     so ill affected. Even so God, when men profit not by such\n     crosses as He hath formerly exercised them with, when they\n     are not bettered by lighter afflictions, then He sends\n     heavier, and proceeds from milder to sharper courses. If\n     the dross of their sin will not come off, He will throw\n     them into the melting-pot again and again, crush them\n     harder in the press, and lay on such irons as shall enter\n     more deeply into their souls. If He strikes and they grieve\n     not, if they be so foolish that they will not know the\n     judgment of their God, He will bring seven times more\n     plagues upon them--cross upon cross, loss upon loss,\n     trouble upon trouble, one sorrow on the neck of\n     another--till they are, in a manner, wasted and\n     consumed.--_Firmicus._\n\n [2] This we may rest satisfied of, that whensoever God's hand\n     is upon us, we must either yield a voluntary, or be forced\n     to a violent, submission. If our stubbornness is such that\n     we will not bend, it is certain that our weakness is also\n     such that we must needs break. If God's message will not\n     win upon Pharaoh, His plagues shall compel him, and\n     therefore, when He sent Moses to him, He put a rod into his\n     hand, as well as a word into his mouth. When God fully\n     purposes to afflict a man, he is like a bird in a net, the\n     more he strives and flutters, the more he is entangled; for\n     the Supreme Judge of all things is resolved to go through\n     with His great work of judgment, and to make all obstinate,\n     sturdy sinners know, that He has power to constrain where\n     His goodness will not persuade.--_South,_ 1633-1716.\n\n\n\nTHE DIVINE IDEA OF REDEMPTION.\n\n     i. 25, 26. _And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely\n     purge away thy dross, and take away thy tin: and I will\n     restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as\n     at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city\n     of righteousness, The faithful city._\n\nWe have here the promise of a redemption which God would accomplish\nfor Jerusalem, and from the terms of the promise, especially taken in\nconnection with the preceding statements (vers. 21-23), we may learn\nwhat God's idea of redemption is: it is to purge away all that\ndebases and to restore all that is lost. In other words, _redemption\nconsists in restoration to the Divine ideal._ Such was the redemption\nwhich God promises to accomplish for Jerusalem; such is the\nredemption which He offers to accomplish for us. Here we have--\n\n+I. A correction of a common error.+ Most men, when they hear of\nredemption, think of it merely as salvation from suffering, rescue\nfrom the peril of hell. This is a _consequence_ of redemption, but\nredemption consists in the cleansing of our nature from all\ndefilement, and in our restoration to the Divine ideal of humanity\n(Col. iii. 10; Eph. iv. 24, 13). God is going to do something grander\nfor us than save us from hell. He is going to make us \"meet\" for\nheaven (1 John iii. 2). It would be truer to say that God's idea of\nredemption is \"salvation _by_ suffering,\" than to say that it is\n\"salvation _from_ suffering.\" The figure used in the text is\nexpressive of the keenest suffering--\"I will purge away thy dross.\"\nbut dross is purged away by _fire!_ Suffering is one of the\ninstruments which God most frequently uses to save men from sin.\n\n+II. A model for preachers.+ Guided by a Divine interpreter, the\nprophet does not speak of happiness, but of purity and righteousness;\nhe names these as the great favours which God was about to bestow\nupon His people. So should preachers to-day strive to make men\nunderstand that _these_ are the greatest blessings which God can\nconfer upon man. All other blessings spring from them; as all social\nblessings are secured to a community when its \"judges\" are righteous\nand its \"counsellors\" fear God. Let preachers do their utmost to make\nit plain to the man of this generation, that just as if we have the\nsun we shall have light and heat, so if they have purity, they shall\nhave peace; if they attain to holiness, they shall attain to a nobler\nand completer happiness than those who long for happiness merely ever\ndream.\n\n+III. An ennobling ideal to be striven after by all men.+ Happy is\nthe man who has a great purpose in life. And what is the purpose with\nwhich a study of our text should inspire us? Not merely to \"flee from\nthe wrath to come,\" but to become \"partakers of the Divine nature,\"\nand so to attain to God's ideal of humanity. God is striving to\nrestore us to His own likeness: let us do all that in us lies to help\non this restoration (Phil. ii. 12, 13). The \"salvation\" we are to\n\"work out\" is not salvation from guilt (_that_ is Christ's work,\naccomplished by Him once for all on the cross), but from the\nindwelling corruption which is to us what dross is to the precious\nmetals. Nor are we merely to seek to put away that which is evil;[1]\nwe are to strive to set up in us all noblenesses which are to\ncharacter what \"judges\" and \"counsellors\" are to a city (2 Pet.\ni. 5-7; Phil. iv. 8). Blessed is the man who has this ideal in life.\n1. _He is saved from fear,_ the haunting dread of failure which\noppresses those whose supreme desire is merely to be saved from hell.\n2. _He has a sustaining hope,_ based upon the sure promises of God's\nWord (1 Pet. i. 10, 11). 3. He has a present and growing joy,_ such\nas can come only from self-conquest and moral progress. The joy of\n\"the just,\" that is of the men whose steadfast aim is righteousness,\nis like \"the path of the just\" (Prov. iv. 18).\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Christianity ends not in negatives. No man clears his\n     garden of weeds but in order to the planting of flowers or\n     useful herbs in their room. God calls upon us to dispossess\n     our corruptions, but it is for the reception of new\n     inhabitants. A room may be clean, and yet empty; but it is\n     not enough that our hearts be swept, unless they be also\n     garnished, or that we lay aside our pride, our luxury, our\n     covetousness, unless humility, temperance, and liberality\n     rise up and thrive in their places. The design of religion\n     would be very poor and short should it look no further than\n     only to keep men from being swine, goats, and tigers,\n     without improving the principles of humanity into positive\n     and higher perfections. The soul may be cleansed from all\n     blots, and yet still be left but a blank. But Christianity\n     is of a thriving and aspiring nature, and requires us to\n     proceed from grace to grace (2 Pet. i. 5-7), ascending by\n     degrees, till at length the top of the ladder reaches\n     heaven, and conveys the soul so qualified into the mansions\n     of glory.--_South,_ 1633-1716.\n\n\n\nSOCIAL REGENERATION.\n\n     i. 26. _And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and\n     thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shall\n     be called, The city of righteousness, The faithful city._\n\nWe have in the contest a picture of a dismantled city, a disorganized\ncommunity; and here God tells us that He will undertake the work of\nits reconstruction. +I. All the arrangements of society are\nabsolutely in God's hands.+ \"_I_ will restore,\" &c. No man can\noverturn, or build up, but by His permission. On Him all projects of\nnational, social, or ecclesiastical reconstruction depend for their\nsuccess. That on which He smiles flourishes; that on which He frowns\nwithers away. Let reformers and reconstructors of society remember\nand recognise this great fact, that God rules on earth as in heaven.\n+II. All interruptions of social order are under the control of God.+\nRevolutions occur not by chance, nor by the will of man, but by the\nwill of God. They occur only when, and continue only as long as He\npleases. By Him judges and counsellors are swept away, and by Him\nthey are restored. No nation is so broken that it cannot be uplifted\nby Him to power and glory, \"as at the first.\" +III. No social state\ncan be purified but by religious processes.+ There are many\nphilanthropic and political projects which have for their aim\nnational regeneration, but they are all foredoomed to come to nought,\nbecause they lack the religious element. Moral reformation must go\nbefore social advancement: a return to righteousness is the first\nstep to national exaltation.[1] +IV. The great name will follow the\ntrue regeneration.+ \"_Afterward_ thou shall be called, The city of\nrighteousness, The faithful city.\" Not first the exalted title, but\nthe illustrative character; not first the splendid renown, but the\nglorious achievement!--_Joseph Parker, D.D._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Think not that any change in the form of government would\n     cure that which is caused by the people's sin, or the\n     common depravity of human nature. Some think they can\n     contrive such forms of government as that the rulers shall\n     be able to do no hurt; but either they will disable them to\n     do good, or else their engine is but glass, and will fail\n     or break when it comes to execution. Men that are\n     themselves so bad and unhumbled as not to know how bad they\n     are, and how bad mankind is, are still laying the blame\n     upon the form of government when anything is amiss, and\n     think by a change to find a cure. As if when an army is\n     infected with the plague, or composed of cowards, the\n     change of the general or form of government would prove a\n     cure. But if a monarch be faulty, in an aristocracy you\n     will have but many faulty governors for one, and in a\n     democracy a multitude of tyrants.--_Baxter,_ 1615-1691.\n\n\n\nTHE TWOFOLD EFFECT OF DIVINE JUDGMENTS.\n\n     i. 27, 28. _Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her\n     converts with righteousness: and the destruction of the\n     transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and\n     they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed._\n\nThese verses are closely and vitally connected: it is a mistake to\nseparate them, as in the Authorised Version. Their meaning would be\nconveyed to the English reader, if they were translated--_\"Zion shall\nbe redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness; and\nthereby also the transgressors and sinners shall be destroyed, yea\nthey that forsake the Lord shall be consumed.\"_[1] By judgment is\nmeant the doom which in the preceding verses had been threatened\nagainst guilty Jerusalem (_e.g.,_ vers. 18): this \"judgment\" would be\na manifestation of God's punitive righteousness, and the declaration\nis that the infliction of this \"judgment\" would have a twofold\neffect--it would redeem Zion and her converts, and it would destroy\nthe transgressors and sinners.\n\n_The diverse effects of Divine judgments_ is a matter well worthy of\nour study. +I. One effect of those judgments by which God manifests\nHis righteous indignation against sin is to redeem His people from\ntheir transgressions.+ A prolonged period of peace and prosperity\nsuch as the Jews enjoyed under Uzziah is always perilous to the vital\nreligion of a nation. Formalism is apt to prevail. The lines of\ndemarcation between the Church and the world are apt to be effaced;\n\"Zion\" is apt to become merged in \"Jerusalem.\" In love to His people,\nGod is therefore compelled to send upon their nation great\ncalamities. These lead to searchings of heart, and reformations of\nconduct and character. Men learn again to wait upon God, and\nreverently to regard His will (ch. xxvi. 9). The Church shines once\nmore with the glory of spiritual conformity to God, and the result is\nthat she is increased by converts from the world: to these also the\nseason of judgment is also the season of redemption. But,\n+II. Another effect of God's judgments is to harden the obdurate.+\nHis chastisements lead some men to further acts of rebellion against\nHim (ver. 8). Like Pharaoh, they harden themselves more and more as\nGod sends plague after plague upon them (Exod. viii. 19, 32, &c.)\nHence seasons of public calamity (such as that of the plague in\nLondon, &c.) have always been seasons of public crime. Transgressors\nmadly dare Omnipotence to a trial of strength, and the result is\ntheir utter destruction.\n\nOur object as thus unfolded gives rise to the following practical\nreflections--1. In a season of national or individual prosperity we\nshould be especially watchful and prayerful against conformity to the\nworld.[2] 2. We should not regard judgments that come upon our nation\nor ourselves merely as calamities: they may be God's angels sent in\ntruest mercy, and they bring with them to the people of God great\nmoral and spiritual compensations. 3. Judgments, when they come upon\nus, afford us an admirable test of our real character: if we be\nindeed the people of God, they will lead us to submission and to more\nearnest strivings after holiness; but if they awaken within us a\nspirit of murmuring, of repining, of resentment against God, we have\ngood cause to suspect that our religion has never been the work of\nGod in our hearts.[3] 4. In the season of judgment we really have\nonly one alternative before us--to turn or burn. No stoutness of\nheart will enable us to resist God's consuming wrath against iniquity\n(Mal. iv. 1).\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] The world \"together\" does not mean that the transgressor\n     shall be destroyed _together with_ the sinner; but that the\n     destruction of this one class, called both transgressors\n     and sinners, shall come in close connection, \"together\n     with,\" the salvation of the penitent who are brought back\n     to God by correction, as is said in the previous verses.\n     The same sort of infliction that reclaimed the \"converts\"\n     (ver. 27), hardened and sealed over to ruin those who would\n     still \"forsake the Lord.\"--_Cowles._\n\n [2] How often does worldly prosperity tend to this lapsing of\n     the soul from God! How often do our very outward mercies\n     and blessings superinduce this spiritual languor and decay!\n     It is with believers individually as with the Church\n     collectively--they are never in a condition less favourable\n     to spiritual health and advancement than when they have no\n     trial or cross to brace their energies and invigorate their\n     graces. The soldier gets supine after battle. History tells\n     us how the bravest veterans of the great Carthaginian\n     general got demoralized and degenerate when, victory over,\n     they sat down to rejoicing and revelry, before the gates of\n     Capus; they never were the same heroes again.--_Macduff._\n\n [3] As it is easy to know a piece of gold from a piece of brass\n     when they come both to the anvil and be stricken with the\n     hammer, for brass will not be handled, but when it cometh\n     to the beating breaketh and maketh a sharp din and irksome,\n     but gold soundeth sweetly, and is pliable; so when the\n     hypocrite cometh between the anvil and the hammer of\n     affliction, he breaketh with impatience, and lamenteth in\n     blasphemies against God; whereas a faithful Christian\n     praiseth God, and layeth out his heart, submitting himself\n     willingly under the Lord's hand that striketh\n     him.--_Cowdray,_ 1598-1684.\n\n\n\nFORSAKING THE LORD.\n\n     i. 28. _They that forsake the Lord shall be consumed._\n\n+I. The guilt of forsaking the service of the Lord.+ 1. Man is bound\nby the law of his nature to obey that Almighty Being by whom he was\nmade an intelligent and immortal creature. Every discovery which\nreason opens to him of the transcendent perfections of the Lord of\nthe universe urges the duty of offering the homage of his heart and\nlife. Every day's preservation increases his obligation to serve his\ngracious Preserver. 2. Many in forsaking the Lord violate their own\nexpress and solemn engagements (Heb. x. 29). +II. The folly of\nforsaking, &c.+ If we do so, we shall 1. incur the reproaches of our\nown mind; 2. forfeit the esteem and confidence of all good men;\n3. forfeit the favour and incur the wrath of God. And for what are\nall those tremendous sacrifices made? For \"the pleasures of sin,\"\nwhich are but \"for a season\"! +III. The danger of forsaking,+\n&c.--\"shall be consumed.\" The threatened doom is 1. awful,\n2. certain.--_J. H. Hobart, D.D., Posthumous Works,_ ii. 220-229.\n\n\n\nTHE DOOM OF THE APOSTATES.\n\n     i. 28-31. _They that forsake the Lord shall be consumed.\n     For they[1] shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye[1] have\n     desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye\n     have chosen. For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth,\n     and as a garden that hath no water. And the strong shall be\n     as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both\n     burn together, and none shall quench them._\n\nIn modern days, when men \"forsake the Lord,\" they become simply\nirreligious--practical atheists; but in ancient times such men became\nidolaters, they became worshippers of idols set up under the \"oaks\"\nplanted on the hilltops, or in gardens.[2] It is almost impossible\nfor us to understand the fascination of idol-worship, but it was very\npowerful, and the idols were made objects of passionate trust. They\nwere regarded as the strength of those who served them. Trusting in\ntheir protection their votaries went forth confidently to battle.\nDefeat did not dispel this delusion; it was interpreted to mean\nmerely that the god of the victors was mightier than the god of the\nvanquished. To men glorying in their protection, the prophet predicts\nutter destruction. You shall be consumed, he says; the day is at hand\nwhen ye shall be caused to blush for your gods; you yourselves shall\nbe withered oaks, and gardens without water; yea, your idols, and ye\nwho have made them, for they are but things, the work of your hands,\nshall be burned together in unquenchable fire.[3] The theme of these\nverses is therefore _the doom of the apostates, and the objects of\ntheir trust._\n\n+I. Idolatry is still the sin of our race.+ It is not confined to\n\"heathen\" lands. There is no need in this land for a proclamation of\nthe first commandment. For what is idolatry in the essence? It is\nloving and trusting some being or thing more than God. Every man's\ngod is what he lives for. Hence the declaration that \"covetousness is\nidolatry;\" it is _one_ form of the widespread sin. +II. The\nconfidence of men in their idols is still limitless and exultant.+\nEvery idolater is persuaded that that which he lives for is worth\nliving for; this is the conviction of the miser, the ambitious man,\n&c. +III. The time is at hand when the falsity of this confidence\nshall be exposed.+ There are coming upon those who cherish it\ncalamities amid which they will seek in vain for comfort from their\n\"idols.\" How often this is verified in daily life! In the withered,\ndesolate condition of those who have forsaken the Lord how awfully is\ntheir folly demonstrated! +IV. Yea, there is a day appointed in which\nall idolaters and their idols shall be consumed together.+ In the day\nof judgment the worshippers of Dagon, of Astarte, of Baal, and of\nBrahm will not be the only persons on whom utter destruction shall\ncome: those who have made gold their confidence, &c., shall be burned\nup, together with their \"gods.\" The objects of their trust shall be\nas powerless as is \"tow\" to resist flame, and they themselves shall\nbe but as \"sparks,\" swept away by the blast of the Divine indignation.\n\n_Application._--1. The day of judgment is a great reality; it is no\nmere dream of theologians, it is A TREMENDOUS FACT with which we\nshall soon be brought face to face. 2. This fact should govern us in\nselecting the object of our supreme love and trust. 3. It should\nprevent us from envying those who have forsaken the Lord, because of\nthe temporary prosperity in which they are rejoicing.[4] 4. It should\nmake us earnest in our endeavours to reclaim them from their apostacy\nwhile the day of Divine long-suffering and mercy still continues.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] In verse 29 is an instance of what seemed to Lowth's\n     classical taste a corrupt reading--\"They shall be ashamed\n     of the oaks which ye have desired.\" But this variation of\n     the persons of the verb is not unusual in Hebrew, and\n     certainly no corruption. Indeed, if we look at Psalm xci.,\n     which is very artistically constructed, we shall see reason\n     to think that what jars so harshly on a classically trained\n     ear was a beauty to the Hebrew poets.--_Strachey._\n\n     \"Which ye have desired.\" He was speaking of \"the sinners,\"\n     he suddenly turns round to the men of his own generation,\n     and says, \"_You_ are the men who are thus storing up shame\n     and confusion.\"--_Kay._\n\n [2] In the judgments and the restoration which the prophet\n     foretells, he declares that the people shall learn the\n     worthlessness of the idols which they have been worshipping\n     under the oak-trees, and in the sacred groves and gardens.\n     The worship of the high places was partly a local worship\n     of Jehovah, which only became irregular and blameable in\n     later times; but there was also a widespread worship of\n     Baal, Astarte, and Molech, the old gods of the Canaanites\n     and other nations, in sacred groves and gardens, as well as\n     on the hill-tops--a worship of impersonated and defiled\n     sensuality and cruelty--which sometimes even established\n     itself within the precincts of the temple itself, and was\n     still more readily blended with, or substituted for, the\n     worship of Jehovah in the high places. And this idolatrous\n     worship was going on in Jud\u00e6a during the reigns of Uzziah\n     and Jotham, at the same time with the temple services, as\n     appears from 2 Kings xv. 3, 4, compared with 2 Chron.\n     xxvii. 2. In the day of judgment and restoration, says the\n     prophet, these men who have been flourishing in their sin\n     like the oaks, and living in pleasures like those of their\n     well-watered gardens, shall find that the idols to which\n     these oaks and gardens are dedicated have no power to save\n     them from a destruction which shall make them \"as an oak\n     whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water,\"\n     images which will be the more forcible if we remember that\n     in a southern climate trees fade rather from excessive heat\n     than from seasonable cold, and a garden without water is a\n     mere desert of sand. Then shall the strong, the mighty, and\n     the unjust ruler become tow, and his idols, the work of his\n     hands, a spark; and shall both burn together, and no man\n     shall quench them.--_Strachey._\n\n [3] The interpretation of verse 31 on which the above outline\n     is based is that of Calvin and the earlier Protestant\n     commentators. That which in modern days has been almost\n     universally adopted, is given in the preceding extract from\n     Strachey, and the homiletic use to which it may be put is\n     indicated in the next outline: \"The Tow and the Spark.\" We\n     are persuaded, however, that the earlier interpretation is\n     that which is most in harmony with the scope of the whole\n     passage. All the ancient versions treat \u05d7\u05b8\u05e1\u05b9\u05df as an\n     abstract, meaning _strength,_ and Dr. Alexander admits that\n     \"this agrees well with its form, resembling that of an\n     infinitive or verbal noun.\" Latterly it has become the\n     fashion to translate it \"strong man,\" but the harmony of\n     the whole passage is best maintained by rendering it\n     _\"their strength,\"_ that is, that which the idolaters have\n     regarded as their \"strength,\" the deity in whose protection\n     they have trusted.\n\n [4] O sirs! do wicked men purchase their present pleasures at\n     so dear a rate as eternal torments, and do we envy their\n     enjoyment of them so short a time? Would any envy a man\n     going to execution because he saw him in a prison nobly\n     feasted, and nobly attended, and bravely courted? or\n     because he saw him go up the ladder with a gold chain about\n     his neck, and a scarlet gown upon his back? or because he\n     saw him walk to the execution through pleasant fields or\n     delightsome gardens? or because there went before him drums\n     beating, colours flying, and trumpets sounding? &c. Surely\n     no! Oh, no more should we envy the grandeur of the men of\n     the world, for every step they take is but a step to an\n     eternal execution.--_Brooks,_ 1628-1680.\n\n     What reason have we to envy the wicked in their riches and\n     prosperity? If a man be standing firmly on a river's bank,\n     and sees another gliding gaily but inevitably down to a\n     tremendous precipice below, shall he be envious of the\n     pleasant sail that intervenes before the dread catastrophe?\n     Shall he stand and envy him, and wish to exchange places\n     with him? Oh no, but let him rather cry aloud, and warn him\n     of his danger. Let him hasten to the rescue; throw out his\n     arms with right good-will, and if it may be, save a soul\n     from death.--_Nason._\n\n\n\nTHE TOW AND THE SPARK.\n\n     i. 31. _And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it\n     as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none\n     shall quench them._\n\nFor the phrases \"and the maker of it,\" the margin reads, \"and his\nwork.\" So Alexander and Henderson. This reading renders the passage\nintelligible in meaning and terrible in import. It then in simple,\nvivid manner sets forth the reciprocal influence of the sinner and\nhis sin. The man in committing sin degrades and enfeebles himself,\nand then the sin he has committed reacts upon his degraded and\nenfeebled nature to kindle in it the fire of its corruption. It is\nworth observing that these terrible words of warning are not levelled\n1. against _low and vile people._ The term \"strong\" precludes that\nopinion. They are spoken against those who have been, or are still,\nesteemed, exalted, and powerful,--presumably against the princes, the\njudges, the counsellors of the nation (vers. 23-26). Nor are they\nspoken 2. against _the avowedly irreligious._ The people addressed\nperformed a multitude of sacrifices (ver. 11), were punctilious in\ntheir attendance on the house of God, &c. (vers. 12-14), were full of\napparent devotion (ver. 15). Nor 3. do they refer to _the grosser\nforms of sin._ These would of course come under the same\ncondemnation. But spiritual sins, though more refined to our\nperception, are more fatal even than sensual sins. It is\npre-eminently a spiritual sin in root, however sensual in fruit, that\nis here arrived at. It is all summed up in the one evil, \"forsaking\nthe Lord\" (ver. 28). It is important to bear these considerations in\nmind if we would obtain personal and profitable application of these\nwords. Consider--\n\n+I. The radical change sin works in the constitution of the sinner.+\nSin is lawlessness, an outbreak of self-will (1 John iii. 4). It is\nconscious wrongdoing (James iv. 17). And sin, the prophet says in\neffect, has a disintegrating, deteriorating, degrading influence upon\nthe man's nature who yields to it. \"The strong shall be as _tow.\"\nTow_ is the coarse, broken part of flax or hemp--waste, refuse. Used\nhere in contrast to that which is strong. Used also as pattern of\nthat which is inflammable. 1. _Sin lowers the tone and tenor of our\nnature._ Man's nature is originally a very high nature. \"A little\nlower than the angels\" (Ps. viii. 5); a little lower than _Divinity_\n(see Alexander and Thrupp _in loc._). Originally a king with all\nhighest forms of existence grouped around his throne (Ps. viii. 6-8).\nHe falls by sin. How low? To the level of beasts that perish? (Ps.\nxlix. 20). Lower than that (Isa. i. 3). To level of trees and shrubs?\nLower than that. See, that heap of coarse and tangled refuse was a\nplant once, a living thing. Now it is cut down, dried, dead; choicest\nparts gone, wasted! _\"Tow\"_--that is the symbol of the sinful man.\nThe height from which he has fallen measures the degradation\nincurred. To that which is by nature \"tow,\" it is no degradation to\nbe \"tow.\" But for that which is \"strong\" to become \"tow\"--for the\nhighest of God's creations to become as the lowest--this is\ndisgraceful, dreadful. 2. _Sin, depraving and degrading the type and\ntenor of our nature, enfeebles our powers of resistance to the\nassaults of external evil._ Sin is weakness as well as wickedness;\nweakness as the result of wickedness. The \"strong\" becomes as \"tow,\"\nbecomes _weak._ Hard to tell which is the worse to bear, the\nparoxysms of remorse, or the paralysis of power which the habit of\nsin engenders.[1] To feel that when some \"temptation comes and calmly\nstates itself before us\" we are helplessly a prey to it, is terrible\nindeed. The first sin of any kind greatly facilitates a second\ncommission of the same;[2] and every repetition increases that\nfacility till the ease of doing it almost amounts to a practical\ninability to abstain from doing it.[3] Sin gets _dominion_ over us.\nMen are \"sold under sin.\" 3. _Sin imparts to us an increased\nsusceptibility to evil_--makes us more inflammable. And Satan's\n\"fiery darts\" striking, inflame us.[4] Some counsellors advise young\npeople to indulge in a certain measure of sin as a remedy for its\nenkindling impulses; they call it \"sowing their wild oats.\" A figure\nis sometimes the best vail for a fact. One would think that \"sowing\"\nwould of itself suggest reproduction and multiplied reproduction\n(Gal. vi. 7, 8) If you wish your nature to become hopelessly\ninflammable, utterly uncontrollable, give way to the indulgence of\nits hot impulses while you are young.\n\n+II. The way in which the sinner and his sin co-operate for their\ncommon destruction.+ We all know the influence of coming into contact\nwith the instruments, the companions, the locality even, of a former\nsin. They stir up in us the memories, the emotions, the impulse to\nthe same transgression. So the sinner goes about the world setting\nnew snares for his feet at every turn as he sins. The relation of sin\nto the sinner and to his sinful deed is like that of a lamp placed\nbetween two mirrors, which reflect and reflect the light, till both\nthe mirrors seem full of lamps. Sin is ever more multiplying itself\nbetween the sinner and his sinful deed. And the issue is irremediable\nruin. \"They shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.\"\nAnd the moral is, that if we would keep out of hell, we must keep out\nof sin.--_W. Roberts, B.A._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] One of the affecting features in a life of vice is the\n     longing, wistful outlooks given by the wretches who\n     struggle with unbridled passions towards virtue which are\n     no longer within their reach. Men in the tide of vice are\n     sometimes like the poor creatures swept down the stream of\n     mighty rivers, who see people safe on shore, and trees and\n     flowers, as they go quickly past, and all things that are\n     desirable gleam upon them a moment to heighten their\n     trouble, and to aggravate their swift-coming\n     destruction.--_Beecher._\n\n [2] A brand that has been once in the fire easily catches the\n     second time.--_Flavel,_ 1630-1696.\n\n     Every commission of sin imprints upon the soul further\n     disposition and proneness to sin; as the second, third, and\n     fourth degrees of heat are more easily introduced than the\n     first. Every one is both a preparative and a step to the\n     next. Drinking both quenches the present thirst and\n     provokes it for the future. When the soul is beaten from\n     its first station, and the mounds and earthworks of virtue\n     are once broken down, it becomes quite another thing from\n     what it was before. In one single eating of the forbidden\n     fruit, when the act is gone, yet the relish remains; and\n     the remembrance of the first is an easy allurement to the\n     second. One visit is enough to begin an acquaintance; and\n     this point is gained by it, that when the visitant comes\n     again, he is no more a stranger.--_South,_ 1633-1716.\n\n [3] Sin is like the descent of a hill, where every step we take\n     increase the difficulty of our return. Sin, in its habits,\n     becomes stronger every day--the heart grows harder, the\n     conscience grows duller, the distance between God and the\n     soul grows greater, and like a rock hurled from a\n     mountain's top, the further we descend we go down, and\n     down, and down, with greater and greater\n     rapidity.--_Guthrie._\n\n [4] It is in our own bosom that the power of temptation is\n     found. Temptation is but a spark; and if a spark fall upon\n     ice, if it fall upon snow, if it fall upon water, what is\n     the harm of a spark? But if it fall upon powder--the powder\n     is yours, the spark only is the devil's.--_Beecher._\n\n     The power of temptation is in proportion to the nature of\n     the soul tempted. A thoughtless miner takes an uncovered\n     light into the mine: where there is but little gas, there\n     is but a wavering and flickering of a transient\n     flame,--hardly flame, indeed; but where there is an\n     accumulation of gas, the uncovered light occasions an\n     explosion which shivers the rocks and brings swift\n     destruction upon all who are in the mine. In both cases it\n     was the same mine, the same miner, but the condition of the\n     air was different. So is it with the fiery darts of the\n     wicked one; they are shot into all human hearts, and just\n     in proportion to the materials, so to speak, which are to\n     be found there, will be the success or failure of the\n     enemy.--_Dr. Parker._\n\n\n\nISAIAH'S VISION OF THE LAST DAYS.\n\n     ii. 1-5. _The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw, &c._\n\n1. The marvellous power of the ancient prophets in giving embodiment\nand figure to the Word of God. It was a \"word\" that Isaiah saw; not\nthat he heard, but that shaped itself before his vision, and made him\nglad, as if a new star had arisen to guide him. 2. Isaiah speaks with\nmagnificent confidence as to the summing up of earthly dispensations.\nCasting his eye over all the uproar and tumults of intervening time,\nhe sees a heavenly repose settling on the engagements and destinies\nof mankind. Herein is the peculiar power of the old prophets, viz.,\nthat they did not confine their attention within a brief and\ninadequate period, but projected their minds over historic spaces\nwithin which, so to speak, God had room to disclose somewhat of the\nproportions and significance of His plans. The whole year can never\nbe judged from any one season. The prophets seemed to see things in\ntheir _wholeness,_ and this made them calm in the midst of transitory\nconfusion and distress. 3. The house of the Lord is to be exalted\nabove all rivalry. The strength of the hills is to be a pedestal for\nthe sanctuary. At the last right shall be uppermost, and holiness\nsupreme. In the \"last days\" the house of the Lord shall exert a\nuniversal fascination; nation shall challenge nation to go up in holy\nand triumphant procession to the heights of Zion; and the voice of\nother allurements shall be lost in the infinite charm of the\ninvitation. 4. Nor is this to be the indulgence of a mere sentiment;\nit will be the expression of a desire to be spiritually right, and\nthus to be spiritually secure: \"He will teach us of His ways, and we\nwill walk in His paths.\" Lawless sentiment is to have no place in\nspiritual discipline. We are not called to a high revel, but to a\npure and tender obedience to an unchangeable law. 5. The house of the\nLord is to be a centre of judgment and rebuke towards people who are\nliving in impiety and political corruption. The consequence of this\njudgment, if properly received, will be the establishment and\nperpetuation of righteous peace. When the nations are right with God,\nthey will be right with each other. Merely negative peace may be\ndisturbed, but the peace which comes by righteousness will be its own\nguarantee of completeness and continuity. 6. All these blissful\nanticipations should constrain towards present obedience, and be\nfruitful of present joy. So the prophet thought when he exclaimed, O\nhouse of Jacob, come ye, &c. Those who have great prospects should\neven now show themselves to be the heirs of glory. Christian joy is\nnot all future. Even now, though we have to complain of so much of\ncloud and storm, there is a light that is distinctively divine, and\nunder its benign rays we ought to walk until the fuller glory is\nrevealed.--_Joseph Parker, D.D._\n\n\n\nTHE LATTER-DAY GLORY.\n\n     ii. 2-5. _And it shall come to pass in the last days, &c._\n\nTheme: _The Glory of the Latter Days._ \"The last days,\" when men\nshall no longer need to offer the prayer, \"Thy kingdom _come._\" The\nglory of the latter days will consist--+I. In the exaltation of the\nLord's house above all other institutions+ (ver. 2). Now the\nExchange, the Senate, the University, &c., are the great \"mountains\"\nof society; then the sanctuary will be supreme. In other words,\nreligion will be the ruling force in society, dominating and\ndirecting all the others. This is the truth set forth by the figure\nof the upraising of Mount Zion above all the other mountains, \"so as\nto be visible in all directions.\" +II. In universal submission to the\nauthority of God+ (ver. 3). Not by the Jews only (as in Isaiah's\ntime), but by \"_all_ nations,\"[1] and not (as now) by some\nindividuals merely, but by \"all _nations,_\" will this authority be\nrecognised and obeyed. Sin will be the exception, righteousness the\nrule. And so, as a consequence of this--+III. In universal peace\namong men+ (ver. 4).[2] All contentions necessarily cease when men\nknow and do the will of God. James iii. 14--iv. 1. Love towards man\nalways results from genuine love toward God.\n\nA contemplation of their glorious future is calculated--1. _To\nsustain us amid the sins and sorrows of our time._ When we look at\nthe condition of the world as it is, we are tempted to despair. But\nthere is a better day to come. In the widening diffusion of Christian\ntruth, and in the growing power of Christian principle, even now we\nmay see at least streaks of light which tell that the dawn is near.\n2. _To animate us in our efforts to regenerate society._ These\nefforts are not in vain, though they sometimes seem so. We are\nworking in the line of victory (1 Cor. xv. 58). 3. _The blessing of\nthe future we can make our own now._ \"O house of Jacob, come _ye,_\nand let _us_ walk in the light of the Lord,\" that is, \"in His paths\"\n(ver. 3). We can make religion the supreme force of our life, and can\nact with a constant recognition of God's authority; and doing this,\n_we_ shall have peace--with God, with ourselves, and in our homes\n(Isa. xxxii. 17, 18).\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] What words are these! What ideas! What radiances of glory\n     and hope for the long-afflicted Church! Nations abolishing\n     war and crimes, to cultivate righteousness and peace!\n     nations emerging from ignorance and idolatry, to join\n     themselves to the Church, and to walk in the light of the\n     Lord! _How marvellous that words like these should proceed\n     from the Hebrew prophets!_ that men of the most confined\n     education with regard to the Gentiles should thus lose the\n     glory of Israel in the overflowing glory of the converted\n     world! Can we ask for clearer proof that these holy men\n     were purely the organs of the Holy Ghost, and transported\n     in spirit to publish the righteousness of God to every\n     nation and language of the earth?--_Sutcliffe._\n\n     I would urge the thoughtful consideration of these verses\n     (2-9) on any one who is perplexed by the confident\n     assertion of writers who prefer vague declamation to close\n     investigation and reasoning, that the Hebrew prophets were\n     actuated by a bitter hatred of foreigners. He will, I\n     think, discover (from this and such like study) that they\n     were possessed by views and hopes of a philanthropy which\n     even our own times have not been able to extend: they\n     longed for fellowship with all men, under the only\n     conditions in which fellowship is possible; they desired an\n     universal communion of virtue, humanity, and goodness, and\n     could not be content to have a general license of vice,\n     brutality, and wickedness instead; and they advocated what\n     they saw, and what all history has proved, to be the only\n     way of avoiding the one and securing the other.--_Strachey._\n\n [2] This verse shows that there will come a time when men shall\n     have found out that they are men and not brutes, and when\n     they shall settle matters, not by the force of their animal\n     powers, but by the force of superior intelligence.--_James\n     Wells._\n\n\n\nTHE FUTURE TRIUMPHS OF THE GOSPEL.\n\n     ii 2. _And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the\n     mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the\n     top of the mountains, and all nations shall flow unto it._\n\nThe poetic imagery delineates the final and universal prevalence of\nreligion. Christianity is a temple majestic and conspicuous, and all\nnations crowd its courts in united adoration. _There are many\ninteresting indications that this prophecy is soon to be fulfilled,_\nsuch as--+I. The political aspect of the globe.+ The vast political\nchanges that have taken place during the last four centuries in\nEurope, Asia, Africa, and America have all been favourable to the\nextension of Christianity. The area of Christian knowledge and\ninfluence has been steadily extending.[1] +II. The progress of\ncivilisation and of the arts.+ A few years ago it required the\npainful labour of years to copy a Bible, and the wealth of a prince\nto purchase one: now the art of printing scatters the Word of God\nlike autumn leaves, and it is found in the humblest dwelling. Then\nnone could read but the learned few; now knowledge is becoming like\nsunlight, everywhere diffused. War has long been one of the greatest\nobstacles in the way of human improvement; now various causes are\noperating to render it less frequent, such as 1. the rapid extension\nof piety, carrying with it the principles of peace; 2. the extension\nof enlightened views of national policy; 3. the transference of power\nfrom kings and nobles to the people, the victims of war, who will\nbecome its powerful opponents; 4. the invention of terrible engines\nof destruction, which will tend to deter nations from plunging into\nwar. Slavery, too, is rapidly disappearing from the earth. The\nwonderful facilities of intercommunication which now exist are\nweakening and effacing national prejudices. All these causes are\nhastening on the promised millennium. +III. The present state of the\nsciences.+ This statement seems to be contradicted by the attitude of\nmany students of science towards Christianity. But we must remember\nthat all the sciences in their infancy have been arrayed as hostile\nto scriptural truth--astronomy, geology, physiology, chronology; but\none by one each of these sciences, as it developed and attained\nmaturity, has passed over to the side of Christianity, and has\npowerfully helped to build up what it feebly and impotently laboured\nto destroy. That which hath been is that which shall be. In science\nthe cause of revealed truth will continue to find one of her most\nready and efficient helpers. +IV. The past achievements of\nChristianity foreshadow its eventual and perfect triumph.+ The\nhostility of earth has marshalled every possible power, in every\npossible combination, against Christianity--the persecution of\npolitical power, the arguments of philosophy, satire, learning,\npoetry, wealth--and all in vain. The past triumphs of the religion of\nChrist show that it possesses an inherent energy which must\ninevitably make it triumphant over the world. The mighty influence\nwhich swept away the gods of Greece and Rome will not be baffled by\nthe mud-idols of India. +V. The triumphant advances Christianity is\nnow making indicate its universal extension.+ _Application._--What\nare _you_ doing to hasten this certain and glorious\ntriumph?--_J. S. C. Abbott, American National Preacher,_ xvii.\n169-176.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] All the might of the world is now on the side of\n     Christianity. Those barbarous, inchoate powers which still\n     cling to heathenism are already trembling before the\n     advancing strides of the Christian nations; Christian just\n     enough to rouse all their energies and to make them\n     intensely ambitious, and on the alert to increase their own\n     dominion, without having learned Christianity's highest\n     lesson, the lesson of love.\n\n     Even that heathenism which seems to have some power is only\n     waiting for its time of decay. In vast, undisturbed\n     forests, whose interlacing branches exclude the light,\n     moisture is generated, and rills, fed by marshes and quiet\n     pools, united to form running rivers. But let the trees be\n     cut down, and the ground be laid open to the sun, and the\n     swamps will dry up, and the rivers run no more. So is it\n     with the Brahmins, and all the effete teachers of\n     heathenism. As long as the dense shadows of ignorance brood\n     over the people, they will possess some little trickling\n     power; but let the light of knowledge shine in upon the\n     masses, and the channels of their influence will dry up and\n     be forgotten.--_Beecher._\n\n\n\nTHE LIGHT OF THE LORD.\n\n     ii. 5. _O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the\n     light of the Lord._\n\n\"The light of the Lord\" streams upon us from His Word (Ps.\ncxix. 105). The knowledge of God and of His holy will which the Bible\nimparts to us is the meridian sun which casts his rays on the cold\nscenes of our earthly career. +I. The religion of the Bible\nillumines.+ Into how many errors did unaided human reason fall, when\nthe nature of God and of His operations was the subject of its\ninquiries![1] Did not the wisest grope in darkness? Did they not\nconceive absurdities, even when man and his fate were the subject of\ntheir inquiries?[2] How full, clear, and steady is the light which\nthe Scriptures cast upon these and other great subjects of human\nthought! +II. The religion of the Bible warms.+ That God is great and\nall-powerful some philosophers imagined before the divine light of\ninspired truth shone forth; but the human heart remained cold, and\nfelt in itself no point of contact and union with so exalted a Being.\nUntil God said, \"I am your Father,\" we were as orphans in a strange\nland; but then at once the world became to us as a parent's dwelling,\nand our heart began to warm with love towards God and man. +III. The\nreligion of the Bible vivifies.+ It animates and restores the weary,\nthe dying! +IV. The religion of the Bible blesses+--now,[3] and for\never (1 Tim. iv. 8).--_G. Salomon, Twelve Sermons,_ pp. 1-24.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Men who seek God by reason and natural strength (though we\n     do not deny common notions and general impressions of a\n     sovereign power) are like mariners who voyaged before the\n     invention of the compass, who were but coasters, and\n     unwillingly left the sight of the land. Such are they who\n     would arrive at God by this world, and contemplate Him only\n     in His creatures and seeming demonstration. Certainly every\n     creature shows God, as a glass; but glimmeringly and\n     transitorily, by the frailty both of the receiver and\n     beholder; ourselves have His image, as medals, permanently\n     and preciously delivered. But by these meditations we get\n     no further than to know what He doth, not what He\n     is.--_Donne,_ 1573-1631.\n\n     None but the true God can discover [make known] what the\n     true worship of God is. As that glorious eye of heaven is\n     not to be seen but by its own proper light,--a million of\n     torches cannot show us the sun: so it is not all the\n     natural reason in the world that can either discover what\n     God is, or what worship He expects, without Divine and\n     supernatural revelation from Himself.--_Arrowsmith,_\n     1602-1659.\n\n [2] Reason sees that man is ignorant, guilty, mortal,\n     miserable, transported with vain passions, tormented with\n     accusations of conscience, but it could not redress those\n     evils. Corrupt nature is like an imperfect building that\n     lies in rubbish: the imperfection is visible but not the\n     way to finish it; for through ignorance of the first design\n     every one follows his own fancy, whereas, when the\n     Architect comes to finish His own project, it appears\n     regular and beautiful. Thus the various directions of\n     philosophers to recover fallen man out of his ruins, and to\n     raise him to his first state, were vain. Some glimmerings\n     they had that the happiness of a reasonable nature\n     consisted in its union with God, but in order to this they\n     propounded such means as were not only ineffectual, but\n     opposite. Such is the pride and folly of carnal wisdom,\n     that to bring God and man together, it advances man, but\n     depresses God.--_Bates,_ 1625-1699.\n\n     All the days of sinful nature are dark night, in which\n     there is no right discerning of spiritual things: some\n     light there is, of reason, to direct natural and civil\n     actions, but no daylight. Till the sun rise it is night\n     still, for all the stars, and the moon to help\n     them.--_Leighton,_ 1611-1684.\n\n [3] It is a peculiar advantage of piety, that it furnisheth\n     employment fit for us, worthy of us, hugely grateful, and\n     highly beneficial to us. Man is a very busy and active\n     creature, which cannot live and do nothing, whose thoughts\n     are in restless motion, whose desires are ever stretching\n     at somewhat, who perpetually will be working either good or\n     evil to himself: wherefore greatly profitable must that\n     thing be which determineth him to act well, to spend his\n     care and pain on that which is truly advantageous to him;\n     and that is religion only. It alone fasteneth our thoughts,\n     affections, and endeavours upon occupations worthy the\n     dignity of our nature, suiting the excellence of our\n     natural capacities and endowments, tending to the\n     perfection and advancement of our reason, to the enriching\n     and ennobling of our souls. Secluding that, we have nothing\n     in the world to study, to affect, to pursue, not very mean\n     and below us, not very base and unbecoming us, as men of\n     reason and judgment. What have we to do but to eat and\n     drink, like horses or like swine; but to sport and play,\n     like children or apes; but to bicker and scuffle about\n     trifles and impertinencies, like idiots? What but to scrape\n     or scramble for useless pelf, to hunt after empty shows and\n     shadows of honour, or the vain fancies or dreams of men?\n     What but to wallow or bask in sordid pleasures, the which\n     soon degenerate into remorse and bitterness? To which sort\n     of employments were a man confined, what a pitiful thing he\n     would be, and how inconsiderable would be his life! Were a\n     man designed only, like a fly, to buzz about here for a\n     time, sucking in the air and licking the dew, then soon to\n     vanish back into nothing, or to be transformed into worms,\n     how sorry and despicable a thing were he! And such without\n     religion we should be. But it supplieth us with business of\n     a most worthy nature and lofty importance; it setteth us\n     upon doing things great and noble as can be; it engageth us\n     to free our minds from all fond conceits, and cleans our\n     hearts from all corrupt affections,--to conform the\n     dispositions of our soul and the actions of our life to the\n     eternal laws of righteousness and goodness: it putteth us\n     upon the imitation of God, upon obtaining a friendship and\n     maintaining a correspondence with the High and Holy One,\n     upon filling our minds for conversation and society with\n     the wisest and purest spirits above, upon providing for our\n     immortal state, upon the acquist of joy and glory\n     everlasting. It employeth us in the divinest\n     actions--promoting virtue, performing beneficence, serving\n     the public, and doing good to all: the being exercised in\n     which things doth indeed render a man highly considerable\n     and his life excellently valuable.--_Barrow,_ 1630-1677.\n\n\n\nTHE WALK OF THE SOUL IN THE LIGHT OF THE LORD.\n\n     ii. 5. _O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the\n     light of the Lord._\n\nThere are many lights shining upon the paths of men in this world.\nThere are the lights of science and philosophy; they beam out from\nthe human mind, and are kindled by eager research and investigation.\nThese have been advancing in splendour and in value, age by age, and\nwill, no doubt, continue to do so to the end of time. Men walk in\nthese lights, and vainly imagine that they have found the sun of the\nsoul. They seek no higher illumination. They are mistaken. The lights\nof science are but little service to the moral nature; they cannot\nchase away its darkness, or open up to it a vision of destiny. The\nTrue Light cometh down from above, and is Divine in its origin. It is\nbright. It is beauteous. It is sufficient for the guidance of the\nsoul. Wise men will walk in it. \"O house of Jacob,\" &c.\n\n+I. The walk of the soul.+ \"Let us walk.\" 1. _The moral walk of the\nsoul is a necessity._ The soul of man is endowed with certain\nconvictions and activities which render inaction an impossibility. It\nmust walk either in one direction or another; either toward moral\npurity or moral evil; either to Christ or to Satan. The moral\nsensibilities with which it is gifted, the laws under which it is\nplaced, the influences to which it is subject and the prospects that\nare stretched out before the soul, render moral progress a necessity\nof being. 2. _The moral walk of the soul is educational._ Men gain\nknowledge in this world by travel. In this way they augment their\nmental stores. And the soul gains knowledge, strengthens its\ncapabilities, and deepens its experience, by walking forth into the\ngreat moral universe in which it lives. Only the souls that have\nwalked in the paths of truth and life know what things are, and they\nonly are able to guide others. 3. _The moral walk of the soul is\nhealthful._ Those who are inactive are always physically weak. The\nsoul that never takes moral exercise, that never gets out into the\nbroad acres of truth, and that never climbs the great mountains of\nGod, will ever be sickly. If the soul is to be strong, equal to the\nduties of life, and to the demands of being, it must not indolently\nrepose in its own quiet hiding-place. It must go forth to meet the\nExternal. 4. _The moral walk of the soul is often perilous._ The\ntraveller has often to walk through dark places, along difficult\npaths, and near the deep precipice. He is in a strange country. And\nso in the walk of the soul. It is in a land of which it knows but\nlittle. It has to pass through the dark mystery of truth, to traverse\nthe windings of intricate problems, and to find its way, through\nperplexing circumstances, to the throne of God.\n\n+II. The light of the Lord.+ \"In the light of the Lord.\" The soul of\nman was not constituted to walk in darkness. It was created with keen\nmoral vision; but, alas! its eye is dimmed by sin, and is but seldom\nopen to the light of heaven. 1. _This light is Divine in its origin._\nIt does not come from the orb in the heavens. It comes from beyond\nthe clouds--from the Sun of Righteousness, whose rays are never lost\nin night. It is not the light of the finite, but of the Infinite. It\nis perennial and pure. It is unparalleled in beauty. It is unique in\nlustre. It is life-giving in its influence. The soul can walk in no\nbetter radiance. 2. _This light is clear in its revelation._ But for\nthe sun we should know nothing of this world. And but for the light\nof the Lord we should be entirely ignorant of the moral world, in\nwhich the soul lives and has its being. This light which shines for\nthe Spirit of God from the Bible, and from the enlightened\nconscience, reveals the existence of God, the spirituality of His\nnature, the purity of His character, and the devotion of which He is\nworthy. It reveals the soul to itself, and bends it in humility, but\nin joy, as it unfolds the forgiving mercy of the Cross. But for this\nlight of the Lord we should be ignorant of the things of the moral\nuniverse. It illuminates the soul in its walk to the great and\nunknown future. 3. _This light is cheering in its influence._ The\nlight of the sun is cheering to man, and is ever welcome to him. So\nthe light of the Lord is cheering to the pure soul; it enlivens its\nenergies, and lends new beauty to its visions. 4. _This light is\nabiding in its duration._ The light of the Lord will never go down\nfrom the pure soul, but will only brighten through death into the\nperfect day.--By what light do we walk? \"Come ye,\" now, gladly,\ndevoutly, \"and let us walk in the light of the Lord.\"--_J. S. Exell._\n\n\n\nA TERRIBLE PICTURE.\n\n     ii. 6-22.\n\n_Here_ is a \"word\" (vision) which Isaiah \"saw concerning Judah and\nJerusalem\" (ver. 1). The prophet has been enraptured by the wondrous\nprospect of the distant future, when religion shall be the supreme\nforce of life (ver. 2), and all men (vers. 2, 3), walking in \"the\nlight of the Lord,\" shall be at peace with each other (ver. 4): now\nhe looks down to the present, and how dark and terrible is the\npicture which he sees before him! He sees--+I. A nation forsaken of\nGod+ (ver. 6). One of the most awful of all spectacles: an engine of\ntremendous power, without a driver, rushing down a steep incline!\n+II. A nation pursuing childish superstitions+ (ver. 6): \"They be\nreplenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines.\"\nWhen a nation forsakes God, this is a common result (Rom. i. 21, 22).\nWitness the rapid spread in our own day of \"spiritualism\" among the\nsceptical and irreligious classes of England and America. +III. A\nnation seeking strength and safety in alliances with the enemies of\nGod,+ allying itself with the very powers which Omnipotent\nRighteousness was pledged to crush! Instead of dwelling apart, as God\nintended (Num. xxiii. 9; Deut. xxxiii. 28, &c.), and in dependence\nupon His protection, the Israelites sought to strengthen themselves\nby alliances with surrounding nations. \"They please themselves with\nthe children of strangers.\" The same sin is repeated in these days,\nwhen God's people mix with worldly society for the sake of its\n\"advantages.\" +IV. A nation blinded by external prosperity to its\nreal condition and peril+ (ver. 7). Abounding with every evidence of\nprosperity, how could they suspect that they were forsaken of God,\nand that a terrible doom was hanging over them? What is our\ncondition, and what are our prospects as a nation? Let us not lay too\nmuch stress upon our great national wealth. +V. A nation given over\nto a debasing idolatry+ (ver. 8; Rom. i. 23). A moral degradation\nextending to all classes (ver. 9). Just what we behold in Roman\nCatholic and ritualistic churches, where rich and poor alike\nprostrate themselves before the wheaten wafer which their priest has\ntransformed into a god! The prophet himself now becomes part of the\npicture, and we have--+VI.+ The awful spectacle of +a good man\ninvoking the vengeance of Heaven upon the nation to which he belongs+\n(ver. 10): \"Therefore forgive them not.\" This was the natural cry of\nthe prophet's soul, filled with horror and indignation at what he\nsaw. The imprecations of Scripture are the natural (and fitting)\nutterance of righteousness in view of wickedness. It is only because\nof the tone of our own spiritual life is so low that we are offended\nat them. From whom, among ourselves, does the cry of human law\nagainst the perpetrators of crimes of violence come? Not from the\nclasses most likely to suffer for them, but from the refined and\ngentle, who, just because of their refinement and gentleness, are\ninspired by them with disgust and anger. So it is those who are most\nin sympathy with God who are most likely to burn with holy\nindignation against such things as the prophet saw. The men who offer\nsuch prayers as this, \"Forgive them not,\" would be the first to\nreverse it did the offenders give any sign of repentance. +VII. A\ncrushing doom impending over an unsuspecting nation.+ No sooner had\nthe prophet uttered his prayer, than he sees it was needless, and\nthat the thunderclouds of the Divine anger were already thickly\nmassed over the guilty nation; without any visible sign there was\ngathering over them a storm that would suddenly break forth with\ndestructive force. Therefore he breaks out into a strain of\nimpassioned warning and appeal to the very men for whose punishment\nhe had prayed (ver. 10, &c.)\n\nWhat lessons shall we learn from our survey of this dark picture?\n1. _Not to judge of the relations of nations, individuals, or\nourselves to God by the test of temporal circumstances._ It is an old\nbut gross fallacy that temporal prosperity is a sure sign of the\nDivine favour (Eccles. ix. 1-3; Job xxi. 7-15, &c.)[1] Let us not ask\nwhat our circumstances are, but what our character is, and what our\nconduct has been. If we are unrighteous, temporal prosperity should\nalarm us, as a sign that God has forsaken us (Heb. xii. 8). 2. _Not\nto be hasty to impute the temporal prosperity of the wicked to a\nslumbering of the Divine justice._ We need scarcely trouble ourselves\nto pray for a doom upon the ungodly (Exod. xxxiv. 7; 2 Pet. ii. 3;\nJob xxi. 17, 18; Ps. lxxiii. 18, 19; Isa. iii. 11). 3. _Let us\nremember that we ourselves, as sinners, are exposed to the Divine\njudgments, and let us \"enter into the Rock\"_--\"the Rock of Ages,\"\nthat, sheltered in Him, we may be safe when the storms of the final\njudgment shall burst upon our guilty world.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] When the Lord hath set thee up as high as Haman in the\n     court of Ahasuerus, or promoted thee to ride with Joseph in\n     the second chariot of Egypt; were thy stock of cattle\n     exceeding Job's, \"seven thousand sheep, three thousand\n     camels, five hundred yoke of oxen;\" did thy wardrobe put\n     down Solomon's, and thy cupboard of plate Belshazzar's when\n     the vessels of God's temple were the ornature,--yet all\n     these are but the gifts of Wisdom's left hand, and the\n     possessors may be under the malediction of God, and go down\n     to damnation.--_Adams,_ 1654.\n\n     The eagles and lions seek their meat of God. But though all\n     the sons of Jacob have good cheer from Joseph, yet\n     Benjamin's mess exceeds. Esau shall have the prosperity of\n     the earth, but Jacob goes away with the blessing. Ishmael\n     may have outward favours, but the inheritance belongs to\n     Isaac.--_Adams,_ 1654.\n\n\n\nGOD'S PEOPLE FORSAKEN.\n\n     Heb. xiii. 5. _I will never leave thee nor forsake thee._\n     Isa. ii. 6. _Thou hast forsaken Thy people the house of\n     Jacob._\n\nHow comforting is the Apostle's assurance! But do not the hope and\ncourage which it inspires die out of us, and testify, \"Thou hast\nforsaken Thy people\"? No! because before there is any light\nconcerning this question in our understanding, our faith tells us\nthere must be a way of harmonising these seemingly conflicting\ndeclarations. God must necessarily be faithful to His promise. \"I\nwill never leave thee nor forsake thee.\" Were God to forsake any of\nHis believing, expecting people, He would do more than forsake\nthem--He would forsake _Himself!_ He would put off His crown and lay\naside His sceptre, and become one of ourselves. Then the whole\nuniverse would have cause to mourn in sackcloth and ashes; there\nwould no longer be any GOD to whom we could make supplication in our\nsorrows.\n\n+I. The first of these inspired declarations make it plain that God\nhas a people who He will never forsake.+ In every distress and\ntribulation He will be with them. Though all other friends may fail\nthem, God will continue faithful to them. When the most devoted of\nhuman friends _could_ not be of any avail, God will be their\nsuccour--when bereavement has broken their heart; when persecution or\ntemptations are threatening to sweep them away; in the hour of death.\n\n+II. The second of these inspired declarations makes it plain that\nthose who have been accounted the people of God may be forsaken by\nHim.+ This is a declaration that would smite us with dismay, and\nplunge us into saddest confusion, were we to put a full stop where\nthe prophet has put a comma. Why had God forsaken His people, the\nhouse of Jacob? Because they had first forsaken Him: they had first\nvoluntarily ceased to be His people. The truth in this matter may\nperhaps be best apprehended by means of a Scriptural symbol. God\ncompares the union that exists between Him and His people to that\nwhich exists between a man and his wife. Will a good husband ever\nforsake his faithful wife? The bloom and beauty of her youth may have\ngone; a wasting sickness may have rendered her positively unlovely,\nbut will he forsake her? Never! Her misfortunes will only cause him\nto cherish her with a tenderer love. But if she be unfaithful to him,\nwhat then? Why, then, the whole case may be altered. If he be a\nmerciful as well as a just man, he may seek to reclaim her; but if\nshe be \"joined to her lovers,\" and persistently heedless of all his\nclaims and her duties, the time will come when he will leave her to\nher fate. To him she will be as if she were dead. So God is wondrous\nin His forbearance towards His backsliding people; but if they\npersist in their apostacy, He will leave them to the gods whom they\nhave chosen (Judges x. 13, 14; Jer. ii. 28). We see now that between\nthese apostolic and prophetic utterances there is the most perfect\nharmony. Our discussion of this subject should teach us--1. _Not to\nfound conclusions upon fragments of God's sayings or doings._ His\nwords and His works are mutually explanatory; but we must not cut the\nexplanations short! If we put periods where God has only put commas,\nwe shall be plunged into frightful perplexities; with the words of\nScripture on our lips, we shall have most damnable heresies in our\nhearts. Our study of God's word must be comprehensive. So also must\nour study of God's providence. Let us not be in a hurry to come to\nconclusions. Wait, and we shall have more light, because we shall not\nbe looking at parts, but at wholes. Our life is being written in\nclauses, and not till the last is completed shall we be able to\ninterpret the first aright.[1] 2. _Not to build too much upon past\nsubmissions to the Divine will and past enjoyments of the Divine\nfavour._ \"Once in grace always in grace\" is an _ignis fatuus_ which\nhas lighted many a soul down to hell. If after being fenced around as\na garden of the Lord, and tilled by the great Husbandman, and watered\nby dews and rains from heaven, we relapse into mere desert ground, we\nmay be sure we are nigh unto cursing (Heb. vi. 4-8). 3. _That those\nwho are humbly and loyally faithful to their Heavenly Friend cannot\nbe too confident of His faithfulness to them._ Assuredly He will\nnever forsake them (Isa. xliii. 2). And His presence is all they\nneed. Having Him they have all things (Ps. lxxxiv. 11, 12).\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] The Lord has reasons far beyond our ken for opening a wide\n     door, while He stops the mouth of a useful preacher. John\n     Bunyan would not have done half the good he did, if he had\n     remained preaching in Bedford, instead of being shut up in\n     Bedford prison.--_Newton,_ 1725-1807.\n\n     However contradictory the designs of Providence at first\n     appear to be, if we set ourselves to watch God in His works\n     and ways, with care, we shall soon discover that He acts\n     according to some certain scheme or plan.\n\n     Were a person altogether unacquainted with architecture to\n     visit some splendid temple in the process of erection, and\n     observe the huge rough stones, and boards and timbers, iron\n     castings, bricks, lime, mortar, lying scattered in\n     confusion all around; were he to see one group of workmen\n     cutting up material here, another digging trenches there;\n     one party raising a staging on this side, another nailing\n     on some boards on that: were he to observe the blocks, the\n     fragments, all lying in disorder round about him, he might\n     truly say that he could see no plan or system in the\n     business; nor would he be likely to conceive or dream that\n     out of such a chaotic mass of raw material, out of such\n     contradictory labour, there could ever rise a magnificent\n     temple, to reflect undying honour on the architect, and\n     beautify the world!\n\n     But let the observer stop, and set himself to watch from\n     day to day this busy work as it goes on; let him patiently\n     examine, not only the minutest details, but also try to\n     obtain a view of the general scope and bearing of the\n     whole, and he will not be long in finding out that some\n     superior mind controls and regulates the movements in\n     accordance with some preconceived plan or system, which is\n     constantly developing itself; and that every stroke of\n     every workman is conducive to the same ultimate effort.\n\n     And when he comes to see the \"beau ideal\" of the builder\n     realised in the fair proportions, in the classic beauty of\n     the noble structure, he then perceives how inconsiderate,\n     how unfair it was in him to decide upon a work in its\n     incipient state, without some knowledge of the plan and the\n     design of it.\n\n     God is building up the Christian in accordance with a\n     perfect plan into a majestic temple for the decoration of\n     the eternal city. And though His dealings sometimes seem to\n     be mysterious; though He seems to cut down here and to\n     raise up there, to let the light into this part and to\n     leave it dark in that; though it is hard to tell at times\n     what such material is designed for, what this or that work\n     means, or to conceive how the structure when completed will\n     appear; it is nevertheless quite certain that God acts\n     according to a fixed and unalterable plan; that every\n     stroke we bear, or loss we mourn, is made subservient to\n     the end; and although it is given us here to see only in\n     part, whoever will take the pains to watch with care the\n     course of Providence, will be convinced that it does not\n     move along by chance, but that everything is done by a\n     prospective plan.--_E. Nason._\n\n\n\nFORSAKEN OF GOD.\n\n     ii. 6. _Therefore Thou hast forsaken Thy people, &c._\n\nThe doctrine of this verse is, that when men forsake God, God\nforsakes them. There is nothing arbitrary in such Divine\nwithdrawals;[1] they have always a moral cause; and no man has any\nright to complain of them (Hosea xiii. 7). Consider +I. When men\nforsake God.+ Men forsake God--1. when they set their affection on\nforbidden things; 2. when they cease to seek Him in prayer and the\nother means of grace; 3. when they give themselves up to the practice\nof sin. +II. When men are forsaken of God.+ This doom befalls\nthem--1. when they are left without that aid of the Holy Spirit,\nwithout which they cannot vividly apprehend the truth; 2. when they\nare left without the comfort of God's mercy; 3. when they are left\nwithout earnest distress after God, and consequently a prey to all\nthe evil within and around them. +III. Men may be forsaken of God in\nthe midst of temporal prosperity.+ There may be a terrible contrast\nbetween their spiritual and material condition (ver. 6, 7). Temporal\nprosperity is from God; it is designed to lead men to repentance\n(Rom. ii. 4); failing to accomplish this, it drives them further from\nGod (Deut. viii. 11-14; Prov. xxx. 9; Neh. ix. 25); and when it has\nthis effect upon them, the doom of which our text speaks to us is not\nfar off (Deut. xxviii. 48).[2] +IV. No man need remain thus forsaken\nof God.+ 1. God desires to bring all men into fellowship with Himself\n(ver. 3, 4). 2. All are invited to come to Him (ver. 5). 3. The light\nof God's countenance is offered them, especially in Christ, who is\n\"the light of the world.\"--_John Johnston._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] In common conversation, we frequently speak of solar\n     eclipses. But what is called an eclipse of the sun is, in\n     fact, an eclipse of the earth, occasioned by the moon's\n     transit between the sun and us. This circumstance makes no\n     alteration in the sun itself, but only intercepts our view\n     of it for a time. From whence does darkness of soul, even\n     darkness that may be felt, usually originate? Never from\n     any changeableness in our covenant God, the glory of whose\n     unvarying faithfulness and love shines the same, and can\n     suffer no eclipse. It is when the world gets between our\n     Lord and us, that the light of His countenance is\n     obstructed, and our rejoicing in Him suffers a temporary\n     eclipse.--_Salter._\n\n [2] When the king removes, the court and all the carriages\n     follow after, and when they are gone, the hangings are\n     taken down; nothing is left behind but bare walls, dust,\n     and rubbish. So, if God removes from a man or a nation,\n     where He kept His court, His graces will not stay behind;\n     and if they be gone, farewell peace, farewell comfort: down\n     goes the hangings of all prosperity; nothing is left behind\n     but confusion and disorder.--_Staughton,_ 1628.\n\n\n\nTHE MATERIAL AND THE MORAL.\n\n     ii. 6-9. _They be replenished from the east, &c._\n\nWe have here the indictment which the prophet brings against Israel.\nIt consists of three counts: 1. That the people had adopted the\nsuperstitions of the surrounding nations. 2. That the government had\naccumulated treasure and organized a cavalry force, in direct\ndisobedience to well-known Divine injunctions (Deut. xvii. 16, 17).\n3. That rich and poor alike had abandoned themselves to idolatry. But\nthese verses may be taken also as Isaiah's _description_ of Jud\u00e6a in\nhis day; and so regarding them, we find in them an instructive\ncombination of the material and the moral. According to modern ideas,\nso far as the description concerns the material, it is exceedingly\nbright. An observer who regarded only the material--such a man as we\ncan conceive of as being sent out as a \"Special Commissioner\" by the\n_Daily Telegraph_ or the _New York Herald_--would have given a\nglowing account of Jud\u00e6a at that period: an overflowing exchequer, a\npowerful army, evidences of wealth and prosperity on every hand, &c.\nBut the prophet, looking only at what is moral, gives an account that\nis lurid and dark in the extreme: he sees only cause for lamentation\nand foreboding. So we reach the first of the lessons on which I\nintend to insist to-day, viz., +I. That the most diverse reports may\nbe made truly concerning the same community.+ St. Paul visited\nAthens, and we have a touching account of the effect of that city\nupon him (Acts xvii. 16); to him it presented a pitiable spectacle;\nbut what a different effect would have been produced upon a mere man\nof culture, and what a different account he would have given of that\nmetropolis of art! What very different accounts might be given of our\nown country from these two standpoints, the material and the moral!\n\n+II. When two reports of a community are given--one materially bright\nand the other morally dark--it is the latter only that a wise man\nwill regard as important.+ For 1. _It is on the moral condition of a\nnation, and not on its material prosperity, that its happiness\ndepends._ Increase of wealthy does not necessarily mean increase of\nhappiness. Frequently it means destruction of happiness; it always\ndoes so, when wealth increases faster than intellectual culture and\nmoral restraint. In the absence of this moral restraint, wealth is\nnot a blessing, but a curse. 2. _The material disassociated from the\nmoral is transient._ Vicious prosperity is short-lived. By the luxury\nborn of prosperity and virtue of industry, foresight, and\nself-denial, on which prosperity depends, are sapped. The health of\nthe nation is lowered. Commerce becomes a gigantic system of\ngambling. Ruin is soon reached. Hence,\n\n+III. Our chief concern as patriots should be to promote the moral\nwell-being of our nation.+ Those who uplift it in virtue are its true\nbenefactors. All who minister to its material, intellectual, and\nartistic progress are worthy of gratitude; but most deserving of\ngratitude are those who inspire it with the fear of God, and with\nlove for His laws. Hence,\n\n+IV. Our chief concern as individuals should be for the moral and not\nfor the material.+ It is a very small matter to add house to house,\nand field to field: it is a very great thing to add virtue to virtue\nuntil we have succeeded in building up a symmetrical and noble moral\ncharacter. A man's life--his true well-being depends not upon what he\n_has,_ but upon what he _is_.[1] And upon this, too, depends his\neternal destiny. How childish, therefore, is the almost universal\nconcern for mere material improvement! And how little have those to\ncomplain of who find themselves unable to accumulate wealth! The\nmillionaire has soon to leave all his stores, and he speedily reaches\na point at which all his bonds and notes become wastepaper. What a\ncontrast between his experience, and that of the man who, having\nemployed his life in virtue, finds that all unconsciously he has been\nlaying all up for himself treasures in heaven! These two courses are\nopen to us--to live for the material, or to live for the moral: which\nwill you choose?\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] A wise man looks upon men as he does upon horses; and\n     considers their comparisons of title, wealth, and place,\n     but as harness.--_Newton,_ 1725-1807.\n\n     In the library of the world, men have hitherto been ranged\n     according to the form, the size, and the binding. The time\n     is coming when they will take rank and order according to\n     their contents and intrinsic merits.--_E. Cook._\n\n     A man may be outwardly successful all his life long, and\n     die hollow and worthless as a puff-ball; and a man may be\n     externally defeated all his life long, and die in the\n     royalty of a kingdom established within him. That man is a\n     pauper who has only outward success; and that man may be a\n     prince who dies in rags, untended, and unknown in his\n     physical relations to this world. And we ought to take the\n     ideal in the beginning that a man's true estate of power\n     and riches is to be in himself: not in his dwelling; not in\n     his position; not in his external relations, but in his own\n     essential character. That is the realm in which a man must\n     live, if he is to live as a Christian man.--_Beecher._\n\n\n\nTHE SINNER'S DANGER AND REFUGE.\n\n     ii. 10. _Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust,\n     for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty._\n\nThis is the counsel which the prophet gives his fellow-countrymen, in\nview of the desolations which God was about to send upon their land\non account of their sins. He sees God's judgments sweeping down upon\nthem like an invading army, and therefore he cries to them, \"Flee\ninto the caverns in the mountains:\" like the _Simoom,_ and therefore\nhe cries to them, \"Hide yourselves in the dust: bow down before the\ndestroying blast from which it is impossible to escape. God has been\nsilent, as if He were indifferent to your transgressions, but now He\nis coming forth, in all the terrors of His majesty to require the\nevil doers according to their works.\"[1] The counsel is, of course,\nmetaphorical; the rocks and the dust could afford no refuge from an\nangry God. _The summons is to profound and penitential humility,_ the\nproper attitude of man to God. It is a summons, therefore, which may\nbe fitly addressed to all men. +I. Profound humility in regard to God\nwould be befitting in us as creatures, even were we absolutely\nwithout sin.+ Such humility is reasonable--1. In view of our relation\nto and dependence upon God. He is our Maker; we are daily pensioners\non His bounty; we are the instruments with which He carries out His\npurposes (ch. x. 15). 2. In view of His position as the Ruler of the\nuniverse. 3. In view of the transcendent excellencies of His\ncharacter. The pupils of a great artist, such as Raphael, the\nassociates of a great patriot, such as Washington, are filled with\ninvoluntary admiration and veneration for him. They feel themselves\nto be as nothing in comparison with him. How much more should we feel\nso in comparison with God! Those sinless being who see Him as He is\nshow us by their conduct what would be befitting in us even were we\nalso without spot or stain (ch. vi. 2, 3). +II. But as sinners that\nwhich is befitting in us is, not only profound, but penitential\nhumility.+ To live without any sense of guilt in our hearts--with\nindifference to the fact that we have broken God's laws and are\nexposed to His judgements--is itself a gross iniquity; it is an\noutrageous defiance of the majesty in whose presence we are. What\nwould be said of a rebel who in the presence of his outraged\nsovereign should absolutely _ignore_ him? Would not this be regarded\nas a repetition of his offence in the most aggravated form? But is\nnot this precisely the offence which every stout-hearted sinner daily\ncommits? As sinners there are two things especially incumbent upon\nus. 1. _To humbly acknowledge that we are exposed to the Divine\njudgments, and need a refuge therefrom._ There are two ways of\ncontemplating the Day of Judgment: (1) As a certain and solemn fact\nin the history of our race. Contemplating it thus, we may show\nargumentatively that such an event ought to occur; and we may\nanticipate to some extent the principles upon which the Judge, when\nHe shall have summoned mankind before His bar, will proceed. We may\ndo this, and be merely theological or rhetorical. Or (2) we may\nregard it as a certain and terrible fact in our _own_ history. And it\nis thus that we should regard it. It is _we_ who are to stand before\nthe great White Throne. A realisation of this fact will powerfully\naffect our feelings and our conduct; we shall (1) acknowledge, at the\nleast, that _we need a refuge._ And we shall be prepared\n(2) _thankfully to avail ourselves of the refuge which God in His\nmercy has provided for us._ With yet greater fulness and definiteness\nof meaning God's messengers can repeat the prophet's counsel, \"Enter\ninto the rock, &c.\" The sinner's refuge is the Son of God, \"the Rock\nof our salvation.\" Our refuge from God as our Judge is God Himself as\nour Saviour. It is as such that He now reveals Himself to us. \"Behold\n_now_ is the day of salvation;\" but the day of judgment is at hand!\nEre it burst upon us, let us flee unto \"the Rock of Israel\" (ch.\nxxx. 29) crying to Him, with penitent confession of our sins,\n\n        \"Rock of Ages, cleft for me,\n         Let me hide myself in Thee.\"\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] \"The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up, their sin is hid\"\n     (Hosea xiii. 12). Not that his sin was hid from God, but\n     his sin is hid; that is, it is recorded, it is laid up\n     against a day of reckoning. That this is the meaning, is\n     clear by the foregoing words, his iniquity is bound up; as\n     the clerk of the assizes binds up the indictments of\n     malefactors in a bundle, and, at the assizes, brings out\n     the indictments, and reads them in court, so God binds up\n     men's sins in a bundle; and, at the day of judgment, this\n     bundle shall be opened, and all their sins brought to light\n     before men and angels.--_Watson,_ 1696.\n\n\n\nTHE GREAT DETHRONEMENT.\n\n     ii. 18. _And the idols He shall utterly abolish._\n\nThere are a great number of things which would be incredible if they\nhad not actually happened! Men who, like ourselves, boasted of\n\"reason\" and \"common sense,\" sought to settle their disputes and to\nvindicate their honour by the duel; they have stoutly believed in\nwitchcraft, in \"touching for the king's evil,\" and in other\nabsurdities. But surely the supreme folly of which men have been\nguilty is idolatry. That men should fashion an idol of wood or stone,\nand then bow down to worship _it,_ what absurdity is this! Yet\n+I. The idols have had a long reign in the earth.+ Trace human\nhistory back as far as all extant records will enable you to do so,\nand you will find idols enthroned in the affections of men. That they\nshould ever have been set up there must be regarded as one of Satan's\nsubtlest and greatest triumphs. The instincts that lead men to\nworship are so strong, that his only hope of preventing fallen men\nfrom returning to their allegiance to God lay in persuading them to\nworship some other thing or being. His difficulty and his device were\nthose of Jeroboam (1 Kings xii. 26-28). He seems to have led men down\nstep by step: stars, images as representatives, then the images\nthemselves: first, natural principles, then living creatures in which\nthese principles were supposed to be embodied, then the living\ncreatures themselves. To have begun at the end would have been too\ngreat a shock; the absurdity as well as the wickedness of such\nworship would have been too obvious. Thus was the empire of the idols\nfounded, and it continues to this day. +II. The empire of the idols\nhas been world-wide.+ It might have been supposed to be a folly that\ncould be imposed only on a few barbarous tribes, and that all\ncivilised nations would have rejected it with distain; but as a\nmatter of fact, it is precisely among these nations (Egypt, Greece,\nRome, Jud\u00e6a, India) that idolatry flourished most and in its basest\nforms. Hence the empire of idolatry was co-extensive with the globe.\nIn Elijah's time even God thought it a great thing that He would\nassure His prophet that there were seven thousand who had not bowed\nthe knee to Baal (1 Kings xix. 18). +III. The idols have been served\nwith passionate devotion.+ In almost all ages worshippers of idols\nhave put to shame the worshippers of God, by their fidelity to their\nconvictions, the scrupulousness of their observance of the rites\nwhich they have esteemed religious, and the greatness of the cost at\nwhich they have done honour to their gods. +IV. The idols have had\nfor their allies the most influential of social and moral forces.+\nTheir priests and dependents (Acts. xix. 25) have jealously watched\nevery encroachment on the empire of their gods. Rulers, for political\nreasons, have strenuously endeavoured to uphold the national faiths.\nCustom and fashion have wrought in the same direction. But, above\nall, the idols have had their most powerful allies in the human\nbreast--in the instinct of worship, and the craving for sensual\nindulgences. _Idolatry has combined these most powerful of all\ncravings_--has provided deities in whose worship the worst passions\nof man's animal nature have been gratified. +V. Nevertheless the\nempire of idolatry shall be utterly destroyed.+ It shall vanish as\nutterly as the great empire of Assyria. \"The idols He shall utterly\nabolish.\" Already that empire has been overthrown where it seemed\nmost firmly established, and the complete fulfilment of the\nprediction of our text is obviously now only a question of time. Even\nin heathen countries, men are becoming ashamed of their idols, and\nare representing them as merely the _media_ of worship. The victory\nof Christianity over idolatry is already assured. The struggles that\nare yet to shake the world will be, not between Christianity and\nidolatry; not even between Christianity and atheism, for atheism is\nnecessarily merely a brief episode in human experience; but between\nChristianity and other forms of monotheism.\n\nAPPLICATION. 1. _In the wide-spread and long-continued empire of the\nidols we have a conclusive proof of man's need of a Divine\nrevelation._ The natural progress of fallen man is not to light, but\nto darkness (Rom. i. 21-23; 1 Cor. i. 21). 2. _In the prediction of\nour text, we have a conclusive proof of that in the Bible we have\nsuch a revelation._ Consider the circumstances of the prophet:\nidolatry on every hand, corrupting even His own people. It was\ncontrary to all experience; it must have seemed to many who first\nheard it as the ravings of a lunatic. Such a prediction, already so\nmarvellously fulfilled, came from God! 3. _In the approaching\ncomplete fulfilment of the prediction of our text, let us rejoice._\nAnd let us labour as well as pray, that the time may be hastened when\nby idolatry God shall be no longer dishonoured and man degraded.\n\n\n\nMAN'S INSIGNIFICANCE AND GOD'S SUPREMACY.\n\n     ii. 22. _Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his\n     nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?_\n\nIn this verse the whole Bible is summed up. The folly of trusting in\nman, and the necessity of trusting in God alone, is its greatest\nlesson, from its commencement to its close. This is what we are\ntaught--+I. By its record of God's providential dealings with the\nJews and other nations.+ Continually He has accomplished His ends by\nvery different means than man would have selected. Egypt saved from\nperishing by famine through the instrumentality of a young slave;\nNaaman delivered from his leprosy through the ministrations of a\nlittle maid; Israel rescued by Gideon and his three hundred soldiers;\nthe boastful Philistines defeated by a young shepherd, &c. +II. By\nthe grand scheme of human redemption which it discloses.+ In it God\nis everything, and man nothing. The only means by which man can be\nrestored to holiness, to the Divine favour and life everlasting, were\nprovided by God; man contributed nothing either to its completeness\nor efficiency. The benefit is man's, the glory all belongs to God.\nNor in appropriating it does he do anything that is meritorious. In\nrepentance there is no merit: it is simply that state of mind which\nis required of us in view of the sins we have committed. Nor in\nfaith; it is simply the recognition of the ability of another, and\nthe consequent entrustment of ourselves to Him, to do that for us\nwhich we confess our inability to do for ourselves.--Blessed is the\nman, and he only, who has learned these two things. So long as a man\ndepends on his own wisdom, power, and goodness, or on the wisdom,\npower and goodness of other men, he must be disquieted and unhappy.\nWe can attain to substantial quiet and an abiding satisfying peace\nonly when we feel that our dependence is on a Being omnipresent,\nindependent, and supreme, as well as abundant in truth and love (Isa.\nxxvi. 3).--_Joseph Holdech, D.D., American National Preacher,_ xxxvi.\n255-265.\n\n\n\nLESSONS FROM A NATIONAL BEREAVEMENT.\n\n     (_Sermon preached on the Sunday after the death of\n     President Harrison._)\n\n     ii. 22. _Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his\n     nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?_\n\nThe event which has just befallen us as a nation is fitted to\nteach--+I. The vanity of human dependence.+ The atheism of the human\nheart displays itself in a disposition to confide entirely in an arm\nof flesh. This is so in the family, the church, the nation. In\nvarious ways God endeavours to teach nations their real dependence\nupon Himself--by famine, by pestilence, by commercial disasters, by\nthe death of their rulers. What \"fools\" we must be, and how \"brutish\"\nmust be our understanding, if we do not lay to heart the lesson which\nHe has now given us (Ps. cxlvi. 3). +II. The pettiness of party\nstrife.+ How much of selfishness, unkindness, anger, and\nuntruthfulness does the spirit of party give birth to! How seldom\npoliticians of opposite parties do each other common justice! How\nfierce are their rivalries! But how mean, how worthless, how unworthy\nappear the objects of their strife when death enters the arenas and\nwaves his skeleton arm! What a great calm falls upon the agitated\nspirits of men! How noise is hushed and excitement subdued! How like\ndo the flushed and eager politicians seem then to silly children\nquarrelling for the possession of a bubble that has just been blown\ninto the air, and that will disappear the moment it is grasped![1]\n+III. The vanity of the world, the certainty of death, and the\nnearness of eternity.+ These lessons are _taught_ when a beggar dies,\nbut are more likely to be _laid to heart_ when a prince is laid\nlow.[2] +IV. The supreme importance of a right moral character.+ Most\ninstructive is the interest felt by survivors in the moral character\nof the departed, in the evidences of his preparation for death, in\nthe manner in which the great summons affected him. This is the\ntestimony of the human conscience, that in comparison with a fitness\nto appear before the tribunal of God, everything else loses its\nimportance. When was the amount of a man's _possessions_ inscribed on\nhis tombstone? The bare suggestion of such a thing would be construed\nas a mockery of death, under whose denuding hand the rich man leaves\nthe world naked as he entered it. But if, in all his life, there was\none virtue in his moral character, one trait which can afford\nsatisfactory evidence of God's approval, this, be sure, you will find\nsculptured in conspicuous characters on his monumental marble. One\nthing alone can prepare any for their last account--the belief and\npractice of the Gospel of God. Have _you_ the great calm which is\ninspired by the confidence of being prepared for the great\nchange?--_W. Adams, American National Preacher,_ xv. 97-105.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1]    Here, like a shepherd gazing from his hut,\n        Touching his reed, or leaning on his staff,\n        Eager Ambition's fiery chase I see;\n        I see the circling hunt of noisy men\n        Burst law's enclosure, leap the mounts of right,\n        Pursuing and pursued, each other's prey;\n        As wolves for rapine; as the fox for wiles;\n        Till Death, that mighty hunter, earths them all.\n            Why all this toil for triumphs of an hour?\n        What though we wade in wealth, or soar in fame?\n        Earth's highest station ends in \"Here he lies\"--\n        And \"Dust to dust\" concludes her noblest song.--_Young._\n\n [2]    The glories of our birth and state\n            Are shadows, not substantial things;\n        There is no armour against fate:\n            Death lays his icy hand on kings;\n                  Sceptre and crown\n                  Must tumble down,\n        And in the dust be equal made\n        With the poor crooked scythe and spade.\n\n        Some men with swords may reap the field,\n            And plant fresh laurels where they kill;\n        But their strong nerves at last must yield:\n            They tame but one another still;\n                  Early or late\n                  They stoop to fate,\n        And must give up their murmuring breath,\n        When they, pale captives, creep to death.\n\n        The garlands wither on your brow;\n            Then boast no more your mighty deeds;\n        Upon death's purple altar, now,\n            See where the victor victim bleeds!\n                  All heads must come\n                  To the cold tomb!\n        Only the actions of the just\n        Smell sweet and blossom in the dust.--_Shirley._\n\n\n\nTHE DEATH OF STATESMEN.\n\n     (_Funeral Sermon for the Right Hon. George Canning._)\n\n     iii. 1-3. _For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth\n     take away from Jerusalem and from Judah . . . the\n     counsellor, . . . and the eloquent orator._\n\nBy the death of a great statesman at the head of a government, we are\nreminded.--+I.+ Of +the weight of government in a fallen world.+ It\nis a burden that has crushed many, and has brought them to an\nuntimely grave. +II.+ Of +the weakness of the shoulders of mortal\nmen.+ The government of a single country, especially in troublous\ntimes, has proved a burden too great for the courage and the\nendurance of the strongest of men. +III.+ Of +the uncertainty of all\nhuman affairs.+ Often does the statesman think of the uncertainty of\narriving at the object of his ambition, but seldom of the uncertainty\nof his remaining there, except when he recollects how many are\nstruggling to replace him. Little does he think of another foe, who\nlurks behind, and who in some unexpected moment will hush his\neloquent tongue, and turn his fertile brain to dust. +IV.+ Of +our\nabsolute dependence on the Supreme Governor.+ We are apt to think\nthat it is on the profound counsellor and mighty orator that the\nnation's welfare depends, and to think little of Him who made them\nwhat they are, to be employed as He pleases, laid aside when He\npleases, and replaced if He pleases, by others as richly endowed.\n+V.+ Of +the necessity of personal preparation for death.+[1]--_J.\nBennett, D.D., The British Pulpit,_ i. 297-304.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1]    So live, that, when thy summons comes to join\n        The innumerable caravan, that moves\n        To that mysterious realm where each shall take\n        His chamber in the silent halls of death,\n        Thou go not like the quarry slave at night\n        Scourged to his dungeon; but, sustained and soothed\n        By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave\n        Like one that wraps the drapery of his couch\n        About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.--_Bryant._\n\n\n\nNATIONAL GREATNESS.\n\n     iii. 1-8. _For, behold, &c._\n\n+I. The elements of national greatness are intellectual and moral,\nrather than material.+ A nation may have \"the staff of bread\" and\n\"the stay of water,\" but lacking the persons enumerated in ver. 2, 3,\nit cannot be a great nation. While, therefore, it is reasonable to\nput forth efforts to increase the material resources of the nation,\nwe should be more concerned to improve the producers than the\nproduce. +II. For the supply and continuance of these supreme\nelements of national greatness, we are absolutely dependent upon\nGod.+ Well to remember that for all material blessings we are\n_absolutely_ dependent upon Him. The moral value of a bad harvest is\noften great; it reminds us that, do what the most skilful\nagriculturists may, it is \"God that giveth the increase.\" Nor less\ndependent are we upon Him for the _men_ without whom no nation can be\ngreat. Wise statesmen, skilful inventors, eloquent orators, &c., are\nvery special gifts of God; such men cannot be manufactured.\n+III. These essential elements of national greatness God will take\naway for those nations that are regardless of His goodness and\ndefiant of His authority+ (ver. 1, 8). National sins bring on\nnational judgments. No national judgment is more severe or prolific\nof disasters than the removal or denial of great leaders. +IV. Not\nonly can God abase the greatest nation, but He can reduce it to the\ndepths of humiliation which beforehand it would have regarded as\ninconceivable.+ See through what states of national sorrow and shame\nthe prophet declared that Israel should be led. 1. The diminution of\nits material resources and the removal of all its leaders of society\n(ver. 1-3). 2. The government entrusted to weak and childish rulers\n(ver. 4). 3. Social anarchy (ver. 5). 4. Social degradation so\nextreme, that men are solicited to rule merely because they have a\nlittle wealth (ver. 6). 5. The last state of national\ndegradation--its supreme places of authority have become so\ncontemptible and perilous that no one can be induced to fill them\n(ver. 7).\n\nThese considerations concern us individually. The nation is but an\naggregate of individuals; and what they are, it is. Hence it behoves\nus--1. _To strive after personal holiness._ This seems a very small\nremedy for national evils. But it is only by each man adopting it\nthat the nation can be made religious. If each _drop_ in the ocean\ncould eliminate the salt with which it is charged, the _ocean_ would\nbecome fresh. Besides, by our example we may stimulate others to\npersonal reforms, and they again others. 2. _To entreat God to deal\nwith us as a nation in the way of mercy, and not of judgment_ (Ps.\nciii. 10). There is a mighty power in intercessory prayer.\n3. _Diligently to promote all moral and social reforms._ We must\nlabour as well as pray. A Christian man will assist in all political\nreforms, because it is the will of God that righteousness should\nprevail in all things. But much more interested will he be in all\nmovements and institutions having for their end and the intellectual\nand moral advancement of the people: the school, the temperance\nsociety, better dwellings for the working classes, the diffusion of a\npure literature, &c. 4. _To put forth constant efforts to bring and\nkeep our fellow-countrymen under the influence of the Gospel._ Of all\nregenerative and conservative influences the Gospel is the most\nactive and powerful. A nation composed entirely of genuine Christians\nwould be at once the most happy, prosperous, and powerful the world\nhas ever seen. The direct and short way to exalt Great Britain is to\nstrive to lead all our countrymen to the knowledge and service of\nChrist. This is a work, not for ministers only, but for the whole\nChurch. There would be more happy Christians if there were more\nworking Christians. It is not the running brooks, but the standing\npools, that become stagnant.\n\n\n\nSHAMELESS SINNERS.\n\n     iii. 9. _They declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not._\n\nExtremes are generally detestable: equatorial heat, arctic cold; the\nspeaker whom we must strain to hear, the orator who roars, &c. So in\nmorals: foolhardy rashness, cowardice; prodigality, penuriousness;\nhypocrites, and such shameless sinners as are spoken of here. Such\npersons are even more detestable than hypocrites; these at least pay\nthis homage to virtue, that they array themselves in her outer\ngarments. Desperate and vain is the endeavour to cloak iniquity, yet\neven this is better than the effrontery which leads some to flaunt it\nin open day. How surprising is such effrontery! When we consider what\nsin is--a thing horribly degrading to man as well as insufferably\noffensive to God--we should have expected beforehand that men would\nhave been as anxious to hide their vices, as they are to conceal any\nloathsome disease with which they may be afflicted. But it is not so.\nThere are tens of thousands of sinners as devoid of shame as were\nthose who dwelt in Sodom; nay, they glory in their shame. Consider--\n\n+I.+ THE CAUSES OF SHAMELESSNESS IN SIN.\n\n+1. Ignorance.+ There are many so uninterested in moral and spiritual\nthings; they have grown up surrounded by such evil examples, that\nthey have no consciousness of the foulness of their vices, any more\nthan a peasant has of the ungracefulness of his manners. This cause\noperates among the lower classes to an extent scarcely conceivable by\nthe cultured and refined. +2. Habit.+ Many an open and shameless\nsinner, at the outset of his career, when he was first betrayed into\ntransgression, was ashamed almost to walk through the street, and\nimagined that every one whom he met had heard of, and despised him\nfor, his offence. But the offence was repeated; it became a habit;\nand in proportion as it has done so, has the offender's sense of\nshame died out of him. He thinks as little of it as a soldier does of\nhis uniform, which when it was first put on caused him to think that\nall eyes were fixed upon him. +3. A desire to silence conscience.+\nThe effrontery is often assumed, just as the rustic traveller when\nnear a churchyard whistles, not because he is courageous, but to keep\nhis courage up. Conscience reproaches and warns, and the sinner seeks\nto silence it by greater desperation in wickedness. +4. A seared\nconscience.+ In the course just named the sinner too often succeeds.\nConscience, defied and outraged, desists from her useless efforts,\nand gives herself over to an insensible lethargy; there will come an\nhour of terrible awakening; but meanwhile she is blind, deaf, dumb,\nand the sinner perpetrates the most abominable iniquities without a\nblush.[1] +5. Infidelity.+ The sinner has succeeded at last in\npersuading himself that what he wishes were true is true, and that\nthere is no God, and, consequently, no day of judgment and no hell.\nAs soon as men have cast off fear of God, it is easy for them to cast\noff fear of men. The ordinary fruit of infidelity is vice. What but\nprudence is left to restrain the infidel from partaking in the\npleasures of sin? And how weak prudence is in any real contest with\npassion!\n\n+II.+ THE CONSEQUENCES OF SHAMELESSNESS IN SIN.\n\nThis is declared by the prophet to be woe--woe of peculiar intensity\nand awfulness. \"Woe unto their soul!\" &c. They stand in peril of the\nseverest chastisements of the Divine justice--+1. Because\nshamelessness in sin is an aggravation of sin.+ It is felt to be so\nin the home, in the nation. Disloyalty is an evil thing, but to break\nforth into open rebellion, and to take the field against the monarch,\nis worse. +2. Because shamelessness in sin adds to the contagiousness\nof sin.+ One reason why sin is so hateful in the sight of God is\nbecause it renders every sinner a moral pestilence. Corrupt, he\ncorrupts others (Eccles. ix. 18). But of shameless sinners this is\nespecially true. (1) _They lead many to imitate them in their\nwickedness._ In every community these shameless sinners are\nringleaders in vice and recruiting-sergeants for the devil. (2) _They\nconfirm many in wickedness._ Many are \"halting between two opinions,\"\nand these shameless offenders, by their example, and often by their\npersuasions, supply that which is needed to bring these irresolute\nones to a decision for a life of iniquity. Thus they are\nsoul-murderers as well as soul-suicides. Justice, therefore, demands\nthat their punishment shall be especially severe. Their doom will\nprobably be as manifest as their guilt.\n\nAPPLICATION. 1. _Let those who have been thus shameless in sin humble\nthemselves before Almighty God._ Even for them to-day there is mercy\n(ch. lv. 7; i. 18). Let no sinner be deterred from seeking mercy by\nthe greatness of his sins (Ezra ix. 6, with Ps. cviii. 4, and Rom.\nv. 20). Yet let no sinner presume further to transgress because God\nis so merciful. There is an awful warning in the gracious invitation\n(ch. lv. 6). 2. As ignorance is one main cause of shamelessness in\nsin, _let Sunday-school teachers recognise the importance of the task\nin which they are engaged._ Though they may not be able to point to\nindividual conversions as the result of their efforts, they are not\nlabouring in vain; by them the moral sense of the community is being\nraised. Evil as are our days, the testimony is conclusive that the\nformer days were not better, but worse. 3. As habit is another main\ncause of shamelessness in sin, let _the young be anxiously on their\nguard against the formation of evil habits._ But habits grow from\nacts. A single action is consequently more important than it seems.\nThere are certain actions which have in themselves a special\ndecisiveness of influence. When a young man has once entered a bar\nparlour, he has entered upon the high way to drunkenness; he may not\nreach it, but he is on the high way to it. Another most decisive step\ntowards shamelessness in sin is taken when a young person who has\nbeen trained under Christian influence joins a Sunday excursion. It\nis by this gate that millions have entered the path of open\ntransgression, along which they have hastened to perdition. 4. _Let\nthe people of God be very careful to leave shameless sinners without\nexcuse._ It is by the inconsistencies of professing Christians that\nsuch persons endeavour to shield themselves from censure and to\nsilence their consciences. Hence Eph. v. 15; Col. iv. 5; 1 Thess.\nv. 22.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Blind and ignorant consciences speak peace, or hold their\n     peace, because they have not skill enough to find fault;\n     they swallow many a fly, and digest all well enough. While\n     the scales were upon Paul's eyes, he was alive and quiet;\n     he thought concupiscence, the sin and breeder of all sin,\n     to be no sin. Such consciences discern sin as we do stars\n     in a dark night,--see only the great ones of the first\n     magnitude, whereas a bright even discovers millions; or as\n     we see a few motes in the dark houses, which sunlight shows\n     to be infinite. Such think good meaning will serve the\n     turn, that all religions will save, or a \"Lord, have mercy\n     on us,\" at the last gasp. The law which nature has\n     engraven, they tread out with sins, as men do the\n     engravings of tombs they walk on with foul shoes: they dare\n     not look in the glass of God's law, which makes sin abound,\n     lest the foolishness of their souls should affright them. A\n     number of such sottish souls there be, whose consciences,\n     if God opens, as He did the eyes of the prophet's servant,\n     they shall see armies and legions of sins and devils in\n     them.--_Ward,_ 1577-1639.\n\n\n\nCHEERING WORDS AND SOLEMN WARNINGS.\n\n     iii. 10, 11. _Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be\n     well with him; for they shall eat of the fruit of their own\n     doings. Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with them; for\n     the reward of his hands shall be given him._\n\nInto these two orders, the righteous and the wicked, the Bible is\naccustomed to divide the whole population of the globe.--A crimson\nline runs between the righteous and the wicked, the line of atoning\nsacrifice: faith crosses that line, but nothing else can. There can\nbe no righteousness where there is no faith.--This distinction is so\nsharp and definite, that no man can dwell in a borderland between the\ntwo conditions. A clear line of demarcation exists between life and\ndeath, and such a division is fixed by God between the righteous and\nthe wicked. There are no monstrous nondescripts, who are neither\nsinners nor saints. This text ought, therefore, to lead to great\nsearching of heart.\n\n+I. The well-being of the righteous.+ 1. _It is a great fact that it\nis well with the righteous._ It is well with him _always:_ in\nprosperity, which is a time of peril; in persecution, which is hard\nto bear; in childhood, manhood, and old age; in time, and throughout\neternity. 2. _We are assured of this fact on Divine authority._\nReason might assure us of it, but it is better to have it under the\nhand and seal of omniscience. If thou canst not see it, let God's\nword stand thee instead of sight. 3. _It is the will of God that His\npeople should know this great fact._ He would have his saints happy,\nand therefore He says to His prophets, \"Say ye,\" &c. 4. _With God's\npeople it is emphatically \"well.\"_ When GOD says it is \"well\" with a\nman, it must be well indeed. 5. _There are many obvious reasons why\nit is well with the righteous._ (1.) His greatest trouble is past.\nHis greatest trouble was the guilt of sin. (2.) His next greatest\ntrouble is doomed. The dominion of sin over him shall speedily come\nto an end. (3.) His best things are safe. His treasures are in\nheaven. (4.) His worst things work only for his good. (5.) He is well\n_fed,_ for he feeds upon Christ; well _clad,_ for he wears the\nimputed righteousness of Christ; well _housed,_ for he dwells in God\nwho has been the dwelling-place of His people in all generations;\nwell _married,_ for his soul is knit in bonds of marriage union to\nChrist; well _provided for,_ for the Lord is his Shepherd. (6.) God\nhas put within him many graces, that help to make things well;\n_faith,_ which laughs at difficulties; _love,_ which accepts them;\n_patience,_ which endures them; _hope,_ which expects a rest to come.\n(7.) Day by day, God the Holy Ghost visits him with fresh life and\npower. (8.) He has a bank that never breaks--the glorious \"throne of\ngrace;\" and he has only to apply on bended knee to get what he will.\n(9.) He has ever near him a most sweet Companion, whose loving\nconverse is so delightful that the roughest roads grow smooth, and\nthe darkest nights glow with brightness. (10.) He has an arm to lean\nupon that is never weary, never feeble, never withdrawn. (11.) He is\nfavoured with a perpetual Comforter, who pours wine and oil into\nevery wound, and brings to his remembrance the things which Christ\nhas spoken. It is well with the righteous in life, well when he comes\nto die, and well after death. 6. _The blessedness of the righteous\nrest upon a solid ground._ The text says, \"they shall eat the fruit\nof their doings.\" Those are the only terms upon which the old\ncovenant can promise that it shall be well with us; but this is not\nthe ground upon which you and I stand under the gospel dispensation.\nAbsolutely to eat the fruit of our doings would be even to us, if\njudgment were brought to the line and righteousness to the plummet, a\nvery dreadful thing. Yet there is a limited sense in which the\nrighteous man will do this. \"I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat,\"\n&c., is good gospel language; and when the Master shall say,\n\"Inasmuch as ye did this unto one of the least of these my people, ye\ndid it unto me,\" the reward will not be of debt, but still it will be\na reward, and the righteous will eat the fruit of his doings. I\nprefer, however, to remark, that there is One whose doings for us is\nthe grounds of our dependence, and we shall eat of the fruit of His\ndoings.\n\n+II. The misery of the wicked.+ To expound the woe pronounced against\nhim, you have only to negative all that I have already said about the\nrighteous. It is ill with the wicked; always ill with him; and it\nshall be ill with him for ever.[1] But _why_ is it ill with the\nwicked? 1. He is out of joint with all the world. Ordinary creatures\nare obedient to God, but he has set himself in opposition to the\nwhole current of creation. 2. He has an enemy who is omnipotent.\n3. His joys all hang on a thread. Let life's thread be cut, and where\nare his merriments? 4. After these joys are over, he has no more to\ncome. 5. Of all the comforts and hopes of the righteous, he is\nutterly destitute.--_C. H. Spurgeon, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit,_\nvol. xiii. 13-24.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Many sinners who seem so jocund in our eyes have not such\n     merry lives as you think. A book may be fairly bound and\n     gilded, yet have but sad stories writ within it. Sinners\n     will not tell us all the secret rebukes that conscience\n     gives them. If you will judge of Herod by the jollity of\n     his feast, you may think he wanted no joy; but at another\n     time we see that John's ghost walked in his conscience. And\n     so doth the Word haunt many, who appear to us to lay\n     nothing to heart. In the midst of their laughter their\n     heart is sad; you see the lightning in their face, but hear\n     not the thunder that rumbles in their\n     conscience.--_Gurnall,_ 1617-1679.\n\n     Suppose a man were in prison, committed for some great\n     offence, and condemned to die under the displeasure of his\n     prince or state, and his servant should come to him,\n     saying, \"Sir, be of good comfort; your wife is well at\n     home; you have very sweet children, an excellent crop of\n     corn; your neighbours love you dearly; your sheep and\n     cattle thrive, and all your houses are in good repair.\"\n     Would he not answer that servant, \"What is all this, so\n     long as I am condemned to die\"? Thus is it with every\n     wicked man. He is under the displeasure of the great God, a\n     condemned man, and God is angry with him every day; and if\n     his heart were open to be sensible of it, he would say,\n     \"You tell me of my friends, and goods, and name, and trade;\n     but what is all this, so long as I am a condemned person,\n     and God is angry with me every day I rise?\"--_Bridge,_\n     1600-1670.\n\n     Who would think, now, that sees how quietly the multitude\n     of the ungodly live, that they must very shortly lie\n     roaring in everlasting flames? They lie down, and rise, and\n     sleep so quietly; they eat and drink as quietly; they go\n     about their work as cheerfully; they talk as pleasantly, as\n     if nothing ailed them, or as if they were as far out of\n     danger as an obedient believer. Like a man that hath the\n     falling sickness, you would little think, while he is\n     labouring as strongly and talking as heartily as another\n     man, how he will presently fall down, lie gasping and\n     foaming, and beating his breast in torment! so it is with\n     these men. They are as free from the fears of hell as\n     others, as free from any vexing sorrows, not so much as\n     troubled with any cares of the state of their souls, nor\n     with any sad and serious thoughts of what shall become of\n     them in another world; yes, and for the most part, they\n     have less doubts and disquiet of mind, than those who shall\n     be saved. Oh, happy men, if they could be always thus; and\n     if this peace would prove a lasting peace! But, alas, there\n     is the misery! it will not. They are now in their own\n     element, as the fish in the water; but little knows that\n     silly creature when he is most fearlessly and delightfully\n     swallowing down the bait, how suddenly he shall be snatched\n     out, and lie dead upon the bank; and as little think these\n     careless sinners what a change is near. The sheep or ox is\n     driven quietly to the slaughter, because he knows not\n     whither he goes; if he knew it were to his death, you could\n     not drive him so easily. How contented is the swine when\n     the butcher's knife is shaving his throat, little thinking\n     that it is to prepare for his death! Why, it is even so\n     with these sensual, careless men; they fear the mischief\n     least, when it is nearest to them, because they see it\n     not!--_Baxter,_ 1615-1691.\n\n\n\nTHE GREAT LAW OF RECOMPENSE.\n\n     iii. 10, 11. _Say ye to the righteous,_ &c.\n\nThis is the testimony of _conscience;_ conscience testifies that that\nwhich is here predicted ought to take place--that the condition and\ncircumstances of men ought to be conformed to their character. This\nis the testimony of _reason:_ in its clearest, calmest, strongest\nhours, it endorses this testimony of the conscience. This is the\ndeclaration of _Almighty God;_ He here promises that He will do that\nwhich conscience and reason agree that He ought to do. Thus we have\nhere a conclusive concurrence of testimony, and the truths announced\nin our text should be recorded in our memory as absolutely certain.\n\nThese declarations remind us of two things. +I. That we are living\nnow in a season of probation.+ These messages are much needed,\nbecause we are surrounded by much that is perplexing. Here and now\nfidelity to conscience often entails much loss, sorrow, and\nsuffering. Many of the wicked are prosperous and triumphant. Iniquity\n_pays._ Moreover, the sufferings of the righteous and the successes\nof the wicked are often lifelong. This contrast between what ought to\nbe and what is, has been a source of moral disquietude in all ages\n(Ps. lxxiii., &c). Yet it is absolutely necessary. Without this moral\nobscurity there could not have been any moral probation. There is no\ntemptation in prussic acid, because its deadly qualities are\nindisputable, and because they operate instantaneously. If all sins\nhad their penalties as clearly and closely tied to them, vice would\nbe impossible. And so would virtue! Obedience to the Divine will\nwould then be, not an act of choice, but the result of an\nirresistible moral compulsion, and it would have in it no morally\neducational influence, and nothing to render it acceptable to God.\nNot by chance, then, not by mistake, not as the result of a harsh and\nunloving decree, but as the result of ordinance of the highest wisdom\nand grace, we are now living in a season of moral probation. But,\n+II. We are hastening on to a season of rectifications and rewards.+\nConscience and reason attest that there _ought_ to be such a season,\nand the Scriptures assure us that there _shall_ be (Eccles. xii. 14;\nRom. ii. 6-10, &c.)\n\nThe great facts of which our text reminds us, 1. _Should give\ncalmness and steadiness to our faith._ We should not be greatly moved\neither by the distresses of the righteous or the triumphs of the\nwicked. These are most transient. The longest life is really a most\ninconsiderable episode in our being. This is but the beginning of our\nvoyage; what matters it whether we clear out of port in a storm or\namid bright sunshine? What will happen to us on mid-ocean is the only\nthing worthy of our concern. 2. _They should govern us in the\ndecisions we have continually to make in life,_ between courses that\nare right, but involve present suffering, and those which are\npleasant, but wrong. The sick man who refuses to undergo the present\npain which will assure him of future health, and prefers the\ntransient ease which will presently give place to intolerable agony,\nis insane. Let us not imitate him in his folly. But if the rewards of\nevery man's hands shall be given him, how shall _any_ man be saved?\nThis is precisely the difficulty which the Gospel was designed to\nmeet. It is precisely because no man can be saved on his own merits\nthat Christ came into the World, and died for every man, and now\noffers redemption to every man. This offer is made to YOU. For\nChrist's sake, the sins of the righteous shall be forgiven them; and\nfor His sake likewise, they shall be rewarded according to their\nworks (Matt. x. 42, xvi. 27; Heb. vi. 10, &c.) Between the doctrine\nof justification by faith and the doctrine of good works there is the\nmost perfect harmony.\n\n\n\nTHE CURSE OF A WEAK GOVERNMENT.\n\n     iii. 12. _As for my people, children are their oppressors,\n     and women rule over them._\n\n\"Children,\" \"women,\" are not to be taken literally. In interpreting\nthe second of these figures, we must remember the status of women in\nancient times in the East. +I. A weak government is a curse.+ 1. By\nsuch a government the affairs of a nation are mismanaged, its\nresources squandered, and its great possibilities unrealised. 2. A\nweak government always becomes in the end an oppressive government.\nBy it the national burdens are caused to press most heavily on those\nleast able to bear them. 3. Under such a government, privileged\nclasses and monopolies multiply and grow strong, to the hurt of the\nnation at large. 4. Worst of all, and as the source of countless\nevils, government itself comes to be despised, and the national\nrespect for law destroyed. In short, under a weak government a nation\nmakes rapid progress towards anarchy. +II. The curse of a weak\ngovernment is not long in overtaking a nation that gives itself up to\nluxury and loses its regard for moral considerations.+ 1. It is only\nby such a nation that such a government would be tolerated. 2. By\nsuch a nation such a government is likely to be for a time most\npopular (Jer. v. 31).\n\nThe cures for political evils are not political but moral. Political\nremedies will but modify the symptoms. Political evils are really due\nto moral causes, and can only be removed by moral reformations.\nHence, while good men will never neglect their political duties (no\ngood man will neglect any duty), they will be especially in earnest\nto uplift the nation morally, and therefore will do their utmost to\nstrengthen those agencies which have this for their aim--the church,\nthe school, and those societies which exist for the diffusion of the\nScriptures and of religious liberty. Wherever the Bible becomes the\nbook of the people, oppression by \"children\" becomes impossible, and\nthe government of \"women\" is set aside.\n\n\n\nBLIND LEADERS.\n\n     iii. 12. _O my people, they which lead thee[1] cause thee\n     to err, and destroy the way of thy paths._\n\nThis is at once a lament and a condemnation--a lament over the\nmisfortunes of those who are misguided, a condemnation of their folly\nand wickedness in permitting themselves to be led astray. +I. Men\nneed to be led.+ 1. _This is our need as individuals._ Every day we\nneed an answer to the questions, What ought I to do? Which way should\nI go? In the journey of life, we continually come to crossings at\nwhich we are conscious of our need of guidance. 2. _Guidance is still\nmore necessary for men collectively._ What shall be the belief of a\ncommunity? What its action? Like the apostolic band (John xxi. 2, 3)\ncommunities remain idle, undecided, until the born leader says, \"I go\na-fishing,\" and instantly they say to him, \"We also go with thee.\"\nMen are naturally gregarious; like a flock of sheep they crowd and\ninconvenience each other, not knowing which way to turn, until one\nbolder than the rest breaks away from the flock, and then instantly\nthe flock begins to follow him. +II. As a rule men are misled.+\nBoldness and wisdom do not always go together. Not seldom the courage\nwhich prompts men to become the leaders of others, and which goes so\nfar to command the assent of others, is a compound of self-conceit\nand ignorance. Men are always prone to trust in the self-confident:\nthey will believe the boastful quack rather than the diffident\nphilosopher. Hence in all ages men have been caused to err--the blind\nhave been led by the blind. How true this is to-day in political\nmatters, in social, in commercial, in religious! [Give instances.] On\nevery hand, in all these realms of thought and action, there are\nthose who can only rightly be described as leaders who cause the\npeople to err. Yes, all men carry within them two leaders, in whom\nthey are disposed implicitly to trust, but by whom in the majority of\ninstances they are misled--reason and conscience. How absolute is the\nconfidence placed in these guides, and how seldom it is justified!\n+III. To be misled is one of the most terrible of evils.+ 1. It\ninvolves the loss of all the good to which right leadership would\nhave conducted men. 2. It involves disappointment, shame, sorrow, and\noften irretrievable ruin. 3. It plunges men into painful\nperplexities, so that even when they have begun to suspect that the\npath they are pursuing is erroneous, they know not how to discover\nthe true one; it seems to them to be \"destroyed;\" they search for it\nin vain. They are like travellers who, in the darkness following\n_Will-of-the-Wisp,_ have strayed from the highway into a morass: to\nstand still is impossible, and yet to step in any direction, may\nplunge them into worse perils (Matt. xv. 14). How criminal is the\nconduct of those who betray their fellow-men into misery such as this!\n\nIn view of these facts, 1. _We should not entrust ourselves to the\nfirst guide who offers himself to us._ Let us examine the credentials\nof those who ask us to trust ourselves to their care (Matt. xxiv. 24;\n1 John iv. 1-3; Isa. viii. 20). 2. _In weighing the claims of men to\nbe our leaders, we should have regard supremely to their moral\nqualifications._ Their intellectual competency is, of course, not to\nbe disregarded, but moral character is infinitely more important. Not\nall good men are fitted to be leaders; but no bad man can be safely\nfollowed by others. He is continually apt to be guided by policy,\nrather than principle, and policy leads to perdition.[2] Policy is at\nthe best but guess-work--steering by the current; the man who is\ngoverned by principle steers by the stars, and neither can be long\nmisled, nor will he wilfully mislead others. _Practical\nApplication._--Never vote for any candidate for a public office,\nhowever clever he may be, if his integrity is doubtful. 3. _Every man\nneeds guidance more close and intimate than any of his fellow-men can\nafford him:_ he needs to be led even in choosing his leaders. Whither\nshall he look for this guidance? To his reason, his conscience? These\nguides themselves need instruction:[3] in the absence of it, they\nhave led millions to perdition. We need supernatural and sure\nguidance, and we have it (1) in God's Word, and (2) in God's Spirit\n(Prov. iii. 5, 6). The man who follows these guides will be led\nalways in the paths of righteousness and peace.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] The marginal reading, \"they which call thee happy\" (Mal.\n     iii. 12, 15), represents vividly the method adopted by the\n     false prophets; who, instead of warning the people against\n     the dangers of prosperity, were ever felicitating them upon\n     it, saying, \"Peace, peace, when there was no peace.\" But\n     the textual rendering appears to be the preferable\n     one.--_Kay._\n\n [2] Men know where they are going when they follow a principle;\n     because principles are rays of light. If you trace a ray of\n     light in all its reflections, you will find that it runs\n     back to the central sun; and every great line of honesty,\n     every great line of honour, runs back towards the centre of\n     God. And the man that follows these things knows that he is\n     steering right Godward. But the man that follows policies,\n     and worldly maxims, does not know where he is steering,\n     except that in general he is steering toward the\n     devil.--_Beecher._\n\n [3] Reason is God's candle in men. But, as a candle must first\n     be lighted, ere it will enlighten, so reason must be\n     illuminated by Divine grace, ere it can savingly discern\n     spiritual things.--_Toplady,_ 1740-1778.\n\n     Conscience, as an expression of the law or will and mind of\n     God, is not now to be implicitly depended on. It is not\n     infallible. What was true of its office in Eden, has been\n     deranged and shattered by the fall; and now lies, as I have\n     seen a sun-dial in the neglected garden of an old, desolate\n     ruin, thrown down from its pedestal, prostrate on the\n     ground, and covered by tall, rank weeds. So far from being\n     since that fatal event an infallible directory of duty,\n     conscience has often lent its sanction to the grossest\n     errors, and prompted to the greatest crimes. Did not Saul\n     of Tarsus, for instance, hale men and women to prison;\n     compel them to blaspheme; and imbrue his hands in saintly\n     blood, while conscience approved the deed--he judging the\n     while that he did God service? What wild and profane\n     imaginations has it accepted as the oracles of God? and as\n     if fiends had taken possession of a God-deserted shrine,\n     have not the foulest crimes, as well as the most shocking\n     cruelties, been perpetrated in its name? Read the Book of\n     Martyrs, read the sufferings of our forefathers; and, under\n     the cowl of a shaven monk, or the trappings of a haughty\n     Churchman, you shall see conscience persecuting the saints\n     of God, and dragging even tender women and children to the\n     bloody scaffold or the burning stake. With eyes swimming in\n     tears, or flashing fire, we close the painful record, to\n     apply to Conscience the words addressed to Liberty by the\n     French heroine, when, passing its statue, she rose in the\n     cart that bore her to the guillotine, and throwing up her\n     arms, exclaimed, \"O Liberty, what crimes have been done in\n     thy name!\" And what crimes in thine, O Conscience! deeds\n     from which even humanity shrinks; against which religion\n     lifts her loudest protest; and which furnish the best\n     explanation of these awful words, \"If the light that is in\n     you be darkness, how great is that darkness!\" (Matt.\n     vi. 23).\n\n     So far as doctrines and duties are concerned, not\n     conscience, but the revealed Word of God, is our one, only\n     sure and safe directory.--_Guthrie._\n\n\n\nOPPRESSION OF THE POOR.\n\n     iii. 15. _What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces,\n     and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord God of\n     hosts._\n\nThat infidelity should progress among the labouring classes is one of\nthe most surprising and unreasonable things imaginable. For there is\nno book so emphatically on the side of the poor as is the Bible. Were\nthe Bible obeyed, the miseries of the poor would vanish. The truth,\nhowever, is, that the Bible has suffered from its professed friends.\nThe upper classes who have patronised it have not put its precepts\ninto practice, and the victims of their greed and oppression have\nfoolishly accepted their conduct as an exposition of the teaching of\nthe book which they have professed to venerate. Hence the wrongs\nwhich the poor have suffered have prepared them to listen to the\nblasphemies and to accept the sophisms of infidel lecturers. The\nemployer of labour who oppresses his men during the six days of the\nweek, and goes to church twice on the Sunday, is more dangerous to\nsociety than a score of Tom Paines or Bradlaughs. Hence also it is\nthe duty of God's \"prophets\" in all ages to confront such men with\nthe question of our text.\n\n+I. Oppression of the poor is one of the most common of all sins.+ It\nhas been practised in all ages, in all countries, by all classes, in\nmost varied forms. \"Poor\" is a relative term. Masters have oppressed\ntheir servants, debtors their creditors, officers their soldiers,\nkings their subjects, people their pastors. The oppression has often\nbeen so terrible that the oppressed have sought refuge in suicide.\n\n        \"Man's cruelty to man\n         Makes countless thousands mourn.\"\n\n+II. Oppression of the poor is one of the most hateful of all sins.+\n1. _It is a misuse of strength._ Strength is given to men that they\nmay be helpful to each other; but the oppressor uses his strength as\nif he were a tiger or a wolf; as if he were a wrecker who drowns the\nshipwrecked mariner whom he ought to rescue. 2. _It is a cowardly and\nshameful advantage that is taken of human weakness._ To lead a blind\nman into a quagmire or over a precipice would be thought a shameful\nact, even by the most degraded villains. But in what respect would it\ndiffer in principle from oppression of the poor? The weak and needy,\nby reason of their feebleness and poverty, have a claim upon our pity\nand help; to oppress them is to outrage the primary laws of\nconscience. Yet how often it is done!\n\n+III. Oppression of the poor is among those sins which are certain to\nbe most terribly punished.+ The oppressor proceeds on the idea, that\nthe man whom he oppresses has no friends to succour and avenge him.\nWhat a mistake! All the oppressed have a friend and avenger in GOD.\nShall oppression go unrequited? Nay, verily! For, 1. It is an offence\nagainst God's _laws._ He has distinctly commanded us to _love_ our\nneighbour as ourselves, and how manifold are the applications of this\ngreat commandment! 2. It is an offence against God's _feelings._ In a\npeculiar manner His sensibilities are outraged when His children act\ncruelly towards each other. Oppression of the poor kindles within Him\nmingled disgust and indignation.[1]\n\nAPPLICATION. 1. _A new consideration of our text would deter men from\nthe sin here denounced._ The question which God now addresses to\noppressors He will, with a slight difference, put to them again--when\nthey shall be gathered at His bar! \"What _meant_ ye that ye did beat\nmy people to pieces, and did grind the faces of the poor?\" Bethink\nyou, O ye oppressors, what will ye answer then? Will it be, \"Lord, we\nthought Thou were too great to take any notice of what men did on\nearth\"? or, \"Lord, we oppressed them because they were weak, and we\nsaw we could make a good profit out of their defencelessness\"? Do\nthese excuses seem to you too flimsy to be seriously suggested?\nConsider, the, what more valid vindication will be at your command in\nthat day. In that day you will stand \"speechless!\" 2. _A remembrance\nof the prevalence of the crime denounced in our text will give\nsoundness and vigour to our theology._ The demand of our day is for\n\"a God all mercy.\" Men are endeavouring to cover up hell with the\nrose-leaves of a spurious benevolence. But a remembrance of the\nwrongs that are done upon earth, the frightful cruelties that are\nevery day perpetrated, will convince us that hell is a moral\nnecessity. \"A God all mercy\" would be not only \"a God unkind,\" but a\nGod unjust, a God worthy only of the pity and contempt of His\ncreatures. 3. _A due consideration of the manner in which God\nintervenes on behalf of the wronged and defenceless, will inspire all\nnoble minds with veneration and admiration for His character._\nJehovah is no Brahma, throned in eternal calm, and indifferent to the\nsins and sufferings of mankind; He is a Father, prompt to feel and to\navenge the wrongs of His children. Let us resolve to be like Him. Let\nus not only avoid oppression in all its forms; let us be swift to\nsympathise with all and to succour the oppressed.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] These things are done before God, who looks upon every part\n     of the human family as His own. How should you feel if you\n     were to enter the room where your child is sleeping, and\n     find upon it a stealthy cat, stationed at the portal of\n     life, and stopping its very breath? How should you feel\n     were you to find upon your child a vampire that had\n     fastened into its flesh his blood-sucking bill, and was\n     fast consuming its vitality? How do you feel when one of\n     your children tramples upon another? or when your\n     neighbour's children crush yours? or when ruffian violence\n     strikes against those whose hearts for ever carry the core\n     of your heart?\n\n     Judge from your own feelings how God, with His infinite\n     sensibility, must feel when He sees men rising up against\n     their fellow-men; performing gross deeds of cruelty upon\n     every hand, waging wars that cause blood to flow throughout\n     the globe; when, in short, He sees them devastating society\n     by every infernal mischief that their ingenuity can\n     invent.--_Beecher._\n\n     What shall become of the oppressor? No creature in heaven\n     or earth shall testify his innocency. But the sighs, cries,\n     and groans of undone parents, of beggared widows and\n     orphans, shall witness the contrary. All his money, like\n     hempseed, is sowed with curses; and every obligation is\n     written on earth with ink and blood, and in hell with blood\n     and fire.--_Adams,_ 1653.\n\n\n\nTHE PLEADER AND THE JUDGE.\n\n     iii. 13-15. _The Lord standeth up to plead, &c._\n\nI. THE PLEADER WHO HERE PRESENTS HIMSELF. Note +1. His majesty.+ The\nancient idea of an advocate was that of a venerable person who would\nbe heard for his own sake, and who would therefore be able to secure\nfor the cause of his clients an attention that would not otherwise be\naccorded to it. The ideal of a pleader was that of a person noble in\nbirth and blameless in character. To a considerable extent this ideal\nhas been preserved in our English courts of law. A barrister must be\na gentleman (at least in this sense, that he has never earned his\nbread by manual labour), and of good repute as a man of honour.\nCertain barristers have established such a reputation, not only for\nability and learning, but also for character, and are always listened\nto with respect; happy therefore is the suitor who is able to secure\ntheir advocacy. But this Pleader--how august and venerable is He! How\ninfatuated are those who do not stand prepared to listen carefully\nand respectfully to whatever He may advance! +2. His benevolence.+\nThe ancient idea of a pleader was again that of a person who\nundertook to advocate the cause of another out of a sense of justice\nand compassion. Advocacy was esteemed too sacred a thing to be\npurchased with money. In the course of time the practice sprang up of\nrewarding the exertions of an advocate by an _honorarium;_ but the\ndistinction that still exists between a barrister and an attorney,\nshows us what the ancient idea of the advocate was. In God this idea\nis perfectly fulfilled. Without fee or reward, out of pure compassion\nand justice, He has become \"counsel\" for the poor and oppressed. Of\nthis fact there is abundant evidence in Scripture, and surely it\nshould kindle within us admiration and love. We justly venerate\nHoward, Clarkson, Wilberforce--shall we not still more greatly honour\nGod, who stoops to regard them that are of low degree, and becomes\nthe advocate of those who have no other friend? +3. His earnestness.+\nThe advocate is supposed to make the cause of his client for the time\nbeing his own. Often the supposition is realised in a remarkable\ndegree. But in God it is perfectly realised. The oppressed for whom\nHe pleads He speaks of, not merely as \"_these_ people,\" but as \"_my_\npeople.\" In all their afflictions He is afflicted. However frequently\nmen may forget it, He reminds that He is the Father of all mankind,\nand the wrongs of His children He feels to be His wrongs; the feebler\nthey are, the less able they are to defend themselves, the more do\ntheir wrongs wound Him, and provoke Him to anger--_This_ is the\nAdvocate who stands up to plead for the oppressed. Will the\noppressors be so infatuated as to turn a deaf ear to His pleading?\nLet those who are tempted to do so pause, and consider\n\nII. THAT HE WHO NOW PLEADS BEFORE THEM WILL BE THEIR JUDGE. An\nastonishing reversal of circumstances is about to take place: the\nAdvocate is about to ascend the judicial bench, and those before whom\nHe pleads are about to stand at His bar. He has announced beforehand\nthe principles upon which then He will proceed. +1. He will have no\nregard to rank.+ He will \"enter into judgment with the ancients and\nprinces.\" In many countries, great criminals have been able to defy\nthe judge; but none shall be able to defy this Judge.[1] +2. He will\npronounce mere indifference to want and suffering a crime+ (Matt.\nxxv. 42-45). +3. Those who have inflicted suffering He will judge\nupon the strict rule of retribution, \"an eye for an eye, a tooth for\na tooth\"+ (James ii. 13).\n\nBy these truths let us be guided in our use of whatever power over\nothers that may have been entrusted to us. Let us hear God\nproclaiming that the poor are _His_ people, and let us so comport\nourselves towards them, that in the end we may come to know the\nfulness of the meaning of the Master's declaration, that \"_blessed_\nare the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.\"\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1]    Justice, when equal scales she holds, is blind,\n        Nor cruelty nor mercy change her mind.\n        When some escape for that which others die,\n        Mercy to those, to these is cruelty:\n        A fine and slender net the spider weaves:\n        Which little and slight animals receives;\n        And if she catch a summer bee or fly,\n        They with a piteous groan and murmur die;\n        But if a wasp or hornet she entrap,\n        They tear her cords, like a Sampson, and escape;\n        So, like a fly, the poor offender dies;\n        But like the wasp, the rich escapes and flies.\n                                --_Sir John Denham._\n\n        In the corrupted currents of this world,\n        Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice,\n        And oft 'tis seen, the wicked prize itself\n        Buys out the law. But 'tis not so above:\n        There is no shuffling, there the action lies\n        In its nature: and we ourselves compell'd,\n        Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults,\n        To give in evidence.--_Shakespeare._\n\n\n\nHAUGHTINESS.\n\n     iii. 16, 17. _Moreover the Lord saith, Because the\n     daughters of Zion are haughty, . . . therefore the Lord\n     will smite._\n\nA terrible doom is here denounced against the Jewish women, not\nbecause they were vicious, but because they were haughty. Haughtiness\nis found also in men, though in them its manifestations are somewhat\ndifferent. It is therefore a question of universal interest. In what\nrespects is haughtiness sinful?\n\n+I. The sinfulness of haughtiness is manifest in view of what it is.+\nWebster defines it as \"pride mingled with some degree of contempt for\nothers; arrogance.\" It is a compound iniquity, and as such is doubly\noffensive. In the chemical world two deadly ingredients may\nneutralise each other's noxious qualities, and form a harmless and\nuseful article: _e.g.,_ water, a compound of hydrogen and oxygen;\ncommon salt, a compound of chlorine and sodium. But it is never so in\nthe moral world: combinations of iniquities are always especially\noffensive. How then must God look upon haughtiness, which is made up\nof two sins most emphatically denounced in His Word!\n\n+II. The sinfulness of haughtiness is manifest in view of its\nsources.+ Clearly it springs--1. _From a forgetfulness of our\ndependence upon God._ Of what is it that we are so proud that we\ncannot conceal our pride? It is of gifts which we have received from\nGod (1 Cor. iv. 7), and for the continued possession of which we are\nabsolutely dependent on His will. Some are haughty because of what\nthey _are_--beautiful, talented, &c.; others because of what they\n_have_--rank, money, &c.; others because of what they _have done_--on\nthe field of battle, in art, literature, &c. But personal\nexcellencies, amplitude of possessions, or gross success, should\nproduce in us not self-exaltation, but gratitude to God. To be\nungrateful is to be base; and as haughtiness is one of the flowers\nthat spring from ingratitude, that evil root which has for its seed\nforgetfulness of our dependence upon God, it is base and hateful too.\n2. _From a forgetfulness of the purposes for which God has so richly\nendowed us._ God endows and helps men, not for their own\ngratification, but that they may more effectually help others. This\ngreat law runs through the whole universe. The sun is filled with\nlight, in order that it may be a light; the violet with perfume, in\norder that it may diffuse its perfume. So is it with ourselves. In\nproportion to our gifts we are stewards for God, and were intended to\nbe channels of blessing: great gifts, therefore, should not cause us\nto swell with foolish arrogance, but should weigh us down with a\nsolemn sense of our responsibility. 3. _From a forgetfulness of our\nrelation to our fellow-men._ God is our Father, and all men are our\nbrethren, but we forget this, and so we behave ourselves towards many\nas if they were made of an inferior clay. In a household, the\nchildren who have sight look not with scorn, but with compassion, on\na sister who is blind; and if we remembered that all men are our\nbrethren, our perception of their shortcomings as compared with\nourselves would excite, not our pride, but our pity.\n\n+III. The sinfulness of haughtiness is manifest in view of the\nemphatic discord with the example of Christ.+ Every sin may be\ncondemned on this ground, yet haughtiness is in an especial manner in\nflagrant contradiction to that embodiment and manifestation of\nexcellence which we have in the character of our Lord. In His\ndealings with men, even the lowest and most degraded, who can detect\none trace of arrogance? Notice especially, that while He never called\nattention to His temperance, His truthfulness, His prayerfulness,\n&c., He did point out meekness as the feature by which He was\nespecially distinguished, and by which His followers were to resemble\nHim, \"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me _for I am meek and lowly\nin heart._\"\n\n1. We may see now why haughtiness, which we are so accustomed to\ntreat as a trivial thing, is so emphatically condemned in God's Word.\n2. A very moderate acquaintance with human life is enough to teach us\nthat haughtiness is a prolific source of sorrow, as well as a sin. It\nis so in those _towards_ whom it is manifested; slights are resented\nas insults, and brooded over as bitter wrongs. It is so in those _by_\nwhom it is manifested: the haughty meet with repeated mortifications,\narising from the rejection of their claims to superiority,[1] and\nthey are frequently brought into perilous collision with persons of\nlike temper. An intelligent self-interest would lead us to shun that\nwhich God denounces as a sin. 3. While haughtiness may be natural in\nthe children of this world, it is a grave and alarming inconsistency\nin the professed followers of Jesus.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] A proud man layeth himself open to blows by his\n     presumption, and, like bubbles of soap-water, the bigger he\n     grows the weaker he is, and swells till he\n     bursts.--_Dumoulin._\n\n\n\nFEMALE PRIDE AND LUXURY.\n\n     iii. 16--iv. 1. _Moreover the Lord saith, Behold the\n     daughters of Zion are haughty, &c._\n\nWe have here a terrible denunciation of female pride and luxury.\nConsider--\n\nI. ITS COMMONNESS. In almost every age and country there have been\nwomen such as are here described.\n\nII. ITS CAUSES. There must be powerful causes to produce such a\nwide-spread effect. Like all things that are wrong, these evil\nthings--the pride and luxury of so many women--are due to perversions\nof things that are right,--mainly, to certain things which are among\nthe _differentia_ of the female sex, such as--1. A keener love of\nbeauty than is common among men. The love of many women for soft\ntextures and bright colours is as innocent, and free from all trace\nof personal vanity, as is the love of children for flowers. 2. A\nstronger yearning for admiration than is common among men. There are\nvain men, always on the outlook for indications of admiration, and\nthey are simply contemptible. But it is an instinct of the true\nwoman-nature to desire to be loved, and to value highly all things\nthat tend to win love. 3. A recognition of the gifts of personal\nbeauty. As a rule, women have more to be proud of in this respect\nthan have men. If a woman is fair, she is simply a hypocrite if she\npretends not to know it. Then there come in, 4. Rivalry, which in\nitself is a right thing, but becomes a harmful thing when women set\nthemselves to out-dress each other. 5. Timidity, one of the graces of\nthe female character, but that often leads to great evils. Few men\nhave the courage to be singular, and fewer women sufficient\nself-reliance not to follow the fashion. But the pride and luxury of\nwomen is largely due also to the folly of men:--(1) Most men esteem\nand reward clothes more than character. Men are taken by such things\nas are mentioned in our text, and the fisher is not much to be blamed\nfor adapting the bait to the taste of the fish. (2.) Even of those\nmen who condemn female luxury in the abstract, few have the courage\nto banish it from their own homes. (3.) The lips of many men are\nsealed on this question by their own vices. They have _their_\nindulgences, and one of the prices which they pay for peace in their\npursuit is silence as to this indulgence on the part of their wives\nand daughters. There is an unexpressed but wicked compromise on this\nmatter.\n\nIII. ITS CONSEQUENCES. 1. The intellectual degradation of woman, the\nconcentration of nearly all her thoughts on the question of dress.\n2. The moral debasement of many women. For the means of gratifying\ntheir craving for luxury and display, how many have sold their\nvirtue! 3. The destruction of that female influence which should\nalways be exerted, and when exerted is so powerful in aid of moral\nnobility. Sensual grossness in men is at once a cause and consequence\nof licentious vanity in women. 4. Commercial frauds, to which men\nresort to provide the means for the maintenance of the luxury of\ntheir homes.\n\nMen and women are thus partakers in this sin, and as such, in the\ndays of visitation, they shall suffer together (ver. 17, 25;\niv. 1).[1]\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] vi. 1. The Jewess, like the ancient Roman, or modern\n     Englishwoman, was called by her husband's name; and she\n     prized the honour of wedlock, and dreaded the reproach of\n     childlessness, at least as much as either of these; but we\n     must contrast the dignified expression of these feelings by\n     Sarah, Hannah, and Elizabeth, nay, even that of the jealous\n     and petulant Rachel, with the exhibition which the prophet\n     now contemplates in his mind's eye, in order to see the\n     picture of social disorganisation which he sees. If a harem\n     of wives and concubines was still a part of the king's\n     state in Isaiah's time, though we have no proof of this, it\n     is quite improbable that polygamy was the common custom of\n     the nation, or that they had not long passed out of the\n     half-civilised condition and habits for which Moses had\n     provided in the laws for the protection of the female\n     slaves whom a man might take at the same time for his\n     wives; but now Isaiah says that these women, whose luxury\n     and pride he has just described, will abandon even the\n     natural reserve of their sex, and not only force themselves\n     several upon one man, but declare that they will be content\n     to share with each other a legalised concubinage in which\n     they will not claim the concubine's ancient right of bread\n     and apparel, which the old law (Exod. xxi. 10) had in\n     express terms secured to her, if only they may bear his\n     name. It need not be supposed that Isaiah anticipated the\n     literal fulfilment of his words; we shall probably\n     understand him better by taking this as an instance of that\n     poetic or rhetorical hyperbole, which he so delights to use\n     for the more forcible expression of his moral and political\n     teaching. The mystery which some commentators have seen in\n     the numbers \"seven\" and \"one\" in this passage, and which is\n     even said to have occasioned the separation of this portion\n     of the prophecy into a distinct chapter, perhaps makes\n     worth while the obvious remark that it is nothing more than\n     the wide-spread idiom of modern as well as ancient\n     languages, by which a definite or round number is put for\n     an indefinite. Seven is thus generally used by the Hebrews\n     for any considerable number, as it was among the Egyptians\n     and Persians, and is still said to be in the East. The\n     Moguls are said to employ nine in like manner. So, in\n     English, we put five or ten for any small, and a hundred\n     for a large number, in conversation; though the genius of\n     our language forbids such idioms in graver\n     discourse.--_Strachey,_ pp. 55, 56.\n\n\n\nTHE DESOLATED AND DISORGANISING POWER OF WAR.\n\n     iv. 1. _And in that day seven women shall take hold of one\n     man, saying, We will eat our own bread and wear our own\n     apparel, only let us be called by thy name to take away our\n     reproach._[1]\n\nThis verse gives us a vivid picture of the desolating and\ndisorganising power of war. The 25th and 26th verses of the previous\nchapter say \"Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the\nwar. And her gates shall lament and mourn, and she being desolate\nshall sit on the ground.\" This righteous chastisement has come. So\noften have the men been called into the field, so exterminating has\nbeen the carnage, as that now few men remain. The natural proportion\nof the sexes is disturbed. This disorganisation invades woman's\nnature. Her natural modesty departs. With violent importunity seven\nwomen press marriage on one man. They will be no expense to him; they\nwill earn their own food and raiment, if he will only give them his\nname in marriage. The writer of this outline has recently travelled\nin a land [Mexico] whose revolutions during the last fifty years have\nbeen so frequent as that he found parts of the country where the\nprophet's words are true to-day. The men have been killed in battle.\nIn some districts there are seven women to one man.\n\n+I. The tendency of sin is to produce war and to degrade women.+ The\napostle James has described the generals of war (iv. 1). Nations are\nbut the aggregate of individuals. If the lusts of selfishness, greed,\nmalice, &c., nestle like vipers in the hearts of individual men, they\nwill be manifest in the nation. 1. _Sin deteriorates man's\nintellectual faculties._ In its present unpurified condition, the\nhuman intellect is not inventive enough to discover those commercial\nrelationships which will eventually bind in bonds of amity the\nnations of the world together. 2. _Sin intensifies human\nselfishness._ One of the most desolating wars of modern times\noriginated in that gross selfishness which was too blind to see that\nit was a sin to hold property in man. 3. _Sin intensifies human\ngreed._ \"Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour's landmark,\" is a\ndespised threat. Again and again his war originated in greed of\nterritory and lust of plunder. 4. _Sin intensifies human ambition._\nIn the heart of all great conquerors, from Nimrod to Napoleon, has\nlain the lust of unholy ambition. Their motto has ever been \"Better\nto reign in hell than serve in heaven.\" 5. Side by side with these\nlusts of selfishness, greed, ambition, &c., there has _been a lack of\njustice and mercy._ No mind having these latter sentiments healthily\ndeveloped could \"cry havock and let slip the dogs of war.\" When the\nleaders of nations learn \"to do justly and love mercy,\" wars will be\nless common. 6. _With war have come numerous evils to woman._ The\ntext describes some of them. Others come to the surface every day.\nHer husband has been forced from her side, or her sons have died on\nthe battlefield; very bitter have been woman's sorrows,--\"Yea, a\nsword hath pierced through her own soul also.\" And always where\nsoldiers are multiplied in a land, and taken away from useful\nemployment, women have been polluted and degraded. War and womanly\ndegradation are inseparable evils.\n\n+II. It is the tendency of Christianity to produce peace and elevate\nwomen.+ 1. _To produce peace in its loftiest and widest sense Christ\ncame into the world._ The prophet Isaiah predicted Him as the Prince\nof Peace (ix. 6). At His birth angels sang, \"Peace on earth,\ngood-will to man\" (Luke ii. 14). 2. _By His atoning work He has laid\nthe foundation of peace between man and God,_ and consequently\nbetween man and man. 3. _The direct influence of Christ's religion is\nto restrain and destroy those evil propensities out of which wars\noriginate--lust of greed, ambition, malice, &c._ What is in the\nindividual comes out in the community. As individuals and nations\nbecome truly Christian and form the majority, wars will cease.\n4. _Prophecy speaks of a time coming when the principles of\nChristianity shall be in the ascendant,_ and then men shall beat\ntheir swords into ploughshares, &c., &c. (chap. ii. 4). 5. _As the\ngospel of peace advances in a land woman's condition is always\nelevated._ The Christian man honours woman as no other man does. As\nhe grows into the stature of Christ, woman's lot is always happier.\nCompare woman's status in pagan, Mohammedan, and barbarous lands,\nwith her status in Christendom.\n\n+III. Hence while the Gospel claims as its advocate every Christian\nman, it has special claims on the service of every pious\nwoman.+--Every good man is called upon to spread the blessings of\nChristianity as widely as possible. But there are some evils whose\nremoval appeals specially to pious women. Every good woman should\nthrow her influence into the aggregate of the peace spirit, as\nagainst that war spirit which in certain stages of civilisation seems\nso natural to man. All women should join together to make up an army\nof peace promoters, outnumbering the men of the sword. To relieve\ntheir sisters from sorrow and save them from degradation, should be\nthe aim of all good women.--_William Parkes._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] See note to preceding outline.\n\n\n\nTHE DIVINE IDEAL OF ISRAEL REALISED.\n\n     iv. 2-6. _In that day shall the Branch of the Lord, &c._\n\n\"That day\" is the glorious period described in ch. ii. 1-4, and those\nverses and our text should be read together, as the beginning and\nconclusion of one prophecy. At the beginning, the prophet fixes his\ngaze upon the sun-illumined peaks of holiness and blessing in the far\nfuture, and his spirit rises within him in exultant gladness (ii. 5);\nand then he begins to survey the spaces of time that lie between.\nImmediately at his feet he sees almost the whole nation given over to\nutter ungodliness, the men and the women vying with each other in\ntheir pride and luxuriousness, and in their contempt and oppression\nof the poor; and then he beholds the clouds of Divine vengeance\ngathering and bursting over the stout-hearted sinners; he sees the\nnation spoiled of the men who had constituted its strength, and the\nenfeebled people utterly desolated by war. All is blackness and\ndarkness. But he lifts his eyes again, and there still shines before\nhim the true Zion, dwelling in inviolable peace beneath the\nmanifestations of the presence of her God. This was the vision which\nwas granted him, and which he recorded for the instruction of men in\nall aftertime.\n\nConfining our attention to the closing section of it, we are\ninstructed--+I. That underneath all God's purposes of judgment He has\ndesigns of mercy.+ In certain portions of this great prophecy God\ncomes forth in terrible majesty, and were we to have regard to them\nonly we should be moved to pray that He would not speak to us any\nmore (Exod. xx. 19). But these judgments that cause us to\ntremble--what is their purpose? Not merely the infliction of\nrighteous vengeance, but also and more that a way may be opened for\nmanifestations of the Divine goodness. If into Zion He sends \"the\nspirit of judgment and burning,\" it is that by the purging away of\nher filth and blood-guiltiness she may be made meet to be the\ndwelling-place of God. +II. That God resolved to carry out His\npurposes of mercy by a suitable agent.+ He is here designated by a\ntwofold description, the parts of which appear to be contradictory.\nHe is at once \"the Branch of the Lord\" and \"the Fruit of the earth.\"\nThe significance of the first of these titles becomes more plain as\nwe trace it in prophecy (Jer. xxiii. 5, xxxiii. 15; Zech. iii. 8,\nvi. 12). So that \"the Branch of the Lord\" is a man, the son of David,\nthat son concerning whom he sang in the seventy-second Psalm, the\nMessiah--our Lord Jesus Christ! As soon as we arrive at this great\ntruth, we perceive what is the explanation of the mysterious\ncontradiction in the two parts of the title of the great Deliverer\nwhom God was about to raise up for Zion (1 Tim. iii. 16; Rom. i. 3,\n4). +III. That in the day when God's designs of mercy are fulfilled,\nthe suitability and glory of the Agent whom God resolved to employ\nwill be universally recognised.+ We know how He was treated when He\ncame forth on His great mission: He was despised and rejected of men.\nYet not long after He had been put to the most ignominious of deaths,\nan apostle could write, \"Unto you that believe He is precious.\" So\neven on earth there was a commencement of the fulfilment of the\nprediction that He should be \"beautiful and glorious . . . excellent\nand comely for them that are escaped of Israel.\" We have been\npermitted also to see how He is regarded by the ransomed ones who\nhave entered into the rest in which they await the manifestation of\nthe sons of God (Rev. v. 6-14). By this disclosure we are enabled to\nform some conception of the manner in which this portion of the\nprophecy will be fulfilled \"in that day\" which upon the new earth\n\"the holy city, New Jerusalem,\" has come down from God out of heaven.\n+IV. That God's great design both in the infliction of His judgments\nand the operation of His mercy is the creation of universal\nholiness.+ The work entrusted to the Messiah was to \"wash away the\nfilth of the daughters of Zion, and to purge the blood-guiltiness of\nJerusalem from the midst thereof.\" There were some \"written down for\nlife in Jerusalem\" (Acts xiii. 48),--doubtless those who God foresaw\nwould tremble at His threatenings and accept His gracious offers of\nmercy; and these the Messiah was so to purify that they should be\nworthy to \"be called holy.\" Thus one part of GOD'S IDEAL CONCERNING\nISRAEL (Exod. xix. 6) was to be realised. It was for the\naccomplishment of this great purpose that Christ died (Eph.\nv. 25-27). It was for this end that He was exalted to God's right\nhand (Acts v. 31). It is for the accomplishment of this great purpose\nthat He now sometimes subjects His people to painful discipline (Heb.\nxii. 10).[1] +V. That the day of universal holiness will be a day of\nuniversal blessing.+ This great truth is set forth by symbols which\nwould appeal most powerfully to the imagination and the hopes of the\ngodly among Isaiah's contemporaries (ver. 5, 6). That which had been\nthe distinguishing glory of the Tabernacle was to become the common\nglory of every dwelling in the New Jerusalem. Moreover, the whole\ncity was to be a covering--a canopy such as in a Jewish wedding was\nheld over the bride and bridegroom; the symbol of God's protecting\nlove. Beneath it, as in a tabernacle, they should dwell securely.\nThus the second portion of God's ideal concerning Israel was to be\nrealised (Deut. xxviii. 9, 10; xxxiii. 28). First purity, then peace;\nperfect purity, perfect peace. A little later Isaiah had another\nvision concerning this tabernacle (xxxii. 2). God's protecting love\nfor His people is embodied in our Lord Jesus Christ; \"in _Him_ all\nthe promises of God are Yea and Amen\" (2 Cor. i. 20).\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] As God makes use of all the seasons of the year for the\n     harvest, the frost of winter as well as the heat of summer,\n     so doth He of fair and foul, pleasing and unpleasing\n     providences for promoting holiness. Winter providences kill\n     the weeds of lusts, and summer providences ripen and mellow\n     the fruits of righteousness. When He afflicts it is for our\n     profit, to make us partakers of His holiness (Heb.\n     xii. 10). Bernard compares afflictions to the teasel, which\n     though it be sharp and scratching, is to make the cloth\n     more pure and fine. God would not rub so hard if it were\n     not to fetch out the dirt that is ingrained in our natures.\n     God loves purity so well that He would rather see a hole\n     than a spot in His child's garments. When He deals more\n     gently in His providences, and lets His people sit under\n     the sunny bank of comforts and enjoyments, fencing them\n     from the cold blasts of affliction, it is to draw forth the\n     sap of grace, and hasten their growth in\n     holiness.--_Gurnall,_ 1617-1679.\n\n\n\nGOD'S PERPETUAL PRESENCE WITH HIS PEOPLE.\n\n     iv. 2-5. _In that day shall the Branch of the Lord, &c._\n\nNote the contrast between the preceding chapter, in which\ndenunciations fall upon the ear like thunder, and the sunny promise\nof this. The references to Zion both in the Psalms and in the\nProphecies are frequent and striking. Originally crowned by the\nJebusite citadel, it was besieged and taken by David, who transferred\nhis court from Hebron thither; he afterwards erected a tabernacle\nupon its height, and it there became the chosen resting-place of the\nark of the Lord. Hence, in Scripture language, it came sometimes to\ndenote the entire city of Jerusalem, and sometimes the Church or\ncommonwealth of the faithful, which the Highest has promised to\nestablish, and out of which God, the perfection of beauty, shines.\nYou will have no difficulty in thus understanding the reference in\nthe words before us. Applied to the ancient Zion, or even to the\nentire city of Jerusalem, the words are extravagant and unmeaning;\napplied to the Church of God--His living, spiritual temple--they are\nsober, comforting truths. Consider\n\nI. THE PREPARATION FOR THE PROMISE--(2-4). Two things are presented\nas antecedent to the gifts of blessing--the coming of the Divine\nSaviour, and His discipline for holiness within His Church. +1. The\ncoming of the Divine Saviour+ (ver. 2). The transition from the\ngloomy judgment to the grandeur of deliverance is abrupt and\nstriking, as if from a savage wilderness one were to emerge suddenly\ninto green pastures and among gay flowers. So great a change passes\nupon human destinies when Christ the Lord comes down. We are\nnaturally heirs of judgment. But a Saviour has been provided--a\nSaviour who, in the mysterious union of natures, combines perfection\nof sympathy and almightiness of power. Without Christ, we are\nhopeless and lost. Give us Christ, and we are heirs to all the\nfulness of God. +2. The Saviour's discipline for holiness within His\nChurch+ (ver. 3, 4). With God the great thing is holiness. To work\nthis holiness in His people, God subjects them to discipline, and, if\nnecessary, to the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning. There\nare some stains so deep that the fire must purge them. The constant\nsuperintendence over human affairs which these words imply is assured\nto us by the experience of our own witnessing hearts, which\ncorroborate the declarations of the inspired Word. In this\nsuperintendence the Christian will rejoice. In his anxiety to be\nconformed to the whole image of God, he will not be careful or\ndelicate about the means God may use. Here is a test by which to try\nyourselves. Are you willing to submit to this preparation for the\npromise? Do not shrink from the hissing brand; it will only burn away\nthe core of the ulcer.\n\nII. THE PROMISE ITSELF (ver. 5). As we read these words, we go back\nto former ages and a fierce wilderness, where a pilgrim host marches,\nand there, now in their van for guidance, now in their rear for\nprotection, races a pillar of cloud by day, and by night a pillar of\nflame. This was the vision prominent in the prophet's mind, when he\nsymbolised by it God's presence and protection to His chosen Church.\nWe are the heirs of the glorious things thus spoken of the city of\nGod. There is the presence of God with His Church--that is the\ncentral thought; then there are right-hand and left-hand thoughts or\naspects in which that presence manifests itself, radiating itself on\nthe one hand for counsel, and on the other hand for defence. 1. The\ncentral thought, +The presence of God.+ It was in cloud and in fire\nthat God specially revealed Himself for His people in days of old\n(Gen. xv. 17; Exod. xix. 18; xxxiii. 9; 1 Kings viii. 10; Hab.\niii. 3-5). So long as the cloud and fire were in the camp, so long\nthe wilderness lost half its terror, because the Israelites knew that\nGod was in the midst of them for good. That God is still present in\nHis church is no impious fanatic's dream. To be sure He does not come\nas He did in former times, bewildering the sight and overawing the\nmind. The Divine manifestations of terror which made even Moses fear\nand quake, would not suit this later and better dispensation of love.\nYet our tabernacles are not merely places of human assembly; they are\ntabernacles of God's presence, and our worship ascends not to a\nremote or absent God. 2. The right-hand thought, +The presence of God\nfor counsel.+ You remember that this was the primary purpose for\nwhich the pillar of cloud and fire was given. Consider how much it\nwas needed by the Israelites in the trackless wilderness. (1.) For\nguidance in their perplexities, God's presence is promised to the\nchurches of to-day. Nobody can look upon the history of the Church\nwith eyes that are not blinded by infidel films without discovering\ntraces of a presence and counsel higher than that of the mightiest\nand wisest men. What chance had she at the beginning but in the\nsupport and upholding that was itself Divine! Through what perils she\nhas been safely guided since! (2.) If I were to come nearer home, if\nI were to ask you to not look at the history of the Church, but at\nyour own history, is there not something that would cause you to\nrespond with a joy not less deep and solemn, as you think how the\nLord through all your wanderings has been a guide and counsel for\nyou? 3. The left-hand thought, +The presence of God for defence.+ You\nknow what the pillar of fire was--to the Israelites a lamp,\nbrilliant, exquisite, and heartening; to the Egyptians that followed,\na consuming fire. There is defence as well as counsel for the Church\nto-day. Expositors have differed a little about the reading of the\nlast clause in this verse. Some tell us it ought to read, \"upon all\nthe _glory_ shall be a defence;\" that is, there shall be protection\nround about the glory which is created by this luminous cloud and by\nthis kindled fire. Some tell us it should be read, \"upon _all_ the\nglory shall be a defence;\" that is, the luminous cloud and the\nbrilliant fire shall be itself the defence of the Church. What does\nit matter which way we take it? The defence is sure, the salvation of\nthe Lord is for bulwarks equally in the one case as in the other; and\nso the Church is safe, whatever betide. Powerful adversaries have\nbanded themselves for her destruction, and yet she still lives, while\ntheir names are forgotten, or remembered with accusation and shame.\nLet us, then, not be afraid of future assaults (Num. xxiii. 23). The\ndefence is not merely for Zion as a whole, but for every\ndwelling-place therein. Every believer has a pillar of cloud and fire\nover his own homestead, visible not to your eyes, but to those of the\nangels. There cannot be a cloud upon \"the assembly\" unless there are\nfirst clouds upon the dwelling-places. Consecrated homes furnish\nconsecrated congregations; consecrated homes bring the baptism of\nfire. Dear brethren, this promise is yours, if you like to have it.\nIt is the simple, quiet soul that sits at the feet of Jesus and\nlistens to His voice, that has all this done for him (Heb. i. 14).\n\n        \"Which of the petty kings of earth\n           Can boast a guard like ours,\n         Encircled from our second birth\n           With all the heavenly powers?\"\n\n--_W. Morley Punshon, LL.D., Christian World Pulpit,_ ii. 372-377.\n\n\n\nTHE CLEANSING SPIRIT.\n\n     iv. 4. _By the Spirit of judgment, and by the Spirit of\n     burning._\n\nIn ch. ii. 1-5, the prophet gives us a vision of the glory which\nshall distinguish Messianic times. From ver. 6, however, and through\nthat chapter and the next, he depicts scenes of darkness and\ndistress, that were to come upon the Jewish nation in correction of\nits haughtiness, arrogance, and rebellion. In ch. iv. the light again\nbreaks through these fearful clouds of judgment, and under the glory\nof the Messianic period we see the beauty and purity of the chastened\npeople of the Lord. The filth of the daughters of Zion has been\nwashed away, the blood of Jerusalem has been purged from the midst\nthereof. But how? \"By the Spirit of judgment, and by the Spirit of\nburning.\" Here we have the source and cause of the change.--This\nlanguage is very striking and suggestive, _and reveals the Divine\nprocedure in the cleansing of the heart._\n\nI. THE SPIRIT OF JUDGMENT. God's Spirit effects this reformation by a\nprocess of discernment and conviction. We observe--1. That a real\nchange of heart is usually preceded by a discovery of its sinful\ncondition. The natural tendency of the depraved heart is to ignore\nand deny its corrupted state. The light must be let in to show that\nit _is_ depraved.[1] 2. That this reformation is preceded by a\ndiscovery of the _enormity_ as well as the fact of sin. Even a\nconverted sinner tries to palliate or soften the sins that condemn\nhim. Hence men contrive such flimsy distinctions as \"white lies\" and\n\"black lies.\" But \"the Spirit of judgment\" goes to the root of the\nmatter, and discovers sin _as_ sin (1 Kings viii. 28). So in the\ntext, it is the _filth_ of the daughters of Zion that has to be\nwashed away; it is the _blood_ of Jerusalem that has had to be purged\nfrom its midst.[2]\n\nII. THE SPIRIT OF BURNING. From this description of the Holy Ghost,\nwe learn--1. That _the detection of sin is, in the Divine purpose, to\nbe followed by its destruction._ There can be no _home_ for sin in a\npure heart, nor will God make any concession to it (Hab. i. 13; Ps.\nv. 5). 2. _This process is extremely searching and painful._ It is\none of \"burning\" (Matt. iii. 11). How many have quailed under the\ntesting ordeal!--_e.g.,_ loss of wealth! loss of friends! personal\naffliction, &c.\n\nFrom the subject three general reflections arise:--1. God does not\nchastise arbitrarily or at random. He does it by \"the Spirit of\njudgment.\" 2. Neither does He fail in the work by reason of a weak\nindulgence, which really would be unkindness. He does it by \"the\nSpirit of burning.\" 3. The object He has in view is to promote and\nsecure our personal holiness, to make us indeed _like Himself_ (Heb.\nxii. 10)--the most blessed result to which discipline can lead\nus.--_W. Manning._\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] It is with the children of men as with the housewife, that\n     having diligently swept the house, and cast the dust out of\n     doors, can see nothing amiss, not so much as a speck of\n     dust in it; whereas if the sun do but a little shine in,\n     through some cranny in the wall or some broken quarry in\n     the window, she may soon see the whole house swim and swarm\n     with innumerable atoms of dust, floating to and fro in the\n     air, which, for dimness of light or sight, she was not able\n     to discern. Even so is it with many that were careful of\n     their ways, so that little may be seen that is amiss; yet,\n     when they shall come to look more attentively into God's\n     law, a little beam of light, reflecting upon their souls\n     for it, will discover unto them such an innumerable\n     company, as well as corruptions in their heart as of error\n     and oversight in their lives, that it shall make them, as\n     men amazed, cry out, \"Lord, what earthly man doth know the\n     errors of his life?\"--_Spencer,_ 1658.\n\n [2] As the Lord led Ezekiel from one place to another, and the\n     further he went the greater abominations he discerned\n     (Ezek. viii.), from the door of the court to the door of\n     the gate of the Lord's house, and from thence to the inner\n     court; so the Spirit of the Lord leads the sinner from one\n     part of his house to another, from one room--one faculty of\n     his soul to another, and still discovers greater, more and\n     more abominations,--leads from the profaneness of his\n     ordinary conversation to the sins of his religious duties,\n     from the sins of his life to the sins of his heart, from\n     the streams of sin in his actions to the spring of sin\n     which bubbles up continually in every part of his soul. He\n     brings to mind the sins that he has forgotten, makes him\n     \"possess the sins of his youth;\" and now the \"bag\" (Job.\n     xiv. 17) is opened, and the sinner sees what he is to\n     reckon for, he cries out as the prophet's servant, \"How\n     shall we do?\" and as David (Ps. xxxviii. 4). He comes not\n     to the assizes as formerly, to see others tried and\n     condemned; he sees himself now at the bar, himself\n     arraigned and indicted; he cannot but plead guilty. He is\n     clearly cast in law, and bears the sentence of condemnation\n     as though the Lord did by name pronounce sentence of\n     condemnation against him.--_Clarkson,_ 1621-1686.\n\n\n\nTHE PARABLE OF THE VINEYARD.\n\n     v. 1-7. _Now will I sing, &c._\n\n+I. The privileges conferred on the Jewish nation+ (ver. 2, 3). It\nwould be vain and useless to attempt, as some have done, to find in\nthe privileges of the Jews an exact counterpart to the various items\nhere specified concerning this \"vineyard.\" For example, Jerome\nregards the fencing of the vineyard as symbolical of the protection\nof the Jews by the angels; the gathering out of the stones, the\nremoval of the idols; the tower, the temple erected in Jerusalem; the\nwine-press, the altar.[1] To seek thus for minute analogies is at\nonce to destroy the oratorical force and the simplicity of the\nparable. Rather let us lay hold of its leading truths. The prophet\ndesired to remind the Jews that they had received extraordinary\nprivileges from God; consequently he employed figures calculated to\nimpress his hearers with that truth; and he does not fail to specify\nevery particular which those acquainted with a vineyard would expect,\nif it were one from which a copious supply of choice fruit might be\nreasonably expected. 1. _The choice which God made of the Jews as a\nnation_ was the first and fundamental privilege which He conferred\nupon them. 2. Having chosen them, God revealed Himself to them as\nclearly as was then possible through the symbolism of _the Mosaic\nLaw._ Through its statutes and ceremonies were shadowed forth the\ngreat truths of His holiness, His mercy, His sanctifying grace, and\nthe Sacrifice which in the fulness of time was to be offered for the\nsin of the world (Rom. iii. 1, 2). 3. In addition to the Law, God\ngave to His people the inestimable help of _Prophetical Teaching,_ to\nassist them to understand its meaning, and to stimulate them to keep\nit with full purpose of heart.\n\n+II. The consequent obligations under which the Jews were laid.+ From\nthe vineyard, for which the great Husbandman has done so much, He\nnaturally looked for fruit. The fruits which the prophet specifies as\nbeing required by God from the Jews correspond precisely with their\nprivileges (ver. 7). He had given them a code of laws by which their\nactions were to be guided, and had impressed upon them the duty of\ndoing to others as they would be done to. Now He looked for the\nfruits of justice and righteousness. It was a reasonable demand, the\nlowest that could have been made. Yet even this demand was not met.\n\n+III. The judgment which God designed to bring upon them+ (ver. 6,\n7). As we objected to the attempt to find exact counterparts between\nthe various privileges of the Jews and the labours which had been\nbestowed upon the vineyard, so we set aside as needless all attempts\nto discover parallels between the various items of the threatening\nagainst the vineyard and the judgments by which the Jews were\nvisited. All that the prophet means to say is this, that the\nprivileges which the Jews enjoyed pre-eminently above all the other\nnations God would take from them, and they should be reduced to the\nlevel of their neighbours. The removal of these privileges was itself\nthe heaviest judgment that could have befallen them.\n\nPRACTICAL LESSON.--_Where there is privilege there is obligation._\n1. You who are Christians are responsible for your privileges.\nConsider how great they are: a knowledge of the will of God; the\nexample of Christ; a throne of grace ever accessible; the counsel and\nhelp of the Holy Spirit. If God looked for the fruits of justice and\nrighteousness from the Jews, what manner of fruit may He reasonably\nexpect from you? 2. Even those of you who are not Christians, but are\nstill living in sin, have privileges; a preached Gospel; the offer of\na free, full, and present salvation; the strivings with you of the\nHoly Ghost. Despise them not, or you will perish.--_Thomas Neave._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] \"The house of Israel\" (beth Yisr\u00e2el) was the whole nation,\n     which is also represented in other passages under the same\n     figure of a vineyard (ch. xxvii. 2, _sqq._; Ps. lxxx., &c).\n     But as Isaiah was prophet in Judah, he applies the figure\n     more particularly to Judah, which was called Jehovah's\n     favourite plantation, inasmuch as it was the seat of the\n     Divine sanctuary and of the Davidic kingdom. This makes it\n     easy enough to interpret the different parts of the simile\n     employed. The fat mountain horn was Canaan, flowing with\n     milk and honey (Exod. xv. 17); the digging of the vineyard,\n     and clearing it of stones, was the clearing of Canaan from\n     its former heathen inhabitants (Ps. xliv. 3); the\n     sorek-vines were the holy priests and prophets and kings of\n     Israel of the earlier and better times (Jer. ii. 21); the\n     defensive and ornamental tower in the midst of the vineyard\n     was Jerusalem as the royal city, with Zion the royal\n     fortress (Micah iv. 8); the winepress-trough was the\n     temple, where, according to Ps. xxxvi. 8, the wine of\n     heavenly pleasures flowed in streams, and from which,\n     according to Ps. xlii. and many other passages, the thirst\n     of the soul might all be quenched. The grazing and treading\n     down are explained in Jer. v. 10 and xii. 10.--_Delitsch._\n\n     I believe that in a poetical allegory there is always more\n     or less an allusion to the details of that which is\n     allegorised; but it is only allusion,--to be realised by\n     the imagination, rather than by the understanding, of the\n     reader, as well as the poet. The several images are parts\n     of a picture, which must be contemplated as a picture, and\n     its meaning is to enter into the mind through the\n     imagination. Still, a matter-of-fact commentator, like\n     Vitrings, deeply imbued with the spirit of his author, will\n     sometimes greatly help his reader's imagination by his\n     minute analysis; and I think this is the case in his\n     explanation of the details of this description of the\n     vineyard. _\"A vineyard\"_ consists of vines planted for the\n     sake of their fruit: the Hebrew nation with its tribes, its\n     families, and its persons, was such a vineyard, appointed\n     to bring forth the fruits of personal and social religion\n     and virtue,--holiness, righteousness, and love to God and\n     man: this nation was established in a land flowing with\n     milk and honey, endowed with all natural advantages, all\n     circumstances which could favour inward life by outward\n     prosperity; and the grace and favour of Jehovah, and the\n     influence of His Spirit, always symbolised by oil, were\n     continually causing it to be fruitful. _\"And He fenced\n     it,\"_--the arm of the LORD of hosts, employing kings and\n     heroes, was its defence against all enemies; its\n     institutions were fitted to preserve internal order, and to\n     prevent the admixture of evil from without, with the chosen\n     and separated nation; and its territory was marked out and\n     protected by natural boundaries in a noticeable manner.\n     _\"Gathered out the stones,\"_--the heathen nations, and the\n     stocks and stones they worshipped. _\"And planted it with\n     the choicest vine,\"_--a nation of the noble stock of the\n     patriarchs, and chosen and cultivated by the Lord of the\n     vineyard, with especial care, for His own use. _\"And built\n     a tower in it,\"_--namely, Jerusalem--for the protection and\n     superintendence of the vineyard, as well as to be its\n     farmhouse, so to speak. _\"And also made a wine-press\n     therein,\"_--where the wine-press seems to point to the same\n     idea as the sending the servants to receive the fruit, in\n     our Lord's modification of this parable: lawgivers, kings,\n     and judges, the temple with its priesthood and ordinances,\n     and the schools of the prophets, were the appointed means\n     for pressing out and receiving the wine--the spiritual\n     virtues and graces of the vineyard. And the end is, that\n     _\"He looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it\n     brought forth wild grapes.\"_--_Strachy,_ pp. 62, 63.\n\n\n\nTHE PARABLE OF THE VINEYARD.\n\n     v. 1-7. _Now will I sing to my well-beloved a song, &c._\n\nThe points of moral instruction made prominent in this parable\nare--I. That God's gifts of truth, light as to duty, moral culture,\nand opportunities for doing good, create peculiar obligations to be\nmorally fruitful, to do justice, and love mercy. II. That men so\nblessed with privileges will be held to a stern accountability.\nIII. That failing to meet this, they must expect that God will take\naway their privileges and give them to others who will render the\nfruits in their season (Matt. xxi. 43). IV. That there is a line\nbeyond which God does not deem it wise to waste His moral efforts\nupon self-hardened sinners. V. That in His view the exigencies of His\nmoral kingdom demand of Him rather that He made sinners, beyond that\nline, an example of His righteous displeasure against their awful\nwickedness, and a warning to other sinners lest they venture too far\nin abusing His compassionate and long-suffering efforts to reclaim\nand save them. It is a terrible thing to withstand God in His labours\nto save the soul.--_Henry Cowles, D.D., Commentary on Isaiah,_ p. 30.\n\n\n\nGREAT PRIVILEGES.\n\n     v. 1-7. _Now will I sing to my well-beloved, &c._\n\n+I. Great privileges are bestowed by God according to the good\npleasure of His will.+ 1. Obviously this is true of the great\nprivileges accorded to the Jewish nation. They were not granted\nbecause of anything in them (Deut. vii. 7; ix. 4-6, &c.). There were\nother \"hills\" that would have been just as suitable for a vineyard,\nand just as fruitful, had the great Husbandman been pleased to deal\nwith them in the same manner. 2. If we consider our own religious\nprivileges, we must acknowledge the same great principle: other\nnations still heathen _deserve_ them just as much as we do; and our\nheathen forefathers to whom they were first granted were in no sense\nsuperior to the heathen of to-day. We owe our superiority to our\nprivileges, not our privileges to our superiority. 3. The same\nprinciple is as true of temporal as of spiritual privileges. Why are\nsome born clever, and others stupid? some strong and others weak?\nsome rich, and others poor? We can return no other answer than that\nsuch is the will of God.--This principle seems to be surrounded by a\ncloud of mystery; but there are rays of light that relieve it,--to\nsome of them we shall presently refer; and we must be careful not to\ndarken it by our own folly. We must not imagine, because God acts\naccording to the good pleasure of His will, that therefore He acts\narbitrarily, capriciously, out of mere whim and fancy. Though He may\nnot disclose to us the reasons for many of His procedures, we may be\nsure that He has good reasons. In withholding them from us--possibly\nbecause we are as yet incapable of understanding them,--and thus\nmaking demands upon our faith, He deals with us just as we frequently\ndeal with our children.\n\n+II. Great privileges involve great responsibilities.+ From the\nvineyard so carefully cultivated choice grapes are justly expected.\nThis is a truth so familiar that it is apt to become to us a mere\ntruism. But we shall do well to look at it steadily,--1. _As a guide\nto us in our duty._ It is well to pause and consider what privileges\nGod has conferred upon is, that we may be aroused to a perception of\nthe nature and extent of the demands which He is certain to make upon\nus. In view of our privileges, what ought our life to be? (Luke\nxii. 48). 2. _As a help to us in our perplexities._ In view of such\nprovidential arrangements as have been referred to, these are\nsometimes very painful. But we must remember that the great principle\nbefore us admits of being very variously stated. It is just as true\nthat \"small privileges involve small responsibilities.\" We shall\nadopt the slander of the wicked and slothful servant if we think of\nGod as a hard master who seeks to reap where He has not sown. If God\nhas entrusted to any man only one talent,--and He entrusts to every\nman at least as much as that,--He will not demand from him the usury\nupon ten talents, nor upon two.\n\n+III. Great privileges do not necessarily result in great happiness.+\nThey ought to do so; they often do so; but as frequently they fail to\ndo so. Even in temporal things, the happiest men are not always those\nwhose possessions are most various and ample. The most learned men\nare not always those who own the largest libraries. And the holiest\nmen are not always those whose religious opportunities are most\nnumerous and great. Why is it, that great privileges and great\nhappiness are not always associated? Because man is a voluntary\nagent, and God will not force happiness upon any man. He may offer us\neternal life, but we must \"lay hold\" of it. He may shed upon our path\ngreat light, but we must walk in it (ch. ii. 5).\n\nPRACTICAL LESSON.--Instead of repining because our privileges are not\nmore numerous and great, let us diligently use those which have been\ngranted to us, and so make them what they were intended to\nbe--sources of blessing to us. Enclosed within God's vineyard, and\ncarefully cultured by Him, let us see to it that the grapes we bring\nforth are not wild grapes.\n\n+IV. Great privileges neglected or misused bring on great\ncondemnations+ (ver. 5, 6). Compare also Luke xiii. 6-9. Had that\nfig-tree been growing on some open common, notwithstanding its\nbarrenness, it might have stood till it decayed, but because it was\nbarren in a \"vineyard\" the righteous order is given, \"Cut it down!\"\nThis principle, also, we may turn to practical account. Like a former\none, we may use it--1. _To help us in our perplexities._ Sometimes we\nare in trouble to know what will become of the heathen in the day of\njudgment. Well, even if they are condemned, they will be condemned\nless severely than those who have misused greater privileges (Matt.\nxi. 22; Luke xii. 48). 2. _To stimulate us to a faithful discharge of\nduty._ Fear is not the highest motive, but it is a very useful one,\nand not truly wise man will leave it out of account. We need every\nkind of help to fortify us against temptation, and it is good to\nremember what will be the result if we yield to it, and so remain\nbarren and unfruitful, or even bring forth \"wild grapes\" (Heb. iv. 1;\n1 Pet. i. 7; Phil. ii. 12).\n\nFear is useful as a motive, but hope is still more helpful; and in\nthe matter of our salvation we may employ both fear and hope as\nallies. Reverse the last principle, and read it thus, +Great\nprivileges well used secure corresponding rewards.+ Compare Luke\nxix. 17. If the choice vine planted in the fruitful vineyard brings\nforth \"good grapes,\" the Husbandman will pronounce over it rejoicing\nbenedictions (Heb. vi. 7).\n\n\n\nDIVINE DISAPPOINTMENTS.\n\n     v. 2. _He looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it\n     brought forth wild grapes._\n\n\"I believe in God.\" Which god? The god constructed for us by\nphilosophers, who is impassive, throned in eternal calm, unmoved by\nthe crimes or the virtues of men, all of which he has foreseen from\neternal ages, and which cannot in any way affect him at the time of\ntheir occurrence; a god who towers above men, majestic and\nunchangeable, like an Alpine peak, which is the same whether sunlight\ncheers or clouds darken the valleys beneath? No, but the God of the\nBible, who loves and hates, who rejoices with us in our gladness and\nsorrows with us in our griefs, who foresees and overrules all, and\nyet can hope and be disappointed.\n\nI. That God can be disappointed is distinctly the implication of our\ntext. \"He _looked_ that it,\" &c. 1. Isaiah's parable recalls the\nprivileges which God had conferred upon the Jews; and we know that He\ndealt with them as He did, in order that they might become a holy\nnation (Exod. xix. 6; Deut. vii. 6, xxvi. 18, 19). Was their\npersistent unholiness no disappointment to Him? 2. The same truth is\nimplied in what we are told of God's feelings in view of the\nwickedness of the antediluvians (Gen. vi. 5, 6). He had made man in\nHis own image, in order that He might continue therein, and shine\nwith the lustre of His own moral perfections; each man was to be a\n_planet_ in the moral universe, reflecting the glory of the great\ncentral Sun; and when He saw man transformed into the image of Satan,\nand His purposes concerning him frustrated, He was filled with\nprofound regret. 3. The same truth is implied in what we are told\nconcerning Christ. \"He came unto His own\" (John i. 11). For what\npurpose? Certainly not that He might be rejected, but that He might\nbe received by them. But He _was_ rejected! See how forcibly this is\nbrought out in His parable (Luke xx. 9-15--especially verse 13).\n4. It is implied in Christ's tears and lament over Jerusalem (Luke\nxix. 41; Matt xxiii. 37). 5. It is implied in the apostolic\ndeclarations, that God is desirous that all men should repent and be\nsaved (1 Tim. ii. 4; 2 Pet. iii. 9). We must not minimise the force\nof \u03b8\u03ad\u03bb\u03b5\u03b9--\u1f42\u03c2 \u03c0\u03ac\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03c2 \u03ac\u03bd\u03b8\u03c1\u03ce\u03c0\u03bf\u028a\u03c2 \u03b8\u03ad\u03bb\u03b5\u0269 \u03c3\u03c9\u03b8\u1fc6\u03bd\u03b1\u0269. The strength of any\none's desire is to be measured by what he will do or sacrifice to\naccomplish it; and God gave His only begotten Son in order that all\nmen might have everlasting life. But all men are not saved. That the\nScriptures teach that God can be--and often is--disappointed, is\nclear.\n\nII. \"But it is impossible that God can be disappointed, seeing that\nHe is omniscient and foresees all things. Surprise, and consequently\ndisappointment, is not possible to perfect knowledge.\" 1. This\nobjection appears to be very reasonable, but against it there is this\nfatal objection, that we cannot measure God by our reason.[1] We\ncannot tell how He will act or feel under certain circumstances: all\nwe know is, that under all circumstances God will act and feel in a\nmanner worthy of Himself. But what is, or is not, consistent with His\nattributes, we are not in a position to determine. Take, for\ninstance, His omnipresence. If we were present when dastardly wrongs\nand great crimes are committed, and were clothed with power to\nprevent them, how certain it is that we should prevent them![2] But\nevery day He stands by and sees such wickednesses perpetrated, and is\nsilent, and gives no sign. Let us, then, not be in a hurry to decide\nthat disappointment is not consistent with omniscience. 2. There is\nan experience very frequent among men, which may perhaps help us a\nlittle to understand what disappointment is in God. Evils may be long\ndistinctly foreseen--as, for example, the death of a dear friend\nsuffering from an incurable disease--but yet not realised until they\nactually occur. The blow is foreseen long before it falls, but it is\nfelt when it falls. Every man knows that he must die, and yet how\nnearly a surprise is death to every man! 3. Whether we can understand\nit or not, it is our duty to accept this declaration, that in view of\nthe ingratitude and sinfulness of men whom God has blessed and has\nsought to win by virtue and holiness, He is profoundly grieved and\ndisappointed. Such declarations are not to be dismissed as\n\"anthropomorphological.\" However much that is in them may be\nfigurative, there is a reality behind the figures.\n\nIII. Whatever mystery may attach to this declaration, consider how\nprecious it is--1. A God who can be disappointed is precisely the God\nwe need. How else could we be assured of His sympathy with us in the\ndisappointments which so frequently come upon us, and which make up\nso considerable a part of the experiences of our life? Were God such\na being as the philosophers have imagined, we might feel that He\nunderstood us, as an anatomist understands exactly how a frog on\nwhich he is operating will act when exposed to galvanic shocks, but\nwe could not have had the inexpressible consolation of the assurance\nof His sympathy. It is only a mother who has been bereaved who can\ncomfort a mother who is weeping over her dead child. 2. A God who is\nso much interested in us that our failures in virtue inspire Him with\nprofound grief and disappointment, is against precisely the God we\nneed. Of what value to us would be a God who looked upon us with as\nlittle emotion as a king may be supposed to do upon the ants who\ncrawl across his path? It is because men do not think of God as He is\nrevealed in our text, that they sin against Him; if they did but\nrealise how He feels about them, it would be impossible for them to\ntransgress as they do. I accept His declaration, that He is\ndisappointed in view of human sin, and I try to measure His\ndisappointment. I find help in this endeavour in this Old Testament\nparable: how profound would be the disappointment of a husbandman\nunder such circumstances as are supposed! But I find yet more\nvaluable help in the greatest of the New Testament parables. How\nbitter must have been the disappointment of the father of the\nProdigal when he went away into a far country! Such disappointments\nbreak the hearts of tens of thousands of fathers and mothers, and\nbrings down their grey hairs with sorrow to the grave; and precisely\nsuch disappointment it is, only vaster, deeper, sadder, that fills\nthe heart of our Heavenly Father when His children go astray. It is\nthus that some of you have grieved Him; it is thus that some of you\nare grieving Him to-day by your contemptuous disregard of His offers\nof mercy and forgiveness. Oh, think what it is that you do, and\nsurely your carelessness must give place to profound contrition, and\nyou will resemble the Prodigal in your penitence, as you have done in\nyour ingratitude and your guilt.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] God is to us, and to every creature incomprehensible. If\n     thou couldst fathom or measure Him, and know His greatness\n     by a comprehensive knowledge, He were not God. A creature\n     can comprehend nothing but a creature. You may know God,\n     but not comprehend Him; as your foot treadeth on the earth,\n     but doth not cover all the earth. The sea is not a sea if\n     you can hold it in a spoon. Thou canst not comprehend the\n     sun which thou seest, and by which thou seest all things\n     else, nor the sea, or the earth, no, nor a worm, nor a\n     blade of grass: thy understanding knoweth not all that God\n     hath put into the least of these; thou art a stranger to\n     thyself, both body and soul. And thinkest thou, that\n     perfectly comprehendest nothing, to comprehend God? Stop\n     then thy over-bold inquiries, and remember that thou art a\n     shallow, finite worm, and God is infinite. First seek to\n     comprehend the heaven and earth and whole creation, before\n     thou think of comprehending Him to whom the whole world is\n     nothing, or vanity.--_Baxter,_ 1615-1691.\n\n [2] During one part of the trip our party was augmented by a\n     redif, or soldier of the reserves, who was going home on\n     leave of absence. He wore the uniform of the Turkish\n     soldier, but I observed that in the evening he threw over\n     his shoulders a woman's robe, made of a soft thin kind of\n     felt, worn by the women in this country, and beautifully\n     embroidered in colours around the neck and bosom. I had the\n     curiosity to inquire into the history of this gown, and\n     could scarcely restrain my indignation at the story I\n     heard. The soldier said he had got the gown at Saitschar.\n     After the discovery of the evacuation of the place by the\n     Servians, he and a party of four or five more entered the\n     town. In one of the houses they found a Servian family that\n     had decided to remain in their house, and throw themselves\n     on the mercy of the Turks. This family consisted of an old\n     man, a married daughter with two children, and a girl of\n     fourteen, whose relationship to the rest of the family they\n     did not take the trouble to inquire into. The husband of\n     the woman, if she had one, was absent. They began by\n     fastening all the doors, so that nobody could escape: then\n     they thoroughly pillaged the house, and took and divided\n     everything of value among themselves. They were in the\n     house a day and a night, for it was a rich one apparently,\n     and it took some time to get everything properly divided\n     and packed; and besides, they were disposed to be merry and\n     make a night of it.\n\n     I will not enter into the details of what they did during\n     the night, because there are people who do not apparently\n     object in the least to the commission of these deeds, who\n     object to anybody lifting a finger to prevent them, or even\n     to the expression of any indignation on the subject, but\n     who are dreadfully shocked at the recital of them; and I\n     wish to spare the feelings of these sensitive persons.\n     Suffice it to say that the next morning the question arose\n     as to what should be done with the two women, the two\n     children, and the old man. Some of the party were in favour\n     of letting them go; but the rest were of opinion that it\n     would be amusing to kill them, and a discussion ensued,\n     which lasted more than an hour, in the presence of the\n     weeping, trembling victims, who were wildly begging for\n     mercy, and among whom, it should be remembered, there was a\n     mother begging for the lives of her two children. The\n     narrator said that he, with another of the party, had leant\n     to the side of mercy, but that the majority were against\n     them, and that they finally ended the discussion and the\n     prayers of the victims by falling upon them with their\n     sabres. I asked him how he had come by the gown, and he\n     replied that, seeing what the result was going to be, he\n     had stripped it from the girl while the discussion was in\n     progress, before she was killed, so that it might not be\n     blood-stained. He had taken a fancy to it, because it would\n     just be right for his daughter, who was about the same age;\n     and his companions, perceiving this, made him pay rather\n     high for it--fifty piastres. He was a heavy, dull-looking\n     brute, and it seemed strange to think that he had a\n     daughter, a pretty, tender, joyous little thing, perhaps,\n     that would wear this gown with delight. He told the story\n     in a quiet, phlegmatic manner, and spoke very freely,\n     looking upon me as an Englishman, and therefore as a\n     friend.--_Letter in the \"Daily News,\"_ Nov. 15, 1876.\n\n\n\nA SAD CANTICLE.\n\n     v. 4-6. _What could have been done more to my vineyard? &c._\n\nThere are certain epochs in the history of the Church when on every\nhand may be seen the saddest indifference. This state of things is\nnot owing to a suspension of Divine gifts, nor to the absence of\nearnest pastors, nor to the circumstances by which God's people are\nsurrounded. Everything has been done for the vineyard which the wise\nand gracious husbandman could perform, yet no fruit is produced. The\nfault lies with the Church itself. Individual members have relapsed\ninto a state of ease and supineness. Faithful warnings have been\nunheeded; earnest entreaties have been disregarded; mercies have been\nunnoticed; chastisements have been profitless. At such a time they\nwho sigh and cry for this desolation, turn to the despised or\nforgotten Lord, and sing their mournful canticle, \"My well-beloved,\"\n&c. (ver. 1, 2). Then the Lord replies, \"Judge, I pray you,\" &c.\n(ver. 3-6). It is too true the sorrowful singer admits, and says 'He\nlooked for judgment,' &c. (ver. 7).\n\nLet us consider the _similitude_ under which the Church is\nrepresented, the just _complaint_ of the Lord, and the terrible\n_condemnation_ He pronounces.\n\n+I. The Similitude.+ A vineyard.\n\nThis parable is peculiarly interesting on account of the fact that\nour Lord Jesus uttered one in many respects similar to it (Matt.\nxxi. 33). The figure of the vineyard is often used in the Old\nTestament, generally to represent the Church. The vineyard of the\nparable is represented as being--1. _In a very favourable locality._\n2. _Planted with the choicest vine._ 3. _Carefully fenced and\ndiligently cultivated._ 4. _Having the husbandman living in the\nmidst._ \"Built a tower.\" God is His _own_ watchman on the walls of\nZion.\n\n+II. The Complaint.+ \"It brought forth wild grapes.\" Observe the\ncomplaint is not based upon the poverty or paucity of the crop, or\neven upon the absence of a crop altogether, or because of the\nlateness of the crop. There is an abundant crop; but of what? \"wild\ngrapes,\" _i.e.,_ \"poisonous berries,\" like those the servant of\nElisha gathered (2 Kings iv. 39). A crop that could have grown\nwithout the husbandman at all. An unnatural production. One\ncalculated to injure, if not to destroy life. The husbandman's design\nis thwarted; he expected that which would nourish and stimulate life;\nwhereas the opposite is produced. The allegory explains itself. The\ninconsistencies and follies, the disobedience and idolatry of the\nChurch, are like deadly upas trees in the world; they tend to produce\ninfidelity, _i.e.,_ moral death, among men. The mission of the Church\nis to proclaim life, by God's Spirit to communicate it; instead of\nthat, a worldly and apostate Church leads men to say and believe,\n\"There is no God.\" This is unnatural; the proper fruit of the Church\nis holiness, obedience, and zeal.\n\n+III. The Condemnation.+ (vers. 5, 6).\n\n1. _Observe the mercy of the condemnation._ \"It shall be eaten up.\"\nThe obnoxious growth shall be destroyed. The pride, the ignorance,\nthe idolatry of the Church shall be removed. God will not abandon\nher, as He does the world, to fill up her measure of iniquity. He\nmust be glorified in His saints, although not now, yet afterward. The\npatient husbandman will wait for another year, when his choice vine\nshall yield choice fruit.\n\n2. _Observe the severity of the condemnation._ Her privileges shall\nnot be enjoyed. \"The hedge taken away.\" Direful persecution shall be\nexperienced. \"It shall be trodden down.\" The Spirit's influence shall\nbe withheld. \"I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain\nupon it.\" It is so with the Jews. That vineyard is desolate now;--the\nvines are trodden under foot; the rain rains not on them, BUT THEY\nARE NOT ROOTED UP. God shall plant another hedge, dwell again in the\nforsaken tower; and His ancient people shall grow and flourish on the\nfruitful hill; bringing forth such fruit that the husbandman shall\nrejoice, and earth and heaven be glad.--_Stems and Twigs,_ vol. i.\npp. 246-249.\n\n\n\nON THE ADVANTAGE OF SMALL ALLOTMENTS OF LAND TO THE POOR.\n\n     v. 7, 8. _He looked for judgment, but behold oppression;\n     for righteousness, but behold a cry. Woe unto them that\n     join house to house, and lay field to field, till there be\n     no place._\n\nI. The Almighty expects from all His creatures, and especially from\nthose to whom He has given wealth or power, the practice of justice\nand righteousness. II. The Almighty, instead of finding justice and\nrighteousness among His creatures, discovers oppression on the part\nof the powerful, and a cry of lamentation and of indignation on the\npart of the poor: the proof of the oppression, and the cause of the\ncry is, that no place is left for the poor. There is a strong\ntendency to the accumulation of property, and especially of land, in\nthe hands of a few; but such accumulations of land in a few hands\ntends to grave national evils--to luxury on the part of the rich, and\nto lawlessness on the part of the poor--and, therefore, instead of\nbeing promoted, should be discouraged by the legislature. But year by\nyear we have been adding \"field to field, and house to house,\" till\nwe have left the poor no place. Rights of common and rights of\npasture have been taken away, and the beer-shop established by law to\noccupy the time which otherwise would have been employed in healthy\ntoil for a happy family. Little farms, held by working farmers, have\nbeen joined together, so that one may live in luxury, where ten\nfamilies once dwelt in simplicity and plenty. The cottager, in his\nlittle field, that once looked so fruitful and trim, cheering the eye\nand charming the heart, not only of himself, but of beings dear to\nand dependent upon him, has been driven into some town to add to its\nmisery, its debasement, and its discontent. Let us pray that there\nmay come a time when the gentle in rank shall be gentle in very deed;\nwhen the rich shall recognise that they are trustees for God, and\nshall use their property for the purposes for which He has placed it\nin their hands; when allotment acts shall remedy the ruin which\nenclosure acts have wrought; when an enlightened self-love, arising\nout of the possession of something to love, shall render the\ndemagogue and the inciter to outrage a foreigner to our land, and\nwhen our \"common Father\" shall find that \"justice and righteousness\"\nfor which He looks.--_R. C. Parkman, B.A., Sermons_ (1843), No. X.\n\n\n\nWILD GRAPES.\n\n     v. 8-23. _Woe unto them that join house to house, &c._\n\nIt is important to remember that this whole chapter constitutes one\nprophecy. Much of the power of its teaching will be lost, if this\nfact be overlooked. In verses 1-7, we have the astonishing\ndeclaration that in \"the vineyard of the Lord of hosts\" He has\ndiscovered, not the excellent fruit He had a right to expect, but\n\"wild grapes.\" In verses 8-23, some of these \"wild grapes\" are\nspecified and denounced. Surveying His vineyard the Husbandman\nbeheld--\n\nI. Not the gracious fruit of generosity, but the evil fruits of GREED\nand PRIDE. He saw men, not content with the possessions which\nProvidence had conferred upon them, nor those which honest industry\nwould enable them to secure, but coveting their neighbour's\npossessions, and hesitating at no means that would enable them to\ngratify their desires (Micah ii. 1, 2); beating down their equals,\nthat they themselves might dwell in solitary grandeur (ver. 8). Note,\n1. That the aggregation of landed property here denounced was\ndirectly contrary to the most explicit Divine ordinances (Num.\nxxxvi. 7; Lev. xxv. 23, 24).[1] 2. The conduct here denounced has its\ncounterparts to-day--in the matter of land, great landowners buying\nup all the little farms adjoining their estates, and turning fruitful\nvalleys into deer-runs; in trade, great capitalists subjecting their\nless wealthy rivals to ruinous competition, &c., &c.[2] 3. That it is\nnot merely particular manifestations of the spirit of greed and\npride, but the spirit itself, that provokes the indignation of the\nbountiful Giver of all good. Covetousness and arrogance are not\nconfined to any particular class. The tenth commandment exists for\nthe poor as well as for the rich.\n\nII. Not the excellent fruit of temperance, but the evil fruit of\nSENSUAL INDULGENCE (ver. 11, 12). He saw men living for mere\npleasure, without any recognition of the \"work\" which He had wrought\nfor them as a nation, without any acknowledgement of His goodness to\nthem as individuals, without any remembrance of the purpose of their\nbeing.[3]\n\nIII. Not the excellent fruit of reverence for God's Word, but the\nevil fruit of SCOFFING. The messengers whom He sent to recall them to\nduty, they scorned; the warnings which He mercifully sent to them of\nthe judgments impending over them, they turned into merriment.\nInstead of forsaking their sins, they yoked themselves to them with\nrenewed determination (verses 18, 19).\n\nIV. Not the noble fruit of a recognition of the truth, but the evil\nfruit of INFIDELITY--that intellectual scepticism which seeks to\ndestroy the very foundations of morality, and which prepares men for\nvice of all kinds, and hardens them therein, by confounding vice with\nvirtue, and denying man's moral accountability.\n\nV. Not the befitting fruit of humility and desire for Divine\nguidance, but the evil fruit of SELF-SUFFICIENCY (ver. 21). Clever\nand successful \"men of the world,\" they resented the idea of their\nneeding counsel and help as an insult. They were their own gods.\nTrusting in themselves with unfaltering confidence, they excluded\nfrom their minds all thought of Him in whom they lived and moved and\nhad their being. Conceiving that they owed all their prosperity to\ntheir own wisdom and prudence, how could they give Him thanks?\nConfident that they would be equal to every emergency of life, how\ncould they lift up to Him one real prayer?\n\nVI. Not the indispensable fruit of righteousness in those who are\ncalled to rule, but that evil fruit which always excites His hottest\nindignation, DENIAL OF JUSTICE TO THE POOR. He saw the judges taking\ntheir seats on the judicial bench, not with clear intellects and the\nlove of righteousness enthroned in their hearts, but besotted and\nbrutalised by strong drink; not dispensing justice, but selling their\nverdict to those who could furnish them most amply with the means of\ngratifying their sensual lusts (vers. 22, 23). Than the denial of\njustice there is no more cruel wrong.\n\nThese were the \"wild grapes\" which God saw when He looked down upon\nHis ancient vineyard. Was it any wonder that He brake down the wall\nthereof, and give it over to destruction? These are the \"wild grapes\"\nwhich He sees brought forth only too abundantly when He looks down\nupon this land. Is it not a wonder that He spares the nation to which\nwe belong? 1. Let us beseech Him still to spare us, for the sake of\nthe \"ten righteous\" who dwell among us. 2. Let us recognise that the\nmost urgent duty to which we are called as patriots is the abatement\nof those iniquities which justly kindle God's indignation against us.\n3. Let us as individuals search and see what fruits are being brought\nforth in the vineyard of our own souls, lest while we are deploring\nthe iniquities of our land and time, and, it may be, are labouring to\nlessen them, there grow up within us, \"wild grapes\" which will bring\ndown upon us the Divine condemnation.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Political philosophy has much to say in favour of laws and\n     institutions, at certain periods of a nation's growth, for\n     encouraging, or at least permitting, the disposition of its\n     members to found families, to be maintained by hereditary\n     possessions in land. Yet, if this disposition be not kept\n     within bounds, those who are influenced by it will \"join\n     house to house, and field to field, till there be no\n     place;\" till the race of small landholders, yeomen, and\n     partly independent tenants, is swallowed up by a few rich\n     despots. To prevent this evil among the Hebrews, Moses\n     directed as equal a division of the land as possible in the\n     first instance, among the 600,000 families who originally\n     formed the nation; and provided against the permanent\n     alienation of any estate, by giving a right of repurchase\n     to the seller and his relations, and of repossession\n     without purchase at the Jubilee. The story of Naboth\n     illustrates the effect of these laws in forming an order of\n     sturdy, independent yeomen; but it must also be taken as an\n     instance of the habitual breach of the same laws by the\n     rich and powerful (cf. Micah ii.; Neh. v. 1-13; 2 Chron.\n     xxxvi. 21); as they in like manner disobeyed that\n     respecting the liberation of slaves at the Jubilee (Jer.\n     xxxvi. 8-16). In England, where the Norman conquest\n     accumulated all the land in the hands of a few nobles, the\n     like accumulation has been opposed--however imperfectly--by\n     laws in their form exactly opposite to those of Moses; by\n     the permission to cut off old entails, and the prohibition\n     to make new ones except for one generation, and by allowing\n     land to be bought and sold like other\n     commodities.--_Strachey,_ pp. 65, 66.\n\n [2] The covetous man is like a spider. As in this, that he does\n     nothing but lay his nets to catch every fly, gaping only\n     for a booty of gain. So yet more, in that while he makes\n     nets for these flies, he consumes his own bowels; so that\n     which is his life is his death. If there be any creature\n     miserable, it be he; and yet he is least to be pitied,\n     because he makes himself miserable. Such as he is I will\n     account him; and will therefore sweep down his webs, and\n     hate his poison.--_Hall,_ 1574-1656.\n\n     Covetous worldlings will hardly spare the poor some of\n     their fire to warm them, some of their water to drink, some\n     of their ground to lodge on, though it were no more hurt to\n     them than the lighting of a candle at their\n     torch.--_Adams,_ 1653.\n\n [3] Let us remember that it will be to small purposes to enjoy\n     these worldly pleasures of sin for a season, and in the end\n     plunge ourselves into everlasting death;--that the world's\n     music is but the syren's song, which allures us to make\n     shipwreck of our souls on the rocks of sin, and while it\n     tickles the ear it wounds us to the very heart;--that\n     though the cup which it offers be of gold, and the drink\n     sweet in taste, yet it is deadly poison in operation; for\n     they that drink thereof are so lulled asleep in pleasures\n     and security, that they never awaken out of their spiritual\n     lethargy; or if they do, yet like Sampson, without strength\n     to resist the spiritual Philistines, after the world (like\n     Delilah) has lulled them awhile in her lap of carnal\n     pleasures.--_Downame,_ 1642.\n\n\n\nCOVETOUSNESS.\n\n     v. 8-10. _Woe unto them that join house to house, &c._\n\nCovetousness is--I. Ruinous to the individual.[1] II. Mischievous to\nsociety. III. Offensive to God. IV. Certain to be punished. 1. Here,\nby disappointment and loss (Prov. iii. 33).[2] 2. Hereafter, by\nexclusion from heaven (1 Cor. vi. 10; Eph. v. 5).[3]--_J. Lyth, D.D._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] The love of money can never keep good quarter with honesty;\n     there is a mint of fraud in the worldly breast, and it can\n     coin lies as fast as utterance.--_Adams,_ 1653.\n\n     The avaricious man is like a pig, which seeks its food in\n     the mud, without caring where it comes from.--_Vianney._\n\n [2] As Moses only saw the land of Canaan, but for his sin was\n     not permitted to have any share or portion in it, so misers\n     have, for their miserable covetousness, this punishment by\n     God inflicted on them, that they shall only see their goods\n     with eyes, but never enjoy them for their comfort; and that\n     they shall toil and moil for successor, oftentimes not\n     knowing who he shall be, and receive no manner of benefit\n     by their own labour. But as pipes keep none of the water to\n     themselves that runs through them, but convey it all to\n     their cisterns, so they are not able to retain any of the\n     goods which they possess, for their own benefit and\n     comfort, but only serve as overseers to convey them to\n     their heirs.--_Downame,_ 1642.\n\n [3] If a man, sick on his bed, burning of a fever, fetching his\n     breath with straitness and shortness, looking like earth,\n     says he is well in health, we do not believe him: so if we\n     see men swelling with pride, flaming with lust, looking\n     earthy with covetousness, and yet flattering themselves\n     with hope of salvation, we cannot credit them, all the\n     world cannot save them.--_Adams,_ 1654.\n\n     The covetous is like a camel, with a great hunch on his\n     back; heaven-gate must be made higher and broader, or he\n     will hardly get in.--_Adams,_ 1653.\n\n\n\nGOD'S CURSE ON THE COVETOUS.\n\n     v. 8. _Woe unto them that join house to house, &c._\n\nGod's curse is in the habitation of the wicked. 1. Sometimes the\ncurse enters into their hearts, and prevents them from enjoying\ncomfort in their estates, and perplexes them with fears and cares\nabout their possessions.[1] 2. At other times it wastes and consumes\nthem like a moth, or suddenly devours them by fire and sword. 3. In\nsome existences they are suddenly and unexpectedly snatched away from\ntheir enjoyments by death.[2]--_Macculloch, Lectures on Isaiah,_\ni. 275.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] The covetous man pines in plenty, like Tantalus, up to the\n     chin.--_Adams,_ 1693.\n\n     I doubt not many covetous men take a great deal of pleasure\n     in ruminating upon their wealth, and in recounting what\n     they have; but they have a great deal of tormenting care\n     and fear about it; and if they had not, it is very hard to\n     understand where the reasonable pleasure and happiness lies\n     of having things to no end. It is, at the best, like that\n     of some foolish birds, which, they say, take pleasure in\n     stealing money, that they may hide it; as if it were worth\n     the while for men to take pains to dig silver out of the\n     earth, for no other purpose but to melt it down and stamp\n     it, and bury it there again.--_Tillotson,_ 1630-1694.\n\n [2] What can be more miserable, than for a man to toil and\n     labour his whole life, and to have no power to enjoy any\n     fruit of his labours? to bear like an ass a golden burden\n     all the day, and, without any further use of it, at night,\n     to have it taken away, reserving nothing to himself but a\n     galled conscience?--_Downame,_ 1644.\n\n\n\nTHE MISERIES OF THE DRUNKARD.\n\n     v. 11. _Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning,\n     that they may follow strong drink, &c._\n\nThe miseries of the drunkard. +I. Personal,+ ungodly companionship,\neclipse of intellect, demoralisation of nature,[1] retribution, here\nand hereafter. +II. Domestic,+ poverty,[2] dissension, vice,\nmisery.--_J. Lyth, D.D._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Not in the day of thy drunkenness only dost thou undergo\n     the harm of drunkenness, but also after that day. And as\n     when a fever is passed by, the mischievous consequences of\n     the fever remain, so also when drunkenness is passed, the\n     disturbance of intoxication is whirling round both soul and\n     body. And while the wretched body lies paralysed, like the\n     hull of a vessel after a shipwreck, the soul yet more\n     miserable than it, even when this is ended, stirs up the\n     storm, and kindles desire; and when one seems to be sober,\n     then most of all is he mad, imagining to himself wine and\n     casks, cups and goblets.\n\n     And like as in a storm when the raging of the water has\n     ceased, the loss by reason of the storm remains; so\n     likewise here too. For as there of our freight, so here to\n     is there a casting away of nearly all our good things.\n     Whether it be temperance, or modesty, or understanding, or\n     meekness, or humility, which the drunkenness finds there,\n     it casts all away into the sea of iniquity.\n\n     But in what follows there is no more any likeness. Since\n     there, indeed, upon the casting out the vessel is\n     lightened, but here it is weighed down the more. For in its\n     former place of wealth it takes on board sand, and salt\n     water, and all the accumulated filth of drunkenness, enough\n     to sink the vessel at once, with the mariners and the\n     pilot.--_Chrysostom,_ 347-407.\n\n [2] Thieves cannot steal land, unless they be Westminster Hall\n     thieves, crafty contenders that eat out a true title with a\n     false evidence; but the drunkard robs himself of his lands.\n     Now he dissolves an acre, and then an acre, into the pot,\n     till he hath ground all his ground at the malt-quern, and\n     run all his patrimony through his throat. Thus he makes\n     himself the living tomb of his forefathers, of posterity.\n     He needs not trouble his sick mind with a will, nor\n     distrust the fidelity of executors. He drowns all his\n     substance at the ale-fat, and though he devours much, is\n     the leaner every way. Drunkenness is a costly sin. It is\n     like gunpowder, many a man is blown up by it. He throws his\n     house so long out as windows, till at last his house throws\n     him out of doors. This is a tippler's progress: from luxury\n     to beggary; from beggary to thievery; from the tavern to\n     Tyburn; from the alehouse to the gallows.--_Adams,_ 1653.\n\n\n\nNATIONAL UNGODLINESS.\n\n     v. 11-17. _Woe unto him that rise up early in the morning,\n     that they may follow strong drink, &c._\n\nNational ungodliness. +I. Its phases,+ dissipation, drunkenness,\nforgetfulness of God. +II. Its punishment,+ captivity, famine,\npestilence, humiliation. +III. The certainty of its visitation,+ God\nmust be vindicated, His people must be delivered.[1]--_J. Lyth, D.D._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1]    The individual culprit may sometimes\n          Unpunished to his after-reckoning go:\n        Not thus collective man; for public crimes\n          Draw on their proper punishment below.\n        When nations go astray, from age to age\n          The effects remain, a fatal heritage.\n\n        Bear witness, Egypt, thy huge monuments,\n          Of priestly fraud and tyranny austere!\n        Bear witness thou, whose only name presents\n          All holy feelings to religion dear--\n        In earth's dark circlet once the precious gem\n          Of living light--O fallen Jerusalem!\n                                      --_Southey._\n\n\n\nSENSUALITY.\n\n     v. 11, 12. _Woe unto them that rise up early in the\n     morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue\n     until night, till wine inflame them! And the harp, and the\n     viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts;\n     but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider\n     the operation of His hands._\n\nSensuality. I. Its features. II. Its follies. III. Its\ninconsideration.[1] IV. Its punishment.--_J. Lyth, D.D._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Of men out of hell, none more to be pitied than he who\n     hangs over its mouth, and yet is without fear. What good\n     does physic poured down a dead man's throat? If he cannot\n     be chafed to some sense of his condition, all applications\n     are hopeless; and if sharp affliction, which is the\n     strongest physic, leaves the sinner senseless, there is\n     little prospect that anything else will do him\n     good.--_Gurnall,_ 1617-1679.\n\n     Oh, what a sight it is to see a man go merry and laughing\n     towards damnation, and make a jest of his own undoing! to\n     see him at the brink of hell, and will not believe it; like\n     a madman boasting of his wit, or a drunken man boasting of\n     his sobriety; or as the swine is delighted when the butcher\n     is shaving his throat to cut it; or as the fatted lambs are\n     skipping in the pasture, that to-morrow must be killed and\n     eaten; or as the bird sits singing when the gun is levelled\n     to kill him; or as the greedy fish run, striving which\n     shall catch the bait, that must presently be snatched out\n     of their element, and lie dying on the bank.--_Baxter,_\n     1615-1691.\n\n\n\nEARTHLY AMUSEMENT.\n\n     v. 12. _The harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and\n     wine are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of\n     the Lord, neither consider the operation of His hands._\n\nEarthly amusement. I. Its ordinary features. II. Its mischievous\ntendency.[1] III. Its consequent sinfulness.--_J. Lyth, D.D._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] If you have glutted yourself with worldly pleasures, it is\n     no wonder that you should find an unsavoury taste in\n     spiritual delights. Doves that are already filled find\n     cherries bitter.--_Francis de Sales._\n\n\n\nFESTIVITY AND FORGETFULNESS.\n\n     v. 12. _The harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and\n     wine are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of\n     the Lord, neither consider the operation of His hands._\n\n+I. Prosperity ought to lead to praise.+ We should have expected that\nwhen a man was able to spread a feast, and God had caused his \"cup to\nrun over\" with bounties, his heart would have overflowed with\ngratitude to the Giver of all good. II. As a matter of fact,\n+prosperity is hostile to the spiritual life.+ Experience teaches\nthat in proportion as men prosper, they seek luxury, invent\npleasures, and give up allegiance to God;[1] and as soon as men yield\nto the passions of the flesh, and pursue the fashions of the world,\nall adequate sense or knowledge of the operations of a Supreme Being\nis gone; all serious views of life are set aside; and the end of such\na career is banished from view.[2] +III. To permit the pleasures of\nlife to absorb our attention is degrading to the nature entrusted to\nus by God. IV. It is destructive of the happiness which thus is\nmistakenly sought.+ In the hearts of the guests at a feast there is\noften anything but festivity. Many vacant minds and languid hearts\nare there; some who are in reality fleeing from themselves, and\ndrowning rising reflections in fresh engagements of pleasure.[3]\nCould you see those hearts as God sees them, if you are a Christian,\nyou would be thankful that you are excluded from the festivity.\n\nAPPLICATION.--1. _To the rich and prosperous._ Be on your guard. In\nyour prosperity there is a deadly peril. Remember that while innocent\nenjoyment is lawful, there are other duties of more\nimportance--duties of mind and soul, of influence and responsibility;\nduties toward the men of our generation, and towards God to whom we\nare accountable. 2. _To the poor._ Murmur not that prosperity has\nbeen denied you. Wealth might have been your eternal ruin. Envy not\nthe momentary flash of worldly pomp: soon the deluded soul must be\nsummoned into the solitude of the chamber of death; nothing to\nconsole the vacant mind; nothing to cheer the throbbing heart; the\nrolling eye looks in vain for rest, but the life of vanity closes,\nand conscience pierces the departing soul with this declaration,\n\"Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting.\"--_B.\nThompson, Church Sermons by Eminent Clergymen,_ i. 395-400.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Nothing shall more effectually betray the heart into a love\n     of sin and a loathing of holiness, than an ill-managed\n     prosperity. It is like some meats, the more luscious, so\n     much the more dangerous. Prosperity and ease upon an\n     unsanctified, impure heart, is like the sunbeams upon a\n     dunghill; it raises many filthy, noisome exhalations. The\n     same soldiers who, in hard service, are in perfect\n     subjection to their leaders, in peace and luxury are apt to\n     rebel; (and the passions, which in adversity are easily\n     controlled, in prosperity are apt to break loose). That\n     corrupt affection which has lain, as it were, dead and\n     frozen in the midst of distracting business, or under\n     adversity, when the sun of prosperity has shined upon it,\n     then, like a snake, it presently recovers its former\n     strength and venom. Vice must be caressed and smiled upon\n     that it may thrive and sting. It is starved by poverty, it\n     droops under the frowns of fortune, and pines away upon\n     bread and water; but when the channels of plenty run high,\n     and every appetite is plied with abundance and variety, so\n     that _satisfaction_ is but a mean word to express its\n     enjoyment, then the inbred corruption of the heart shows\n     itself pampered and insolent, too unruly for discipline,\n     and too big for correction.--_South,_ 1633-1716.\n\n [2] It is a hard thing for princes to remember death. They have\n     no leisure to think of it, but chip into the earth before\n     they beware, like a man who walks over a field covered with\n     snow, and sees not his way, but when he thinks to run on,\n     suddenly falls into a pit: even so they who have all things\n     at will, and swim in pleasure, which as a snow covers their\n     way and dazzles their sight, while they think to live on,\n     and rejoice still, suddenly rush upon death, and make\n     shipwreck in a calm sea.--_Henry Smith,_ 1593.\n\n [3] Colonel Gardiner relates that when he was considered by his\n     gay military companions to be one of the most handsome and\n     highly favoured officers of his day, he has seen a dog\n     enter the mess-room, prowling for food, and looked at the\n     creature with envy, inwardly groaning and exclaiming, \"Oh,\n     that I were that dog!\" Since his time thousands have felt\n     the same iron enter their souls, although looked upon by\n     their comrades as men enjoying life in rich\n     abundance.--_Holderness._\n\n\n\nTHE EVILS OF IGNORANCE.\n\n     (_Sunday School or Bible Society Sermon._)\n\n     v. 13-15. _Therefore my people are gone away into\n     captivity, because they have no knowledge, &c._\n\nIsaiah speaks of the future as if it were already present. He traces\nthe terrible disasters about to befall his countrymen to their true\ncause--their ignorance of God,--in their case a wilful ignorance\n(Hosea iv. 6), which had betrayed them into courses of conduct\nruinous in themselves, and certain to bring down the judgments of the\nAlmighty. The history of mankind justifies us in laying down two\npropositions: +I. That ignorance is a terrible evil.+ To be in\nignorance of the great facts of God's universe, of the great laws by\nwhich He governs it, is to be in a condition of constant peril. We\nare as men who wander in darkness over the great mountains; every\nstep may be taking us further from the right path, the next step may\nhurl us over some unsuspected precipice. Remember what\ncalamities--political, commercial, social--have been due solely to\nignorance. [Illustrate by examples.][1] +II. That the most terrible\nof all kinds of ignorance is ignorance of God Himself.+ 1. _Much sin\nis due to ignorance._[2] Not _all_ sin, for there are many\ntransgressions committed against full light--the worst form of\niniquity. But concerning multitudes of sinners we may pray, as did\nOur Lord for His executioners, \"Father, forgive them; for they know\nnot what they do.\" The most appalling of all sins was committed in\nignorance (1 Cor. ii. 8). Did men truly _know_ God, they would fear,\nlove, and gladly serve Him. For lack of a true knowledge of God, men\nwho desired to serve Him have perpetrated the most frightful crimes\n(John xvi. 2; Acts xxvi. 9). 2. _Sins committed in ignorance entail\nterrible disasters._ That unavoidable ignorance is a palliation of\nthe guilt of transgression is clearly the teaching of the New\nTestament (Luke xxiii. 34; 1 Tim. i. 13), as it had been previously\nof the Old (Num. xv. 28; Deut. xix. 4, &c.); and it will affect their\ncondition in the eternal world (Luke xii. 47, 48). But here and now\nit does nothing to exempt men from the natural consequences of their\ntransgressions. The man who swallows a poison by mistake is killed by\nit as surely as the deliberate suicide, &c.\n\nIn view of these solemn truths, of which all human history is one\nprolonged corroboration,--1. _We should constantly endeavour to grow\nin knowledge._ \"More light!\" should be our constant prayer. Every\nmeans of acquainting ourselves with God and His will we should\ndiligently use. Let us beware of the temptation indolently to rest in\na voluntary ignorance. Voluntary ignorance is no palliation, but a\ntremendous aggravation of iniquity.[3] 2. _Let us diligently impart\nto our fellow-men such knowledge as we have already acquired._\nBenevolence should move us to do this. We can confer upon our\nfellow-men no greater or more needed blessing. Self-interest should\nimpel us to the same course. In teaching we learn. In labouring to\ncause others to see, we ourselves for the first time attain to clear\nvision. Knowledge is like the bread with which the five thousand were\nfed; it multiplies as it is dispensed, and when the feast is over,\nthose who carried it to others themselves possess more than they did\nwhen the feast began. 3. _Every organisation which exists for the\ndiffusion of knowledge should have our sympathy and support both as\npatriots and Christians._ This is true even of secular knowledge, but\nespecially of that knowledge which is able to make men \"wise unto\nsalvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.\"[4]\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] As blindness is the deformity of the face, so is ignorance\n     the deformity of the soul. As the want of fleshly eyes\n     spoils the beauty of the face, so the want of spiritual\n     eyes spoils the beauty of the soul. A man without knowledge\n     is as a workman without his hands, as a painter without his\n     eyes, as a traveller without his legs, or as a ship without\n     sails, or a bird without wings, or like a body without a\n     soul.--_Brooks,_ 1680.\n\n [2] Ignorance opens the door for Satan to enter in with his\n     troops of lusts; where the watch is blind, the city is soon\n     taken.--_Gurnall,_ 1617-1679.\n\n [3] He that knew not his Lord's will, because he wilfully\n     rejected the means of coming to the knowledge of it,\n     deserves to be beaten with as many stripes as if he had\n     known it and would not. He that will not take notice of the\n     king's proclamation, or will stop his ears when it is read,\n     and afterwards offends against it, does equally deserve\n     punishment with those who have read it, and heard it, and\n     disobey it; because he was as grossly faulty in not knowing\n     it; and there is no reason that any man's gross fault\n     should be his excuse.--_Tillotson,_ 1630-1694.\n\n [4]    Oh, for the coming of that glorious time\n        When, prizing knowledge as her noblest wealth\n        And best protection, this imperial realm,\n        While she exacts allegiance, shall admit\n        An obligation, on her part, to teach\n        Them who are born to serve her and obey;\n        Binding herself by stature to secure\n        For all the children whom her soil maintains\n        The rudiments of letters, and inform\n        The mind with moral and religious truth,\n        Both understood and practised,--so that none,\n        However destitute, be left to droop\n        By culture unsustained; or run\n        Into a wild disorder; or be forced\n        To drudge through a weary life without the help\n        Of intellectual implements and tools;\n        A savage horde among the civilised;\n        A servile band among the lordly free.\n                                   --_Wordsworth._\n\n\n\nDEATH AND THE GRAVE.\n\n     (_For Easter Sunday._)\n\n     v. 14, 15. _Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, &c._\n\nIn these terms of appalling sublimity Isaiah warns his countrymen of\nthe calamities that were about to come upon them, on account of the\ninnumerable transgressions into which they had been betrayed by their\nwilful ignorance of God. Therefore they should be carried away into\ncaptivity (ver. 13), and therefore also the sword, famine, and\npestilence would conspire to fill the \"under-world\" with inhabitants.\nThat \"under-world\" is represented as preparing itself for their\nreception, as a ravenous beast opens wide its jaws to devour its prey\n(+Text+). A prediction which, to the prosperous, wealthy, and\npowerful nation over which Uzziah ruled, doubtless seemed the most\nextravagant raving of fanaticism, but which was fulfilled\nnevertheless.\n\nIt is of the \"under-world\" that Isaiah speaks. \"Therefore the\nunder-world opens its jaws wide, and stretches open its mouth\nimmeasurably wide; and the glory of Jerusalem descends, and its\ntumult, and noise, and those who rejoice within it. There are mean\nmen bowed down, and lords humbled, and the eyes of lofty men are\nhumbled.\"--_Delitsch._ Our translation \"hell\" must not lead us to\nthink merely of the place where the wicked are tormented; it is of\nconquests about to be achieved by death and the grave that Isaiah\nwarned the men of his time. His prediction suggests a topic of which\nmen of all times will do well to think, and that again another topic\npeculiarly suited to this day. Let us bethink ourselves--\n\nI. Of THE CONQUESTS OF DEATH AND THE GRAVE. +1. These conquests have\nbeen effected in all ages.+ Generation after generation of mankind\nhas been swept away by these grim and ancient warriors. During\nsuccessive centuries men have gained wonderful power over the forces\nof nature, but they have acquired no real increase of ability to\nwithstand these dread destroyers. All that science can do is in a few\ncases for a very short time to defer their victory. The \"Elixir of\nLife\" has been sought for in vain.--If in feebleness of mankind we\nhad not sufficient proof of our fallen condition, certainly we should\nfind it in the fact, that so many men have allied themselves with\nthese foes of our race. All nations have conferred their brightest\nhonours on those who have been the most successful ministers of\ndeath. Warrior and hero have been regarded as synonymous terms. In no\nrespect is modern science more industrious, earnest or successful,\nthan in the search for the means by which human life may be destroyed\nmost easily on the largest scale. +2. They have been characterised by\na solemn impartiality.+ With them there has been no respect of\npersons. (1.) _Meanness is no security against them._ Poverty and\nlowliness are not without their compensations, as the poorer Jews\ndiscovered, when they saw the nobles and men of wealth, whom they had\nbeen accustomed to envy, carried away miserable captives, while they\nthemselves were left behind (2 Kings xxiv. 14-16, &c). There are\nthose whom human conquerors will not stoop to molest. But death and\nthe grave have no such fastidiousness. They prey on the mean as well\nas the mighty. (2.) _Might is no defence against them._ Rank and\nwealth can accomplish much, but they cannot overawe or bribe\ndeath.[1] Death works like a reaper in the dark, cutting down the\ntall ears of corn as well as the grass that struggles for existence\nbetween them, the fair flowers as well as the noisome weeds. +3. They\nhave been characterised by a terrible unexpectedness.+ They are\ncertain, but they cannot be foreseen. While they proceed with all the\nsteadiness of gravitation, it is as impossible to foretell _where_\nthey will be next accomplished, as it is to predict from which part\nof the heavens the next flash of lightning will burst forth, on which\nspot of earth the destructive fire will fall. Hence the wisdom of\nliving in continual preparedness for the great change which will come\nto us all.[2]\n\nII. This survey of the conquests of death and the grave should remind\nus that there is another side to this solemn theme, and therefore I\nproceed to remind you, secondly, of THE CONQUERORS OF DEATH AND THE\nGRAVE. Through how many centuries did men live without any conception\nthat these conquerors of our race might themselves be subjugated! Two\nastonishing events, indeed, occurred--the translation of Enoch and\nthe rapture of Elijah--but their significance could not be fully\nunderstood at the time of their occurrence. The data for their\ncomplete interpretation had not then been furnished. But when that\nsupreme event which we commemorate to-day occurred, these and many\nother mysteries were solved. When the Son of man, who had been\ncrucified, emerged from the tomb, proclamation was made to the\nuniverse that the ancient power of death and the grave was broken. It\nwas seen that it is possible to pass through them unharmed, and to\nreturn to the activities of life, not with diminished, but with\nincreased, vigour. And He who demonstrated this astonishing truth has\npledged Himself to accomplish for all who trust in Him a victory\nsimilar to His own. By faith in this pledge, countless millions have\nbeen enabled to triumph in spirit over Death at the very moment when\nhe seemed to be numbering them also among his victims (1 Cor.\nxv. 55-57).\n\n+1. The victory of Christ's followers over death and the grave is\nreal.+ There seems to be one event unto all (Eccles. ix. 2, 3). But\nit is not so. Death is not the conqueror of Christ's servant; he is\nGod's servant, sent to conduct them to the rest prepared for them.\nThe grave is not their prison, but a quiet resting-place from which\npresently the mortal body shall come forth immortal to greet the\neternal morning.\n\n+2. The victory of Christ's followers over death and the grave will\nere long be manifest+ (1 Thess. iv. 14-16, &c.) In the doctrine of\nthe resurrection, there is much that is mysterious and inexplicable,\nbut _this_ is certain, that the seeming victory of death and the\ngrave over Christ's followers shall be utterly reversed; as not a\nhoof belonging to God's ancient people was left behind in Egypt, so\nNOTHING that belongs to a single follower of Christ upon which death\nand the grave have seized shall remain in their power (Hos.\nxiii. 14). The resurrection will be more than a ransom. It will be a\ndevelopment (1 Cor. xv. 37, 38, 42, 44). In view of these truths, let\nus to-day keep Easter with thankful and joyful hearts.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Look how easily Jehu stamped Jezebel in pieces, and\n     Tamerlane's troops of horse the Turkish footmen; or as the\n     sturdy steed dashes out the little whappet's brains, so\n     easily does Death, with the least kick and spurn of his\n     heel, the halest complexion, the stoutest\n     constitution,--triumphing like an emperor over all sorts of\n     people; treading on the necks of kings and princes, as\n     Joshua over them in the cave; insulting in the terms of\n     Rabshakeh: \"Where is Hamath? the kings of Arphad, Ivah, and\n     Sepharvaim? Elam, Meshech, and Tubal, whose fear was upon\n     the living, are they not descended into the grave? made\n     their beds in the slimy valley, and laid their swords under\n     their heads? Hath wisdom delivered, strength rescued, or\n     wealth rescued any out my fingers?\"--_Ward,_ 1577-1639.\n\n     Oh, eloquent, just, and mighty Death! whom none could\n     advise, thou hast persuaded; what none hath dared, thou\n     hast done; and whom all the world hath flattered, thou\n     alone hast cast out of the world and despised. Thou hast\n     drawn together all the far-stretched greatness, all the\n     pride, cruelty, and ambition of man, and covered it all\n     with those two narrow words, _Hic jacet._--_Sir Walter\n     Raleigh._\n\n [2] We put far away the evil day, and therefore we are not duly\n     impressed by the thought. But fourscore years and soon cut\n     off, and we fly away; and how uncertain is our reaching\n     that lonely verge of life, where the flowery meadows and\n     the golden corn-fields slope gradually down into the bars\n     and stony beach that fringes the eternal sea. The coast of\n     death to most is an abrupt precipice; we are cut off in the\n     midst of our days.--_Macmillan._\n\n     Why should a man defer that which ought to be the\n     occupation of a life, which ought to command all his powers\n     in all their vigour--why should a man defer that to the\n     last few abrupt moments, to his departure from time to\n     eternity? When a man is going to any distant part of the\n     globe--say to America--what preparation there is! How much\n     it is talked about! It is a long, a distant, an eventful\n     journey. The man talks about it; his friends prepare in\n     every conceivable way. Oh, what infatuation and stupidity,\n     what folly it is for a man to make no preparation for this\n     distant voyage--the voyage to eternity!--_Beaumont._\n\n\n\nCORDS OF VANITY.\n\n     v. 18. _Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of\n     vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope._\n\n\"'Sin' in the last clause is parallel with iniquity in the first--a\nnoun and not a verb. Both are said to be _'drawn.'_ The style of\nsinning here contemplated is fully given in the next\nverse.\"--_Cowles._\n\n\"They were proud in their unbelief; but this unbelief was like a\nhalter with which, like beasts of burden they were harnessed to sin,\nwhich they went on drawing further and further, in utter ignorance of\nthe waggon behind them.\"--_Delitsch._\n\n\"Cart ropes, you know, are composed of several small cords firmly\ntwisted together, which serve to connect the beasts of burden with\nthe draught they pull after them. These represent a complication of\nmeans closely united, whereby the people here described continue to\njoin themselves to the most wearisome of all burdens. They consist of\nfalse reasonings, foolish pretexts, and corrupt maxims, by which\nobstinate transgressors become firmly united to their sins, and\npersist in dragging after them their iniquities. Of this sort the\nfollowing are a few specimens: God is merciful, and His goodness will\nnot suffer any of His creatures to be completely and everlastingly\nmiserable. Others, as well as they, are transgressors. Repentance\nwill be time enough upon a deathbed, or in old age. The greatest of\nsinners often pass unpunished. A future state of retribution is\nuncertain. Unite these, and such like cords, and, I suppose, you have\nthe cart ropes, whereby the persons mentioned draw after them much\nsin and iniquity. All these pretexts, however, are light as\nvanity.\"--_Macculloch._\n\n\n\nSCEPTICISM.\n\n     v. 19. _That say, Let Him make speed and hasten His work,\n     that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of\n     Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it._\n\nScepticism, I. Denies the judgments of God. II. Draws an argument\nfrom their delay.[1] III. Impiously scoffs at the Divine counsels.\nIV. Defies God to do His worst.--_J. Lyth, D.D._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] The whole force of life and experience goes to prove that\n     right or wrong-doing, whether in relation to the physical\n     or the spiritual nature, is sure, in the end, to meet its\n     appropriate reward or punishment. Penalties are often so\n     long delayed, that men think they shall escape them; but\n     some time they are certain to follow. When the whirlwind\n     sweeps through the forest, at its first breath, or almost\n     as if the fearful stillness that precedes had crushed it,\n     the giant tree, with all its boughs, falls crashing to the\n     ground. But it had been preparing to fall for twenty years.\n     Twenty years before the water commenced to settle in at\n     some crotch, and from thence decay began to reach in with\n     its silent fingers towards the heart of the tree. Every\n     year the work of death progressed, till at length it stood,\n     all rottenness, only clasped about by the bark with a\n     semblance of life and the first gale felled it to the\n     ground. Now, there are men who, for twenty years, have\n     shamed the day and wearied the night with their\n     debaucheries, but who yet seem strong and vigorous, and\n     exclaim, \"You need not talk of penalties. Look at me! I\n     have revelled in pleasure for twenty years, and I am as\n     hale and hearty to-day as ever.\" But in reality they are\n     full of weakness and decay. They have been preparing to\n     fall for twenty years, and the first disease strikes them\n     down in a moment.\n\n     Ascending from the physical nature of man to the mind and\n     character, we find the same laws prevail. People sometimes\n     say, \"Dishonesty is as good as honesty, for aught I see.\n     There are such and such men who have pursued for years the\n     most corrupt courses in their business, and yet they\n     prosper, and are getting rich every day.\" Wait till you see\n     their end. Every year how many such men are overtaken with\n     sudden destruction, and swept for ever out of sight and\n     remembrance! Many a man has gone on in sin, practising\n     secret fraud and villanies, yet trusted and honoured, till\n     at length, in some unsuspected hour, he is detected, and,\n     denounced by the world, he falls from his high estate as if\n     a cannon-ball had struck him--for there is no cannon that\n     can strike more fatally than outraged public sentiment--and\n     flies over the mountains, or across the sea, to escape the\n     odium of his life. He believed that his evil course was\n     building him up in fame and fortune; but financiering is\n     the devil's forge, and his every act was a blow upon the\n     anvil, shaping the dagger that should one day strike home\n     to his heart and make him a suicide. The pea contains the\n     vine, and the flower, and the pod, in embryo, and, I am\n     sure, when I plant it, that it will produce them and\n     nothing else. Now, every action of our lives is embryonic,\n     and, according as it is right or wrong, it will surely\n     bring forth sweet flowers of joy, or the poison fruits of\n     sorrow. Such is the construction of this world, and the\n     Bible assures us that the next world only carries it\n     forward. Here and hereafter, \"whatsoever a man soweth, that\n     shall he also reap.\"--_Beecher._\n\n\n\nTHE INFLUENCE OF LANGUAGE ON CHARACTER.\n\n     v. 20. _Woe to them that call evil good, and good evil;\n     that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that\n     put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter._\n\nOnly those who have had extensive opportunities of observation, can\nhave any idea of the evil influence of the abuse and misapplication\nof _words_ in questions of religion and morals, especially among the\nyoung.[1] To an almost incredible degree the distinctness of our\nassociations and intellectual perceptions depends upon our correct\nuse of the machinery of words. From long usage, words become at\nlength identified in the mind with the things we have accustomed them\nto represent. What, then, must be the effect when language is\ndeliberately misapplied for the express purpose of confounding the\ndistinctions of right and wrong! For various reasons, it is more easy\nto misapply words in relation to morals, than in relation to other\nsubjects. 1. Ethical propositions are to a great degree incapable of\nabsolute proof. 2. In discussing the great topics of morals, very few\npersons bring a perfectly unbiassed mind to the task. 3. Vice and\nvirtue, though essentially distinct as qualities, are still in many\ncases nothing more than different modifications of some common\nsubject. The line which separates the use of a thing for its abuse is\nnot always strongly marked; or rather is sufficiently indistinct for\nthose who are determined not to see clearly to afford themselves a\nplausible justification for the aberration of their choice. But on\nall these accounts we should be the more careful to use accurate\nlanguage on all questions of morals, especially in society, where the\ntemptation to speak as others are speaking is so strong. Two things\nespecially lead to that perversion of language which our text\ncondemns. 1. Men \"call evil good,\" _from an almost irresistible\ndesire to cloak and veil their vices._ It is one of ten thousand\ndaily recurring proofs of the strange inconsistencies of human\nnature, that the same persons whose conscience will not recoil for a\nmoment at the actual commission of deeds of sin and atrocity, and who\neven appear to defy public opinion in the conduct they are pursuing,\nwill still to the last shrink from the admission of those terms which\nreally characterise their conduct. It is the appellation and not the\nactual guilt which to them constitutes the disgrace. 2. Men \"call\ngood evil,\" _from a desire to defend themselves from the condemnation\npassed upon them by the better example of others._ They attempt, in\nthe first place, by palliations and misstatements, to render vice\nless odious than it really is; and secondly, by attributing to the\npious unworthy and corrupt motives, to render unamiable that goodness\nin others which they want strength of mind and of principle to\nimitate. From this latter species of wickedness very few stand\nperfectly clear. Which of us has never felt as a reproach the example\nof principles better and holier than our own, nor attempted in\nconsequence to restore the equilibrium of our self-respect, not by\nimproving our own practice, but by depreciating and ridiculing that\nwhich as Christians it was our duty to admire? Let us be on our guard\nagainst disparaging that sincerity of disposition, which strives to\nregulate its conduct by the unbending Christian standard, by calling\nit \"enthusiasm,\" \"fanaticism,\" \"austerity.\" Enough difficulty, we\nknow from our own experience, lies in the way of every man's\nspiritual improvement, without throwing in his path the additional\nobstacles of ridicule, contempt, and odium, which few minds, even the\nmost religious, have sufficient fortitude to despise. (Matt.\nxxiii. 13; Mark ix. 42.) Thus, to \"call good evil\" is to imitate the\nPharisees (Mark iii. 22), and comes perilously near committing the\nsin against the Holy Ghost.--_P. R. Shuttleworth, D.D., Sermons,_\n117-143.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] The world is generally governed by words and shows: for men\n     can swallow the same thing under one name, which they would\n     abominate and detest under another. The name of king was to\n     the old Romans odious and insufferable; but in Sulla and\n     Julius C\u00e6sar they could endure the power and absoluteness\n     of a king, disguised under the name of dictator.--_South,_\n     1633-1716.\n\n     I think that one of the master incantations, one of the\n     most signal deceits, which we practise upon ourselves,\n     comes from the use of language. There are words that we\n     learn in childhood which we abandon when we come to\n     manhood. Generally speaking, our fireside words are old\n     Saxon words--short, knotty, tough, and imbued with moral\n     and affectional meanings; but as we grow older these words\n     are too rude and plain for our use, and so we get Latin\n     terms and periphrases by which to express many of our\n     thoughts. When we talk about ourselves we almost invariably\n     use Latin words, and when we talk about our neighbours we\n     use Saxon words. And one of the best things a man can do, I\n     think, is to examine himself in the Saxon tongue. If a man\n     tells that which is contrary to truth, let him not say, \"I\n     equivocate;\" let him say \"I lie.\" _Lie!_ why, it brings the\n     judgment-day right home to a man's thought. Men do not like\n     it, but it is exactly the thing that will most effectually\n     touch the moral sense; and the more the moral sense is\n     touched the better. If a man has departed from rectitude in\n     his dealings with another, let him not say \"I took\n     advantage,\" which is a roundabout, long sentence: let him\n     say, _\"I cheated.\"_ That is a very direct word. It springs\n     straight to the conscience, as the arrow flies from the bow\n     to the centre of the mark. Does it grate harshly on your\n     ear? Nevertheless, it is better that you should employ it;\n     and you should come to this determination: \"I will call\n     things that I detect in my conduct by those clear-faced,\n     rough-tongued words that my enemies use if they wanted to\n     sting me to the quick.\"--_Beecher._\n\n\n\nTHE SIN OF CONFOUNDING GOOD AND EVIL.\n\n     v. 20. _Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil._\n\nThe conscience of every man testifies that there is an unchangeable\ndifference between good and evil; but each man is prone to think his\nown vice little or no sin at all. He substitutes other names for his\ncrime, and calls his evil good. +I. Many are self-deceived+ (Prov.\nxiv. 12). How many think themselves religious, merely because they\npay some or much respect to the outward ordinances of religion, while\nthere is no change in their character. How many justify their\nirreligion, by depicting religion as morose and gloomy. How many\ncommit crimes without one misgiving of conscience, merely because\nthey are varnished over by specious names. How often under the\npretence of promoting the honour of true religion, massacres and\nmurders have been sanctified, the torch of persecution brandished\nround, and the flame of civil discord raised, to light the path to\nheaven! +II. Many endeavour to deceive others,+ by false\nrepresentations of sin and duty (Luke xvii. 1, 2).--_George Mathew,\nM.A., Sermons,_ ii. 101-118.\n\n\n\nON THE PERVERSION OF RIGHT AND WRONG.\n\n     v. 20. _Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil._\n\nThere is in many a wonderful propensity to perplex the distinctions\nbetween right and wrong, and to obscure the boundaries of virtue and\nvice. Their propensity is both absurd and wicked. It most frequently\nmanifests itself in two ways:--1. _By bestowing soft and gentle names\non crimes of real and destructive magnitude._ Thus, infidelity and\nscepticism have been called \"free inquiry,\" indifference to all\nreligion \"a spirit of toleration,\" duelling \"an honourable deed,\"\nadultery \"gallantry,\" extravagance \"a liberal expenditure,\" the\nselfish sensualist \"a good-natured man.\" By the use of such false and\nmisleading terms, we lower the standard of right and wrong, and\nexpose ourselves to the temptation of practising what we have\npersuaded ourselves is not so very wrong. 2. _By applauding works of\ngenius and imagination of which the real tendency is to inflame the\npassions, and to weaken moral and religious principle._ The tendency\nof such works should lead us unhesitatingly to condemn and reject\nthem, whatever may be the literary fascinations of their style.\nNothing is more dangerous than a book which imparts to vice the\ndelusive appearance of a virtue. Thus, to confound the distinctions\nbetween right and wrong, is to renounce the superiority which man\nclaims over the brute creation--that of being a rational creature,\nfor the brutes are never guilty of anything so irrational as that of\ncalling good evil, and evil good.--_Charles Moore, M.A., Sermons,_\nii. pp. 155-172.\n\n\n\nTHE SIN OF USING WRONG NAMES.\n\n     v. 20. _Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil._\n\nWhat difference can it make what anything is called!\n\n\n                      \"What's in a name?\n        A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.\"\n\nYet the Bible pronounces its woe upon those who merely call things by\nwrong names. Why?\n\n1. _Names are not mere words: they are the representatives of ideas;\nand hence, they have a force of meaning which makes them powerful\ninstruments._ There are opprobrious epithets that wound more severely\nthan a blow. Slander has slain more than the dagger. The name of a\nplace or person suggests to us all that we know, or have conceived,\nabout it or him. Paul, Jesus--what a power there is in these names!\nHow suggestive are the phrases, \"an upright man,\" \"a transparent\ncharacter!\" Because words are representatives of ideas, to use the\nwrong names is to convey false ideas. 2. _The wrong use of names\nconfounds moral distinctions, and perplexes and misleads men in\nregard to duty._ Right must not be called wrong, or wrong right. This\nis to sweep away all the landmarks of duty; or, rather, it is\nshifting all the buoys and beacons by which we navigate the sea of\nlife, so that instead of warning us of danger, they shall rather draw\nus upon shoals and rocks. The skill of every successful errorist\nconsists in a dexterous jugglery of names. 3. _By giving decent names\nto gross sins, the standard of public morals is lowered, and the\ncommunity is corrupted._ One of the things that blinded America to\nthe evil of slavery was, the term that used to be applied to it--\"our\ndomestic institution,\" &c. Be on your guard, then, against wrong\nnames. Do not try to deceive yourself by means of them. Pure\ncovetousness is sin, even though you do call it economy, &c. Do not\ntry to deceive others (Matt. v. 19; Mark ix. 42).--_S. G. Buckingham,\nAmerican National Preacher,_ xxv. 269-278.\n\n\n\nSELF-CONCEIT.\n\n     v. 21. _Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and\n     prudent in their own sight._\n\nSelf-conceit. +I. Its signs:+ dogmatism; contempt of others;\nscepticism. +II. Its causes:+ ignorance,[1] vanity. +III. Its folly:+\nit makes a man ridiculous; leads him into error. +IV. Its\noffensiveness to God;+ in spirit--principle--action. +V.+ Its certain\nhumiliation.--_J. Lyth, D.D._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1]    The truest characters of ignorance\n        Are vanity, and pride, and arrogance;\n        As blind men used to bear their noses higher\n        Than those that have their eyes and sight entire.\n                                        --_Butler._\n\n        By ignorance is pride increased;\n        Those most assume who know the least;\n        Their own self-balance gives them weight,\n        But every other finds them light.--_Gay._\n\n\n\nINTELLECTUAL PRIDE.\n\n     v. 21. _Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and\n     prudent in their own sight._\n\nWoe to the intellectually proud. I. To the self-conceited +sceptic,+\nwho sits in judgment upon the Word of God, and condemns it.[1] II. To\nthe self-conceited +enthusiast,+ who substitutes his own fancies for\nDivine truth. III. To the self-conceited +Pharisee,+ who trusts in\nhis own works. IV. To the self-conceited +sinner,+ who despises\ninstruction. V. Woe! for they shall all perish.--_J. Lyth, D.D._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] The denial of anything does not falsify it. If a man has\n     swallowed poison, his adopting an opinion that it cannot\n     kill him, contributes nothing to his safety; and it is\n     awful to stand and see his conviction and his death\n     arriving together. Your denying a resurrection, will not\n     hide you for ever in the grave. Your disbelieving a day of\n     retribution, will not keep you from appearing before God.\n     \"Their judgment,\" says the apostle, \"now of a long time\n     lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not:\" while\n     they reason, it rolls on; every argument brings it one\n     distance nearer.--_Jay._\n\n\n\nTHE WOE OF THE DRUNKARD.\n\n     v. 22. _Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and\n     men of strength to mingle strong drink._\n\nThere are certain vices which the customs of certain countries seem\nto place only in the number of human infirmities; and yet, if we look\nat their effects, we shall see that really they are as black as those\nsins which God and man visits with the severest punishments. +I. The\ndrunkard's excuses,+ by which he endeavours to defend or palliate his\ncrime. 1. _Good fellowship._ But can friendship be founded on vice?\nespecially on a vice which notoriously impairs the memory and the\nsense of obligation, leads to the betrayal of secrets, and stirs up\nstrife and contention? Instead of promoting conversation it destroys\nit by destroying the very capability of communicating rational and\nagreeable thoughts. The drunkard may make his company merry, but they\nlaugh at, not with, him, and merely because they are delighted with\nthe sight of one even sillier than themselves. 2. _\"It drowns care.\"_\nBut the drunkard's care must arise either from his ill state of\nhealth, the unfortunate posture of his worldly affairs, or the stings\nof his guilty conscience; and, in either case, his temporary oblivion\nis purchased at the cost of an aggravation of the evils which cause\nhim to desire it. To drink to drown remorse is especially absurd, for\nall that the drunkard can expect from this course is the benefit of\ntravelling some part of the road to eternal misery with his eyes\ncovered. 3. The drunkard has other excuses: he says that he is so\nexposed to company and business, that he cannot avoid drinking to\nexcess, or that he is of so easy and flexible a temper, that he\ncannot resist the importunities of his friends, as he calls them.\nThus he is for softening his vice into a sort of virtue, and calling\nthat good nature, which his creditor calls villany, and his family\ncruelty. +II. The drunkard's woe.+ This is made up of the miserable\neffects, as well temporal as spiritual, of his favourite vice.\n1. Poverty. 2. Contempt. 3. Ill-health. 4. An untimely death.\nConsider, too, the spiritual evils that spring from and punish the\nvice of drunkenness. 1. The understanding is depraved and darkened.\n2. The will is enfeebled and dethroned. 3. The passions are inflamed\nand rendered ungovernable. 4. Regard for men and reverence for God\nare destroyed. Drunkenness travels with a whole train of other vices,\nand requires the whole width of the broad way to give it room. Where\nits journey is to end, we know; so that if the guilt and misery which\nattend it here, be not enough, there, at least, the drunkard, having\nopened his eyes and recovered the use of his reason, will perceive\nthe truth of the text.--_Skelton, in Clapham's Selected Sermons,_ ii.\n384-392.\n\n\n\nTHE WOE OF THE DRUNKARD.\n\n     v. 22. _Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and\n     men of strength to mingle strong drink._\n\nWoe to the drunkard. I. To his reputation.[1] II. To his interests.\nIII. To his health. IV. To his family. V. To his soul.[2]--_J. Lyth,\nD.D._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Some of you glory in your shame, that you have drunk down\n     your companions, and carried it away,--the honour of a\n     sponge or a tub, which can drink up or hold liquor as well\n     as you.--_Baxter,_ 1615-1691.\n\n [2] We recommend wine for the excellency of it; but if it could\n     speak, as it can take away speech, it would complain, that\n     by our abuse both the excellencies are lost; for the\n     excellent man doth so spoil the excellent wine, until the\n     excellent wine hath spoiled the excellent man. Or, that a\n     man should take pleasure in that which makes him no man;\n     that he should let a thief in at his mouth to steal away\n     his wit; that for a little throat-indulgence, he should\n     kill in himself both the first Adam, his reason, and even\n     the second Adam, his regeneration, and so commit two\n     murders at once.--_Adams,_ 1653.\n\n     How base a price dost thou set upon thy Saviour and\n     salvation, that will not forbear so much as a cup of drink\n     for them? The smallness of the thing showeth the smallness\n     of thy love to God, and the smallness of thy regard to His\n     Word and to thy soul. Is that loving God as God, when thou\n     lovest a cup of drink better? Art thou not ashamed of thy\n     hypocrisy, when thou sayest thou lovest God above all, when\n     thou lovest Him not so well as thy wine and ale? Surely he\n     that loveth Him not above ale, loveth Him not above all!\n     Thy choice showeth what thou loveth best, more certainly\n     than thy tongue doth. It is the dish that a man greedily\n     eateth of that he loveth, and not that which he commendeth\n     but will not meddle with. God trieth men's love to Him, by\n     their keeping His commandments. It was the aggravation of\n     the first sin, that they would not deny so small a thing as\n     the forbidden fruit, in obedience to God! And so it is of\n     thine, that wilt not leave a forbidden cup for Him! O\n     miserable wretch! dost thou not know thou canst not be\n     Christ's disciple, if thou forsake not all for Him, and\n     hate not even thy life in comparison of Him, and wouldst\n     not rather die than forsake Him! And art thou like to lay\n     down thy life for Him that wilt not leave a cup of drink\n     for Him? Canst thou burn at a stake for Him, that canst not\n     leave an alehouse, or vain company, or excess for Him? What\n     a sentence of condemnation dost thou pass upon\n     thyself!--_Baxter,_ 1615-1691.\n\n\n\nDRINK AND ITS WOES.\n\n     v. 22. _Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and\n     men of strength to mingle strong drink._\n\nHuman depravity and iniquity have existed in all ages and countries.\nThe vices flowing therefrom have been much the same--selfishness,\npride, sensualism, oppression, drunkenness. Alcohol acting directly\non the brain, the seat of the mind, tends not only to derange, but to\nenfeeble and pervert, and produces moral obliquity, moral\ninfatuation, and intensified delusion. All sorts of deceits are the\nconsequence. Observe--I. THE CHARACTERS INTRODUCED (ver. 22). Observe\nalso verses 11 and 12. In the last verses there is reference to\nconfirmed drunkards, daily, early, and late; the sensual\ndebauchees--their ignorance, want of thought and reflection. In the\ntext, notorious drinkers, bold, impudent wager-layers, boasters, &c.,\nand those who have got the victory over the usual drinks, and now\nmake them stronger to meet the cravings of appetite and to keep up\nthe excitement. Observe, this is the great peril of moderate\ndrinking. It creates the appetite, it increases the appetite; last of\nall, it gives the appetite the control, and the man or woman becomes\nthe slave and the victim.\n\nII. THE INFATUATION PORTRAYED--by 1. _Giving false names to things_\n(ver. 20). Call (1) evil good: drinks (poisons) are called beverages;\nevil things made by men are called God's good creatures. And so they\ncall (2) good evil; despise the really good and safe; pour contempt\non water and safe fluids, and treat them as evil or worthless. How\ndrinks have secured the most alluring titles--strong cordials, dew,\n&c., generous. Not only false names, but 2. _False qualities_ (ver.\n20), \"Bitter for sweet.\" Now intoxicating drinks are not sweet or\npalatable to the natural taste; they blister the mouth of children;\ndo burn the delicate nerves of the stomach; the tongue and lips have\nto be trained, drilled, hardened. Observe, they call sweet bitter;\nthings really so are treated as insipid. Ask the spirit-drinker to\ntaste milk or tea, or water, and see how his poisoned taste revolts,\n&c.\n\nThen there is presented to us--3. _Infatuated results._ Put darkness\nfor light; men plead and say these drinks--(1) Brighten the\nintellect. How false! See the bloated faces, the diseased eyes, the\nsensual expression, the stupid look, the stupor. The light is\nartificial, momentary, false--no better than the effects of certain\ngases or deadly stimulants, as opium, Indian hemp, &c. But they refer\nto men, to Burns, Pitt, Sheridan, and other drinking wits. But they\nwere intellectually great in spite, &c. Look at Milton, Sir Isaac\nNewton; look at the inspired prophets--the seraphic Isaiah, the\nwriter of the text. (2) They who drink say their drinks lighten the\nheart, give social joyousness. Right; but is it not sensual,\nspurious, evanescent, ends in darkness? So they put light for\ndarkness. The calm, equable sobriety of soul they called dulness,\ndarkness. But this is real, abiding, and rational. So, both in name\nand quality, and in effects, they call \"evil good,\" &c.\n\nIII. THE WOES DENOUNCED. 1. _There is the woe of physical\nconsequence._ The seed and the harvest, the poisons and their\neffects, fire, deranged stomach, plague, diseased liver, excited\nheart, fevered brain, all tending to a host of maladies, shortened\nlife, and an early grave. There is--2. _Woe of a distracted mind._\nReason beclouded; reflection, perception, all marred. The guiding\nstar eclipsed, the light obscured with darkness. There is\nthe--3. _Woe of moral defects._ The man is vitiated, made worse and\nworse; his affections, his desires, his conscience, his heart, the\nwhole soul. There is--4. _The woe of perverted powers._ Gifts,\ntalents, &c., all poisoned; influence deadly; the man a curse--a\ncurse to all. 5. _The woe of God's malediction._ God's woe, His\ndispleasure, His threatening, His curse; this is written in both\nvolumes of the Scriptures--in frightful representation, in declared\neternal condemnation.\n\nAPPLICATION.--Learn--1. The horrors associated with strong drink;\n2. The advantages of absolute temperance; 3. The value of these\nassociations; 4. The encouragement for labours--staying curses,\nbringing down blessings; 5. The necessity of immediate decision;\n6. The solemn importance of earnest prayer for the Divine\nbenediction; 7. Let us avoid exaggerated conclusions. This is not the\nonly evil; temperance not the only good. To all we say, \"One thing is\nneedful;\" \"Except ye be converted,\" &c.--_Jabez Burns, D.D., LL.D.,\nSketches of Temperance Sermons._\n\n\n\nTHE DOOM OF DESPISERS.\n\n     v. 24. _Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and\n     the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as\n     rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because\n     they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and\n     despised the word of the Holy One of Israel._\n\nShut God out of the heart, and _this_ is what it comes to at last. In\nJewish history, we have a commentary on the judgments announced in\nthe text, written in fire and blood. We have here--+I. God's merciful\napproaches to the soul.+ 1. God begins with _law._ In the present day\nthere is a nervous dread of law, as if it were the offspring of\nseverity rather than of grace.[1] But law checks, rectifies, and\nblesses in innumerable ways (Ps. xix. 7-11; cxix. 105, &c). 2. To His\nlaw, He adds His _word;_ His \"word\" of persuasion, exhortation,\npromise, and especially the great \"word\" of the Gospel. +II. God's\nmerciful approaches rejected.+ \"They have cast away the law,\" &c. Man\nmeets God's law with resistance, His love with contempt. +III. God's\nmerciful approaches giving place to indignation and wrath.+\n\"Therefore as the fire devoureth,\" &c. Law being resisted, and love\ndespised, things cannot be as they were before; one of two things\nmust happen--there must be either pardon or punishment. If pardon be\nrejected, only punishment remains. The images under which this is set\nforth in the text are most alarming. They show--1. _That at last\nGod's anger strikes at the root of our being_--at the very substance\nof our life. The wrath of man at the worst rages only on the surface,\nbut God strikes at the root (Luke xii. 4; Matt. x. 28). 2. _God's\nanger smites the blossom of our being._ All that constitutes the\nshow, promise, and pride of our life, is scattered like dust.\n3. _When God smites in anger, He smites suddenly and swiftly,_ \"as\nthe fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff.\"\n4. _When God smites in anger, man can offer no resistance._ What\npower to resist a hurricane has a tree whose roots are not only\nrotten, but \"rottenness\"? How can the stubble withstand the fire, or\nthe chaff defend itself against tongues of flame?--_J. R. Wood._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] The spring of the law is love. With its \"Thou shalt not do\n     this,\" and \"Thou shalt not do that,\" the law presents\n     rather an ungracious aspect. We like ill to be bidden, but\n     worse to be forbidden. But does love never forbid? A\n     mother, does she never forbid her child; but, on the\n     contrary, indulge every caprice and grant all his wishes?\n     How disastrous the fate, and brief the life, of a child\n     denied nothing, indulged in everything, allowed to play\n     with fire, or fire-arms; to devour the painted but\n     poisonous fruit--to bathe where the tide runs like a\n     racehorse or the river rushes roaring into the black,\n     swirling pool. And he who frets against the restraints of\n     God's holy law because it forbids this and the other thing,\n     is no wiser than the infant who weeps, and screams, and\n     struggles, and perhaps beats the kind bosom that nurses it,\n     because its mother has snatched a knife from its foolish\n     hands.--_Guthrie._\n\n\n\nTHE DOOM OF IMPENITENT ISRAEL.\n\n     v. 24-30. _Therefore as the fire devoureth, &c._\n\nIn this threatening, fulfilled in the utter destruction of Israel by\nAssyria, we find illustrations of the following facts.--I. That _the\nLord is a God of judgment as well as of mercy_.[1] The mercy of God\nhas been exemplified in His long forbearance with sinful Israel: His\njustice was manifested in the utter destruction that came upon Israel\nwhen it was seen that that forbearance had been shown in vain. God is\nstill as He revealed Himself in His Word and in His actual dealings\nwith His people. It is utterly vain for us to frame for ourselves an\nideal God in whose character the sternest justice has no place.\nII. That _we can sustain no relation to God which will render it safe\nfor us to break His commandments, or exempt us from the consequences\nof wrong-doing_ (ver. 25. Compare ver. 5; Amos iii. 2). III. That\n_all the forces of the universe are at God's disposal for the\nexecution of His purposes._ Appalling is the variety of the scourges\nand swords that lie ready to His hand for the chastisement of the\nrebellious,[2] and for the destruction of the incorrigible! IV. That\n_in addressing Himself to the work of judgment, God is moved by the\nhighest moral considerations._ \"Because they have cast away the _law_\nof the Lord of hosts, and despised the _word_ of the Holy One of\nIsrael; _therefore_ is the anger of the Lord kindled against His\npeople.\" In His wrath, as well as in His love, He is holy: in neither\nis there any caprice. V. That _consequently God will not pause in His\nwork of judgment out of any weak regard to the mere sufferings of\nwrong-doers._ It is against sin that His anger burns, and while sin\nendures the fires of His wrath will continue to flame. Eternal\npunishment! For impenitent transgressors there is woe upon woe, and\nno severity of suffering that they may endure abates the anger of the\nLord against them. There is no such thing as salvation by personal\nsuffering. See how all this is expressed in our text from beginning\nto end.\n\nGENERAL CONCLUSION.--\"It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of\nthe living God.\" The history of the Jews since Israel's day is a\nterrible comment on this declaration.\n\nPARTICULAR CONCLUSIONS.--1. As sinners, let us bestir ourselves to\navert the consequences of our transgressions by a timely and genuine\nrepentance (ch. lv. 6, 7; Hosea xiv. 1-4, &c.) 2. Having obtained\nmercy, let us be in the fear of the Lord all the day long (John\nv. 14). 3. For our guidance in life, let us keep constantly before us\nthe Biblical presentation of God, as a God of justice and mercy;--of\njustice, that we may be restrained from transgression; of mercy, that\nthere may grow up in our hearts that love for Him which will cause us\nto find our highest joy in doing His will.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] See my _Homiletic Encyclop\u00e6dia of Illustrations in\n     Theology and Morals,_ Nos. 2288-2301.\n\n [2] As for example, _conscience,_ the awakening of which Henry\n     Smith has thus depicted:--\"There is a warning conscience\n     and a gnawing conscience. The warning comes before sin; the\n     gnawing conscience follows after sin. The warning\n     conscience is often lulled asleep, but the gnawing\n     conscience wakes her again. If there be any hell in this\n     world, they who feel the worm of conscience gnawing on\n     their hearts may truly say that they have felt the torments\n     of hell. Who can express that man's horror but himself?\n     Nay, what horrors are those which he cannot express\n     himself! Sorrows are met in his soul as at a feast; and\n     fear, thought, and anguish divide the soul between them.\n     All the furies of hell leap upon his heart like a stage.\n     Thought calls to Fear; Fear whistles to Horror; Horror\n     beckons to Despair, and says, Come, and help me to torment\n     this sinner. One says that she comes from this sin, and\n     another says that she comes from that sin. So he goes\n     through a thousand deaths, and cannot die. Irons are laid\n     upon his body like a prisoner. All his lights are put out\n     at once. He has no soul fit to be comforted. Thus he lives\n     as it were upon the rack, and says that he bears the world\n     upon his shoulders, and that no man suffers that which he\n     suffers. So let him lie, says God, without ease, until he\n     confess and repent and call for mercy.\"\n\n\n\nCORDS AND CART-ROPES.\n\n     v. 18. _Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of\n     vanity, and sin as it were with a cart-rope._[1]\n\nThere is a certain oddity and grotesqueness in these words as they\nstand. It disappears as soon as we perceive that we have here an\ninstance of Hebrew parallelism. (Compare chap. i. 18.) _\"Sin\"_ is a\nnoun, not a verb, and is a synonym for iniquity; to sin men yoke\nthemselves as it were with \"cords of vanity\" or as with \"a\ncart-rope.\" _\"Cords of vanity\"_ are such as have no substance in\nthem, that will not stand any real strain; \"a cart-rope\" will stand\nan immense strain. Where, then, is the propriety of describing that\nby which the sinner binds himself to his sin by such opposite terms?\nIn this, that in the first clause these bands are regarded from the\npoint of view of a sound judgment, in the second from the point of\nview of the sinner's experience. Subjected to a real examination they\nare seen to be of no strength at all, and yet they suffice to bind\nthe sinner to his sin as thoroughly as if they were strong as \"a\ncart-rope.\"\n\nWhat are these \"cords of vanity\"? They are false ideas--of God, of\ntruth, of duty. This is plain from verse 19, which is an\n_explanation_ of this one. There we have an illustrative case.\nCertain men are represented as bound to their iniquity by the false\nidea that God will not fulfil His threatenings against iniquity.\n\nOur text furnishes the solution of a mystery which often perplexes us\nin daily life. We see men cleaving to ruinous iniquities, and\ncleaving to them in spite of the remonstrances and entreaties of\ntheir friends and of God's servants. We who have felt \"the powers of\nthe world to come\" wonder that men do not repent and believe, and so\nescape from \"the wrath to come.\" Here is the explanation: they are\nbound to their ungodly practices as it were with a cart-rope; and yet\nthey are just enslaved by what, when rightly tested, are only cords\nof vanity. They are like a horse tied to a post by a bridle-rein: it\ncould snap the rein in an instant, but it does not attempt to do so\nbecause it has no suspicion of the weakness of the rein. Look at some\nof the \"cords of vanity\" by which men are bound to their iniquities;\nthe exposure of their essential weakness may excite some who are not\nfettered and bound to make an effort to attain to moral freedom.\n\nI. One prevalent \"cord of vanity\" is _unbelief in God's threatenings\nagainst iniquity._ That God has threatened to do certain terrible\nthings to impenitent sinners is admitted, but there lurks in the\nsinner's heart the idea that God is like certain foolish parents who\nthreaten their children with punishments which they are much too\ngood-natured ever to inflict. But whence did you derive this idea of\nGod? Certainly not from _His Word._ He there distinctly forewarns us,\nthat, though He is merciful and gracious, He will \"by no means clear\nthe guilty\" (Ex. xxxiv. 7). Not from any intelligent examination of\n_His dealings in providence._ There neglect or infraction of law is\ninvariably followed by punishment. If a whole nation were to neglect\nto sow its fields, would God be too good-natured to permit it to\nstarve? But if God invariably punishes men for their infractions of\nHis material laws, what reason can we have for hoping that He will\nnot fulfil His threatenings against those who despise His spiritual\nordinances? And why should we hope this? What reverence could we have\nfor, what trust could we repose in, a God who did not fulfil His\nthreatenings? How could we then trust in His promises? Surely this is\na \"cord of vanity!\" and yet how many are bound by it as if it were \"a\ncart-rope\"!\n\nII. Another cord is the reflection, _\"We are no worse than others.\"_\nMen compare themselves with others, perhaps even more iniquitous than\nthemselves, and so arrive at the conclusion that they are not in any\ngreat danger. They do this even in temporal things,--_e.g.,_ in the\nmatter of drainage. The authorities of a country village or town will\nlisten with the most complete indifference to the warnings of a\nGovernment inspector, that they are inviting an outbreak of fever or\ncholera; and the ground of their indifference is that they know of\nother villages or towns as badly drained as their own. But does\n_that_ afford them any protection against the dangers of which they\nare warned? Men act as foolishly in spiritual matters. Because there\nare so many sinners they close their eyes to their own dangers or\nsins. Will God be either unable or afraid to punish transgressors\nbecause they are so numerous? Surely this also is a \"cord of vanity;\"\nand yet thousands are bound by it to their eternal destruction!\n\nIII. _\"We shall be able to shake ourselves loose from our evil habits\nby and by.\"_ They imagine that they can repent and reform at any\ntime, and they are firmly resolved to do so before death. Perhaps\nthere could not be found a single sinner who does not secretly\ncherish in his breast wicked Balaam's desire, \"Let me die the death\nof the righteous, and let my last end be like his!\" But this idea\nthat men can repent and reform at any time is a delusion. As men\ncontinue in sin (1) _The power to reform decays._ (2) _The desire to\nreform dies out._ The love of sin takes entire possession of the man.\nIt enwraps him as ivy unchecked will enwrap a tree; at first with no\nmore strength than a child's finger, in the end with the strength of\na thousand giants. It is the oldest sinners who cling to their vices\nmost desperately, who are bound by them as by cart-ropes. (3) _The\nopportunities for reform rapidly diminish and often end unexpectedly_\n(Prov. xxix. 1; 1 Thess. v. 3).\n\nInquire by what cords of vanity _you_ are bound. Break them! (Dan.\niv. 27.) Look to Jesus, who came into the world for the very purpose\nof setting at liberty them that are bound.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] See Notes on CORDS OF VANITY, pp. 121, 122.\n\n\n\nTHE PROPHET'S CALL.\n\n     vi. 1-12. _In the year that King Uzziah died, &c._\n\nWe have here the history of Isaiah's call to his great life-work.\nPerhaps in a modern biography this chapter would have been placed\nfirst. But there was wisdom in placing it where it stands; it was\nwell to give some insight into the real character of the men along\nwho Isaiah was called to labour, for thus we are enabled more easily\nto understand the nature of the mission on which he was sent.[1]\nStudying this chapter as a history of the prophet's call, I learn--\n\n+I. That a threefold spiritual preparation is needed for effective\nservice of God.+[2] It is generally admitted that some kind of\npreparation is needed, _e.g.,_ for the ministry of the Gospel; but it\nis not generally recognised that a merely professional preparation is\nof no avail whatever. A man may pass through the whole routine of\ncollege life, both literary and theological, and yet not be a prophet\nof the Lord. Such preparation is not merely not enough, it is not\neven essential. \"Schools of the prophets\" may exist without sending\nforth a single prophet, and God calls many prophets who have never\nbeen inside a school door. This is true of every kind and form of\nGod's service, _e.g.,_ the Sunday-school, the home, Christian\nliterature. In every case a threefold spiritual preparation is\nnecessary. Without it we may pretend to be God's servants; but the\ndisguise will always be imperfect, and we shall always be betraying\nwhat we really are. Even the old blind Isaacs whom we deceive will\nnot be sure about us: we may have on Esau's garments, but we shall\nnever perfectly imitate Esau's voice. What, then, is this\npreparation? 1. _A vision of God._ Before we can serve God\neffectively, we must to some extent see Him as He is. In all\ndepartments of human activity, knowledge of the person served is\nessential to perfect service. Those who have never seen an earthly\nking cannot serve him as those who are in daily intercourse with him;\ntheir loyalty is at the most a sentiment, not a constraining power.\nThe biographies of God's most eminent servants in all ages make it\nplain that the first and indispensable state in preparation for His\nservice is a vision of God Himself--a revelation of His majesty and\nholiness (vers. 1-4). 2. What a man needs before he can effectively\nserve God is _a vision of himself._ The great hindrance of such\nservice is self-satisfaction and self-sufficiency. But when a man\nreally sees God as He is, he straightway sees himself as he is (ver.\n5). Job's experience (Job xlii. 5, 6) Peter's experience (Luke v. 8).\nHe sees himself to be utterly unfit and unable to serve God, and so\nattains to the second indispensable qualification for such service\n(Eph. iii. 8; 1 Cor. xv. 9, &c.) 3. The third thing which a man needs\nbefore he can effectively serve God is _participation in God's\nsalvation._ This is a rule that needs to be stated with wisdom. As a\nmatter of fact, God has used the ministry of unconverted men. Such\nmen may be guide-posts, though not guides. How much better to be a\nguide! How much more useful is a guide! But we cannot thus serve our\ngeneration unless we have been made a partaker of God's salvation. By\na sanctifying process,--a process involving in some cases terrible\npain (vers. 6, 7),--we must have been made \"separate from sinners.\"\n\n+II. Those who have undergone this preparation will devote themselves\nunreservedly to God's service.+ 1. _There will spring up\nspontaneously within them a desire to serve God._ They will not need\nto be pressed into this service; they will volunteer (ver. 8).\n2. _They will not be deterred by the difficulty or painfulness of the\nservice to which they are called._ It was a hard and distasteful\nservice that was demanded of Isaiah--to prophesy to an unbelieving\nand scoffing generation (ch. v. 18, 19); to enter upon a ministry\nthat would leave men worse than it found them (vers. 9, 10). Nor was\nthis ministry to be brief; it was to be prolonged through many years\n(vers. 11, 12). Note: in sending Isaiah on such a ministry there was\nnothing inconsistent with the Divine righteousness or goodness. God's\ntruth must be proclaimed, whether men will heed or reject it; and the\ninevitable effect of such proclamation of the truth is to render\nthose who reject it more stupid and wicked than they were before\n(2 Cor. ii. 16; John ix. 39). But, painful as it was, Isaiah did not\nshrink from it. Nor do any who have passed through such a preparation\nas his. They do not ask concerning a work or duty, \"Is it easy?\" \"Is\nit pleasant?\" but, \"Does God call me to it?\" Paul: (Acts xxi. 13).\n\n+III. There is great encouragement for those who have unreservedly\ndevoted themselves to the service of God.+ 1. _What God demands from\nthem is not success, but faithfulness._ He did not require Isaiah to\nconvert his fellow-countrymen, but to prophesy to them faithfully.\nThere his responsibility began and ended. So is it with preachers,\nteachers, and priests to-day. Men measure by success, but God by\nfaithfulness. What a difference is the result, _e.g.,_ in such a case\nas that of Carey, who laboured for years without making one convert!\nor in such a case as Isaiah's! 2. _No faithful servant of God will\never labour without some success._ Isaiah was not to toil altogether\nin vain. There was to be a wide-spread apostacy of his countrymen,\nbut not a universal apostacy; a small remnant would still cleave to\nthe Lord (ver. 13); and doubtless Isaiah's ministry did much to keep\nthem in the paths of righteousness. So is it with us; much of our\nseed may be wasted, but not all of it (Ps. cxxvi. 6; 1 Cor. xv. 58).\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] This vision evidently contains the designation of Isaiah to\n     his work as a prophet. It does not follow that he may not\n     himself have put his book together in the form, or nearly\n     in the form, in which we have received it. The early\n     chapters as they describe the state of the people, not at\n     one particular moment but through a course of years,\n     announcing the punishments which must follow from that\n     state with the blessings which could come out of them, are\n     a living index to the subsequent prophecies and history.\n     The place which they occupy, supposing it was assigned by\n     Isaiah, cannot hinder us from accepting his own express\n     words as a proof, that the year in which King Uzziah dies\n     was the critical year of his life, that which explained to\n     him why he was sent into the world and what task he had to\n     perform in it.--_F. D. Maurice._\n\n [2] Once for all must he who was to be a prophet have become\n     absolutely certain of the true relation of the world and\n     Jehovah,--must have beheld, as in a distinct form, the\n     sublime and holy character of Jehovah, and felt that he was\n     directed by Him alone; once for all must he have recognised\n     the Divine power of truth against the whole world, and\n     himself as living and moving in it alone; once for all must\n     he have entered, with the effectual energy and act of his\n     whole inner being, into the counsels of God, and found\n     himself for ever bound by them, and endowed by these bonds\n     with true power and freedom:--this was the first condition\n     and the true beginning of all the work of the prophet, the\n     holy consecration and the inner call, without which none\n     can become a true prophet.--_Ewald._\n\n\n\nTHE TRINITY IN UNITY.\n\n     (_For Trinity Sunday._)\n\n     vi. 1-3. _In the year that King Uzziah died, &c._\n\n_Scene_ of this sublime vision, the Temple; _time,_ \"the year that\nKing Uzziah died.\" Why is this fact mentioned? Uzziah had profaned\nthe Temple (2 Chron. xxvi. 16-21); his son and successor was Jotham,\nthe only king of the house of Judah whose character has not one\ndishonouring blot; was it not appropriate that, when the disobedient\nking was removed, and a king had succeeded him, there should have\nbeen this glorious revelation of the King of kings--not merely as a\npreparation of the prophet for his mission, but as an encouragement\nto the monarch to persevere in his loyalty towards God and His truth?\n\nThat which was granted to the Prophet was _a vision of the Triune\nGod._ Proofs: ver. 3, which shows the plurality of persons in the\nDivine unity; John xii. 41, where it is asserted that that which the\nprophet saw was the glory of Christ; Acts xxviii. 25, where it is\nasserted that the voice which the prophet heard was the voice of the\nHoly Ghost; ver. 3, the threefold repetition of \"holy.\" I purpose,\ntherefore, to make some observations on this important subject of the\nTrinity.\n\n+I. The doctrine of the Trinity has been believed by the Church of\nChrist in all ages.+ This is at least a presumption that it is taught\nin Scripture, successive generations of devout men could scarcely\nhave been mistaken on such a vital point.\n\n+II. This doctrine of the Trinity underlies the whole Bible, and is\ninextricably interwoven with its fabric and structure.+ The Old\nTestament testifies to the Divine unity, as contrasted with the\npolytheism which prevailed among heathen nations; the Gospels record\nthe manifestation of the Incarnate Son of God; the Acts of the\nApostles and the Epistles set forth the work of the Third Person in\nthe Church. There is direct testimony to this doctrine, such as Matt.\nxxviii. 19, 2 Cor. xiii. 14. But just as circumstantial evidence when\nit is clear and complete is even more satisfactory and decisive than\nthe very best direct testimony, still more valuable is the indirect\ntestimony to this doctrine underlying the whole Bible; like a\nthreefold cord, it runs through the whole book, and binds the whole\nof Divine revelation together.\n\n+III. The doctrine of the Trinity, while it is clearly taught in\nScripture, is mysterious and inexplicable.+ We can no more comprehend\nit with the unaided human understanding than by uplifting the fingers\nwe can touch the starry firmament.[1] This is no reason for refusing\nto accept it,[2] we accept many other facts which we cannot explain\n(we cannot explain even the familiar fact of _sight_), but it is a\nreason for not insisting dogmatically that other men should accept\nour explanation of it.\n\nAs we cannot stay to consider the effect of the vision upon the mind\nof the prophet, I shall conclude with just three words of practical\napplication of the doctrine itself. 1. _It is bound up with our duty\nto God._ We are bound to accept it, because He has revealed it; and\naccepting it, we are bound to yield to Father, Son and Holy Ghost the\nhomage and love of our souls. 2. _It is bound up with our hope of\nsalvation._ If it is not true that the Everlasting Son came forth\nfrom the bosom of the Father, and took upon Him to deliver man; and\nif it is not true that the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and\nthe Son raises men from the death of sin to the life of\nrighteousness, and restamps upon their souls the lost lineaments of\nour Maker's image, what foundation is there left for our hope of\neverlasting life? 3. _It is bound up with the fulness of the Gospel\nblessings._ These are all summed upon the Apostolic benediction,\n2 Cor. xiii. 14. If _these_ be ours, we \"have all and\nabound.\"--_R. W. Forrest_ (_Christian World Pulpit,_ i. 492).\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] See Article: THE TRINITY, in my _Homiletic Encyclop\u00e6dia of\n     Illustrations,_ and section 1501 in my _Dictionary of\n     Poetical Illustrations._\n\n [2] See above.\n\n\n\nREVELATIONS OF GOD.\n\n     vi. 1-5. _In the year that King Uzziah died I saw, &c._[1]\n\n+I. Earthly powers fade and perish, but the Eternal Power that uses\nthem all lives on+ (ver. 1). Comfort here, when a great king or\nstatesman is taken away from the head of a nation; when a great\nleader of an arduous reformatory movement, such as Luther, is laid\nlow; when an eloquent preacher or wise pastor is summoned to his\nrest; or even when the head of a household is cut off just when his\nfamily most need his care. He who has wrought by their\ninstrumentality can work without it (Ps. lxviii. 5, &c.) +II. In\nGod's temples there is room only for God.+ \"His train filled the\nTemple.\" Ahaz could build in the courts of the Lord's house an altar\nto the god of Damascus (2 Kings xvi. 10-16), but he could not worship\ntwo gods there, for the only living and true God departed when His\nsanctuary was thus profaned. God will have all, or none (Isa.\nxlii. 8). All His earthly temples must be counterparts of the one\nheavenly temple, where He reigns alone. In no church will God divide\nHis empire with the State or with popular opinion: we _must_ choose\nbetween Him and all other authorities. In no heart will He reign\nalong with any other principle or passion (Matt. vi. 24). +III. Until\nwe reach the land where there is no temple, we cannot see God as He\nis.+[2] To Isaiah a vision of God was granted, and yet it was but a\nsymbolic vision. He saw a throne, and on it seated a Being of\nindescribable majesty; but who imagines that he saw God as He is?\nDoes God sit on a throne, after the fashion of kings such as Uzziah,\nwho fade and die? The vision was a condescension to the human\nfaculties of the seer, and served its purpose, that of impressing\nupon him the majesty and holiness of the Most High. And he tells us\nmore of the ministers who surround the throne than of its Occupant!\nHim no words can describe; of Him no absolute disclosure is now\npossible; He can but give us revelations--visions--administrations of\nHimself. And this He has done. 1. _In nature._ The purpose of the\nmanifold and wondrous universe is not accomplished if we look only at\nthe creation, and do not discern in it veils not thickly hiding, but\nhelping to reveal the Creator (Rom. i. 19, 20).[3] 2. _In\nProvidence._ The manner in which the world is governed is, to the man\nwho studies it comprehensively, earnestly, and reverently, a\nrevelation of the character of the Ruler. 3. _In His Word._ That man\nmiserably mistakes, who studies the Bible as anything less than a\nmany-sided disclosure of God. 4. _In Christ:_[4] a familiar thought\nthis, yet how seldom do we enter into its depths! We do not worship\nan unknown God, yet we cannot see Him as He is until we have entered\ninto that light which is inaccessible and which no mortal can\napproach unto, until we have been ourselves transformed into\n\"children of light,\" and so rendered capable of looking on \"the\nFather of lights.\" +IV. Those to whom He reveals Himself most fully\nare most humble, and those whom He most exalts are most ready to\nserve.+ We have both these truths illustrated in the seraphim and in\nIsaiah.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] The scene of the Vision is the Temple, and its features\n     will have the same whether we suppose them to have risen\n     before Isaiah's imagination while he was absent from the\n     spot, in the solitude of his chamber or his house-top, or\n     assume (as I myself prefer to do), that he was actually\n     praying in the Temple at the time.\n\n     Though it is unlikely that any of the successors to what\n     was but a small remnant of Solomon's kingdom perfectly\n     restored the Temple after it was deprived of its original\n     splendour by Shishak in the reign of Rehoboam, yet we see\n     the worthier princes from time to time repairing the\n     structure when it had been suffered to fall into decay, and\n     replacing, as far as they could, the treasures and the\n     costly decorations of which it was repeatedly despoiled to\n     buy off foreign invaders; and probably there was no period\n     in which the restoration would be more complete than in the\n     reign of Uzziah, who in his power, wealth, and\n     magnificence, came nearer than any other to Solomon. As\n     there will be much more of fact than of fancy in the\n     picture, if, for the clearer understanding of the scene of\n     the vision, we figure to ourselves the youthful prophet in\n     his rough hair or woollen garment (probably not unlike that\n     of the Capuchin friar as we now see him in the streets or\n     churches of Rome), going up to the Temple to worship;--and\n     if we look with him at the Temple as, at the end of 300\n     years from its building, it must have presented itself to\n     his eyes, with its ample courts, and colonnades, and porch,\n     and its holy house, and holy of holies, well-proportioned,\n     and of the most elaborate workmanship, though rather\n     massive than large according to our notions. As he crossed\n     the variegated pavement of \"the great court of the\n     congregation,\" and stopped--for we have no reason to\n     suppose him a Levite--at the entrance to the inner, or\n     \"priests'\" court, on each hand would rise one of the tall\n     pillars which Solomon set up in token that the kingdom was\n     constituted by Jehovah, and would be upheld by His might\n     (1 Kings vii. 21; 2 Chron. iii. 17), and which, once of\n     \"bright brass,\" but now mellowed into bronze, had their\n     square capitals richly wreathed with molten lilies,\n     chain-work, and pomegranates; before him, resting on the\n     back of the twelve oxen, and cast like them in brass, would\n     appear the \"molten sea,\" a basin of thirty cubits in\n     circumference, and containing two or three thousand _baths_\n     of water, its brim wrought \"like the brim of a cup with\n     flowers of lilies,\" and under these a double row of\n     ornamental knobs; while on each side stood five smaller\n     lavers, the bases of which rested on wheels, and were most\n     elaborately ornamented with oxen, lions, cherubims, and\n     palm-trees engraved upon them; and beyond these again he\n     would see the great brazen altar of burnt-offering, with\n     its never-extinguished fire; and overhead the roof of thick\n     cedar beams resting on rows of columns. These were the\n     courts of the palace of the Divine King of Israel, for the\n     reception of His subjects and His ministers. [Compare the\n     description of Solomon's own house, which besides its inner\n     porch had another where he sat to judge the people, 1 Kings\n     vii. 7. The arrangement of the Temple is plainly that of a\n     palace.] The house itself again consisted of two parts, the\n     outer of which, the holy place, was accessible to those\n     priests who were in immediate attendance on their unseen\n     Sovereign, while the inner, or holiest place, was the very\n     presence-chamber of the Monarch who dwelt \"between the\n     cherubims,\" which spread their golden wings over the ark\n     containing the covenant He had vouchsafed to enter into\n     with His people, and itself forming a \"mercy-seat,\" where\n     was \"the place of His throne and the place of the sole of\n     His feet.\" In the position which I have, following the\n     requirements of the narrative in the chapter before us,\n     supposed Isaiah to be placed, he would see through the open\n     folding-doors of cypress, carved \"with cherubims, and\n     palm-trees, and open flowers,\" and \"carved with gold and\n     upon the carved work,\" into the holy place, which he could\n     not enter; and the light of the golden lamps on either side\n     would show him the cedar panelling of the walls, carved\n     with knobs and open flowers, with cherubims and palm-trees,\n     festooned with chain-work, and richly gilt; the mosaics of\n     precious stone; the cypress floor; the altar of incense;\n     the table with the shew-bread; the censers, tongs, and\n     other furniture of \"pure and perfect gold;\" and before the\n     doorway to the further end, and not concealed by the open\n     leaves of the olive-wood doors (carved and gilded like the\n     others), would be distinguishable the folds of the vail \"of\n     blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen,\" embroidered\n     with cherubims. In the East the closed vail, or _purdah,_\n     declares the presence and secures the privacy of the\n     monarch, into which no man may intrude and live; and in the\n     Temple at Jerusalem it was the symbol of the awful presence\n     and unapproachable majesty of the King Jehovah, Lord of\n     hosts. . . . Perhaps on this occasion, or certainly on many\n     others, Isaiah had been joining in the public daily\n     sacrifice and worship, and had afterwards brought his own\n     free-will offering--a bullock or a lamb without blemish.\n     Such an offering, the symbol of his dedication of himself\n     to Jehovah's service, would be the natural expression of\n     his earnest desire for some token that at last it was\n     permitted him to enter on the actual functions of the\n     prophetic office for which he had been so long preparing;\n     and that this vision was the answer to such beautiful\n     prayerful desire--itself an inspiration from on high--we\n     may well believe.--_Strachey._\n\n     Some of you may have been watching a near and beautiful\n     landscape in the land of mountains and eternal snows, till\n     you have been exhausted by its very richness, and till the\n     distant hills which bounded it have seemed, you knew not\n     why, to limit and contract the view,--and then a veil has\n     been withdrawn, and new hills not looking as if they\n     belonged to this earth, yet given another character to all\n     that does belong to it, have unfolded themselves before\n     you. This is an imperfect, very imperfect, likeness (yet it\n     is one), of that revelation which must have been made to\n     the inner eye of the prophet when he saw another throne\n     than the throne of the house of David, another king than\n     Uzziah or Jotham, another train than that of priests or\n     minstrels in the Temple, other winged forms than those\n     golden ones which overshadowed the mercy-seat. Each object\n     was the counterpart of one that was then or had been at\n     some time before his bodily eyes. . . . The symbols and\n     service of the Temple were not, as priests and people often\n     thought, an earthly machinery for scaling a distant heaven;\n     they were witnesses of a Heaven nigh at hand, of a God\n     dwelling in the midst of His people, of His being\n     surrounded by spirits which do His pleasure, hearkening to\n     the voice of His words.--_F. D. Maurice._\n\n [2] See my _Dictionary of Poetical Illustrations,_ No. 1501;\n     and my _Homiletic Encyclop\u00e6dia of Illustrations,_ Nos.\n     2229-2240.\n\n [3] P. D., 1489, 1493, 1496, 1502, 1504-1506, 1508, 1509, 1511,\n     1514, 1519, 1526, 2545, 2552, 2563; H. E. I., 2242.\n\n [4] H. E. I., 854-857, 2241, 2243.\n\n\n\nISAIAH'S VISION.\n\n     vi. 1-7. _In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the\n     Lord, &c._[1]\n\nBehold, in these temple scenes, both what the Lord your God is, and\nwhat He requires from you.\n\n+I.+ The first of these temple scenes presents to our view +the\nmajesty of God:+ \"I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high, and\nlifted up.\" One of the first and most important truths for us to\nlearn is the absolute rule of God--over nature, man, the\nprincipalities of heaven. He sitteth upon His throne: this is the\nattitude, 1. Of _supremacy and dignity;_ He sitteth while all other\nbeings stand before Him to receive His commands, bow in adoration, or\nare prostrate in abasement. 2. It is the attitude of _ease and\nperfect security._[2] But, above all, mark the place of His throne as\ndisplayed in this wonderful vision. It stands in the temple; it has\nbeen sprinkled with the blood of propitiation; it is _now_ the\nmercy-seat. To the truly penitent all its terror appears softened\nwith grace.\n\n+II.+ The second of these temple scenes displays to us +the ineffable\nand incomprehensible nature of God.+ Let not man suppose that he can\nby searching find out God, or know the Almighty unto perfection. This\nis scenically, but most impressively, represented to us in the vision\nbefore us: \"His train\"--the skirts of the shekinah--\"filled the\ntemple,\" its fainter rays beaming from the central blaze in the\nholiest of all, and irradiating the more distant objects. But even\nthat was too much for man, and it is therefore added, \"And the house\nwas filled with smoke;\" a veil was thus drawn over what was too\nbright and dazzling for mortal vision; and though God dwelt in the\nlight, yet it was light involving itself in thick darkness (Ps.\nxcvii. 2; Ex. xvi. 10). Revelation has not superseded mystery (Job\nxxvi. 14). As to His dispensations, we are all still to walk by faith\nrather than by sight; and as to the depths of His nature, rather to\nadore than reason. An infinite being is necessarily incomprehensible\nby finite beings;[3] He must be mysterious. If we could fully know\nGod, we must either be equal to Him, or He must lose the glory of His\nnature and come down to ourselves (1 Cor. xiii. 9; Rom. xi. 33).\n\n+III.+ The third view presented by this vision is that of +the\nadorable and awful holiness of God+ (ver. 3). This is seen in His\ntitles (Ps. lxxi. 22; Deut. xxxii. 4); in His acts; in His law; in\nHis visible image on earth, His Son incarnate; in His Gospel; in His\njudgments; in the reward of the righteous.\n\n+IV.+ In the next scene which the vision presents we behold +a sinful\nman convicted and laid prostrate before this holy God+ (ver. 5).\n\n+V.+ In the final scene we behold +a convicted, self-abased, and\npenitent man pardoned and consecrated to the service of God+ (ver. 6,\n7). What are we taught by this wondrous representation? That for\nguilty men there is pardon, that for unholy men there is\npurification, and that lips once unclean, but not sanctified, may\njoin in the hymns of seraphim, and, without dread, approach to God,\nand celebrate the glories even of His holiness. This we are taught,\nbut not this only; not merely is the fact, but the manner of it,\nbrought before us. See, then, the means. The instrument of\npurification is fire; but not any kind of fire, fire from any place;\nit is fire from the altar, the altar where atonement is made for sin;\nfire, therefore, both of Divine origin, and coming to us through the\ngreat Propitiation. We can be at no loss for an interpretation of the\nsymbols thus employed. Our altar is the cross; the propitiatory\nsacrifice, the spotless Lamb of God; by the merit of His death, and\nthe baptizing fire of His Spirit, and the guilty and polluted\npardoned and sanctified to God.--_Richard Watson: Works,_ vol. iv.\npp. 143-153.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] God is invisible; yet in that heavenly world in which He\n     has His special and eternal residence He manifests himself\n     in ineffable glory, dwelling in what the Scriptures call\n     \"the light which no man can approach unto.\" Of that\n     heavenly world, the tabernacle and temple were splendid\n     emblems; they were \"patterns of heavenly things.\" But why\n     the astonishing fact, that when sinful creatures created a\n     tent in the wilderness, and a temple subsequently at\n     Jerusalem, the visible glory of God descended, taking\n     possession of the place? God thus came down from heaven to\n     earth, with all these impressive circumstances of visible\n     majesty, to teach His creatures that He was awfully\n     glorious, and fearful even in His praises; that even in His\n     acts of grace His holiness is solemnly declared; and thus\n     to show with what reverence and purity man ought to\n     approach to Him. So when Isaiah was to be appointed to an\n     office in which he was to fear God, and not the face of\n     man, and which, to give it weight and authority, required\n     an entire sanctity, a scene similar to that which had been\n     displayed in the temple at its consecration, but greatly\n     heightened and magnified, was disclosed to him in vision.\n     The space of this visionary temple appears to have been far\n     more ample than that of the one at Jerusalem; the throne\n     was greatly elevated, it was \"high, and lifted up;\" the\n     \"train,\" the \"skirts\" (as in the margin) of the cloud of\n     the Divine presence filled the whole place; instead of the\n     carved representations of the cherubim of glory fixed on\n     the mercy-seat, the prophet beholds the cherubim\n     themselves, living, and all ardour, activity, and\n     adoration; they are not represented in the vision as the\n     cherubim in the holiest of all, silently gazing on the\n     glory of God and the mysteries of His covenant, but as\n     hymning His praises, proclaiming His spotless purity, and\n     declaring \"the whole earth to be full of His glory.\" The\n     prophet, beholding the wondrous scene, sinks oppressed and\n     self-abhorred, until a coal from the altar touches his\n     lips, and he is thus sanctified to the service of God, and\n     put among His ministers.--_Watson._\n\n [2] No rebellions shake the throne of God; though \"the heathen\n     rage and the people imagine a vain thing,\" yet \"he that\n     sitteth in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall have\n     them in derision.\" The throne of God is a rock in the midst\n     of the ever-rolling ocean of created existence, that heaves\n     and swells with ceaseless change; but, in comparison of\n     Him, its mightiest billows have but their moment of\n     existence, and sink into the mass at the base of the\n     immovable throne of the Everlasting One.--_Watson._\n\n [3] An observer on a mountain-cliff may be able to survey the\n     whole circumference of a lake that lies beneath him, but no\n     man can see the whole of the ocean, simply because it _is_\n     the ocean, and not a lake.--_Watson._\n\n\n\nTHE SERAPHIM.\n\n     vi. 2. _Above it stood the seraphim:_[1] _each had six\n     wings, &c._\n\nI. _\"With twain he covered his face.\"_[2] They bow with prostrate\nawe, veiling themselves in the presence of the Divine glory, as\nthough feeling the force of those strong words, \"He chargeth His\nangels with folly, and the heavens are not clean in His sight.\" If\nthe angels tremble when they gaze, what should man feel? II. _\"With\ntwain he covered his feet.\"_[3] Among Orientals this expresses\nreverence. Well may _you_ bow in reverence before Him! The sense of\npardon will humble you, even while it fills you with holy exaltation.\nIII. _\"With twain he did fly\"_--in readiness to execute His\ncommands.--_Richard Watson: Works,_ vol. ix. pp. 150-153.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] As those that are nearest of a king's attendants stand\n     behind his throne or chair of state, at his elbow.--_Day._\n\n     This is the only passage of Scripture in which the seraphim\n     are mentioned. According to the orthodox view, which\n     originated with Dionysius the Areopagite, they stand at the\n     head of the nine choirs of angels, the first rank\n     consisting of _seraphim, cherubim,_ and _throni._ And this\n     is not without support, if we compare the cherubim\n     mentioned in Ezekiel, which carried the chariot of the\n     divine throne; whereas here the seraphim are said to\n     surround the seat on which the Lord worshipped. In any\n     case, the seraphim and cherubim were heavenly beings of\n     different kinds; and there is no weight in the attempts of\n     Hendewerk and Stickel to prove that they are one and the\n     same. And certainly the name _seraphim_ does not signify\n     merely spirits as such, but even, if not the highest of\n     all, yet a distinct order from the rest; for the Scriptures\n     really teach that there are gradations in rank in the\n     hierarchy of heaven. Nor were they mere symbols or fanciful\n     images, as H\u00e4vernick imagines, but real spiritual beings\n     who visibly appeared to the prophet, and that in a form\n     corresponding to their own supersensuous being, and to the\n     design of the whole transaction. Whilst the seraphim\n     hovered on both sides of Him that sat upon the throne, and\n     therefore formed two opposite choirs, each ranged in a\n     semicircle, they presented antiphonal worship to Him that\n     sat upon the throne.--_Delitzsch._\n\n     The cherubim in the temple represented no doubt spiritual\n     powers and presence in the most general sense, those who\n     look upon God and reflect His light. If we distinguish\n     between them and the cherubim, as we do in our \"Te Deum,\"\n     these last would seem more especially to represent those\n     divine energies and affections of which the zeal, devotion,\n     and sympathy of man are counterparts.--_F. D. Maurice._\n\n     The name cannot possibly be connected with _s\u00e2r\u00e2ph,_ a\n     snake (Sanscrit, _sarpa,_ Latin, _Serpens_); and to trace\n     the word to a verb _s\u00e2raph_ in the sense of the Arabic\n     'sarafa ('sarufa), to tower high, to be exalted, or highly\n     honoured (as Gesenius, Hengetenberg, and others have done),\n     yields a sense that does not very strongly commend itself.\n     On the other hand, to follow Knobel, who reads sh\u00e2r\u00e2thim,\n     worshippers of God), and thus presents the Lexicon with a\n     new word, and to pronounce the word _seraphim_ a copyist's\n     error, would be a rash concession to the heaven-storming\n     omnipotence which is supposed to reside in the ink of a\n     German scholar. It is hardly admissible, however, to\n     interpret the name as signifying directly spirits of light\n     or fire, since the true meaning of _s\u00e2raph_ is not _urere_\n     (to burn), but _comburere_ (to set on fire or burn up).\n     Umbreig endeavours to do justice to this transitive meaning\n     by adopting the explanation \"fiery beings,\" by which all\n     earthly corruption is opposed and destroyed. The vision\n     itself, however, appears to point to a much more\n     distinctive and special meaning in the name, which only\n     occurs in this passage of Isaiah. . . . If the fact that a\n     seraph absolved the seer by means of this fire of love\n     (vers. 6, 7) is to be taken as an illustrative example of\n     the historical calling of the seraphim, they were the\n     vehicles and media of the fire of divine love, just as the\n     cherubim in Ezekiel were the vehicles and media of the fire\n     of divine wrath. For just as in the case before us, a\n     seraph takes the fire of love from the altar; so there, in\n     Ezek. x. 6, 7, a cherub takes the fire of wrath from the\n     throne-chariot. Consequently the cherubim appear as the\n     vehicles and media of the wrath which destroys sinners, or\n     rather the divine _doxa,_ with its fiery side turned\n     towards the world; and the seraphim as the vehicles and\n     media of the love which destroys sin, or of the same divine\n     _doxa_ with its light side towards the world. . . .\n     \"Seraphic love\" is the expression used in the language of\n     the Church to denote the _ne plus ultra_ of holy love in\n     the creature.--_Delitzsch._\n\n [2] Thus expressing his profound reverence and becoming modesty\n     in the Divine presence. We can hardly approach those who\n     are greatly our superiors but with downcast eyes,\n     intimating the consciousness we feel of their pre-eminence,\n     and our profound respect for the excellency and dignity. We\n     cannot look at the sun shining with meridian splendour, but\n     we are obliged to cover our eyes with our hands. Such is\n     the infinite glory of the eternal Jehovah, that celestial\n     spirits around His throne appeared to our prophet covering\n     their faces with their wings. Light inaccessible and full\n     of glory, in which God resides, was too strong for them\n     directly to contemplate.--_Macculloch._\n\n [3] In Scripture language the _feet_ sometimes denote all the\n     lower parts of the body which decency requires to be\n     concealed. In eastern countries these were generally\n     covered by the long garments which they were accustomed to\n     wear: hence it may have been thought want of respect to\n     appear in public, on solemn occasions, with the feet\n     uncovered.--_Macculloch._\n\n     In a similar description of the cherubim in Ezek. i. 11, it\n     is said that they covered _their bodies._ In Isaiah the\n     expression clearly denotes, not the feet only, but the\n     lower extremities.--_Barnes._\n\n     How little do we know of beings whose forms from their\n     faces to their feet are 'covered!'--_B. W. Newton._\n\n\n\nA GLORIOUS EXAMPLE.\n\n     vi. 2. _Above it stood the seraphim, &c._\n\nThe seraphim afford us a model for imitation. Our Lord has animated\nus in our Christian course by promising that, if we are faithful, we\nshall be made like the angels in heaven; but if we would hereafter\nresemble them in glory, we must first resemble them here in temper.\nLet us, therefore, prepare in time to join the concert of these holy\nintelligences. +I. They burn with love to God.+ The honourable name\nthey bear is derived from a word signifying to burn, and denotes the\nfervour of that zeal for the interests of their Lord by which they\nare animated. +II.+ Notwithstanding their vast endowments, +they bend\nwith reverence and humility before the throne of the Lord. III. They\nfly with rapidity to execute His commands.+--_Henry Kollock, D.D.:\nSermons,_ pp. 585, 586.\n\n\n\nTHE SERAPHIM AND THEIR SONG.\n\n     vi. 2-4. _And above it stood the seraphim, &c._\n\nI. THE SERAPHIM.--The Scriptures disclose to us the fact that there\nis a spiritual world, vast and variously populated, superior to this\nworld, yet connected with it and exerting upon it powerful\ninfluences. Little beyond the _fact_ is made known to us; few details\nare granted us; yet glimpses into it have been vouchsafed, and among\nthe most interesting and instructive of them is our text.\n\nOnly here do we read of _seraphim:_ elsewhere we read of _cherubim_\n(Gen. iii. 24; Ezek. x. 1-22, &c.); and of _living ones_ (Rev.\niv. 6-8). From the fact that these \"living ones\" in some respects\nresemble both the \"seraphim\" of Isaiah and the \"cherubim\" of Ezekiel,\nsome eminent scholars believe these are three names for one order of\nbeings. Others, with whom we are disposed to sympathise, believe that\nthe two names \"cherubim\" and \"seraphim\" really indicate two orders of\nspiritual intelligences, resembling each other, yet distinct. Whether\nthe \"living ones\" of the Apocalypse are cherubim, or seraphim, or a\nthird order of exalted ministers of the Most High, is a question\nconcerning which we cannot speak confidently.\n\nScholars are divided as to the significance of the name \"seraphim:\"\nsome derive the word from a root signifying _to burn,_ others from a\nroot signifying _to be exalted._\n\nBut there can be no question that the descriptions of the \"seraphim,\"\nthe \"cherubim,\" and the \"living ones\" are symbolical; the terms\nemployed are figures adapted to convey to our minds true descriptions\nof beings of whom a literal description would now be unintelligible\nby us.[1] _\"Wings\"_ are symbols of swiftness:[2] here the symbol is\ntriplicated to indicate the exceeded swiftness--the immense\nenergy--of these messengers of God (Ps. civ. 4). _\"With twain he\ncovered his face,\"_ in token of humility. _\"With twain he covered his\nfeet,\"_ in token of reverence. _\"With twain he did fly,\"_ in token of\nreadiness to do God's will--three points in which we should strive\nevermore to resemble these exalted intelligences.\n\nTo them is granted an immediate vision of God, and the effect upon\nthem is expressed by their song: _\"Holy,\"_ &c.\n\nII. Consider next THIS SONG OF THE SERAPHIM. +1. They acknowledge God\nas \"the Lord of hosts.\"+[3] This term in its first use in human\nlanguage referred to the sun, moon, and stars (Gen. ii. 1; Neh.\nix. 6, &c.). Thus considered, how wonderful are the conceptions which\nare opened out to us of the Divine power and glory! (Isa. xi. 2-6).\nBut it includes also those thousands of thousands of exalted\nintelligences who hearken to His word and do His pleasure. \"A great\nKing\" is the Lord our God! +2. They teach us that the glory of God is\nco-extensive with His works.+ All that Isaiah saw was that God's\nglory filled the temple: what they saw was that His glory filled the\nearth. _\"The whole earth,\" &c._ 1. This declaration is true, if we\nthink of Him _as the God of nature._ Everything that He has made is\n\"good.\" Even a snowflake shows forth His glory. Science is a servant\nof God, and is teaching us to understand somewhat of the wondrousness\nand beneficence of His works. 2. It is true if we think of Him _as\nthe God of providence._ Human history, comprehensively and\nthoughtfully considered, shows that, while men are free, they are yet\nunder the control of One who rules over all in the interests of\nrighteousness and truth (Ps. lxxvi. 10; Isa. x. 5-7, &c.). To angelic\nintelligences how profoundly interesting must be the problems which\nGod is working out in the government of this world! (Rev. xv. 3).\n3. It is true even if we think of Him _as the God of redemption._\nPossibly (though perhaps not probably) this earth is the only sphere\nin which His glory in this respect is manifested. But here it is\nmanifested in the mission and work of His Son (Eph. iii. 10). Even\nwhere the Gospel has not yet been proclaimed there are senses in\nwhich His glory as the God of redemption is manifested: even there,\nfor Christ's sake, He is patient with sinners, He strives with them\nby His Spirit, He is preparing them for the future triumphs of the\nCross. The history of our race, when it shall be seen as a whole,\nwill all redound to His glory as the God of redemption.[4] +3. In the\nholiness of God the seraphim find the supreme subject for adoration\nand song:+ _Holy,_ &c. Other attributes of the Most High are the\nthemes of their thought and worship, but it is His holiness that\nexcites their most rapturous praise. Why? 1. _They have never needed\nHis mercy;_ it is reserved for _us_ to sing the sweet song of\nredeeming grace. On account of our redemption they rejoice (Luke\nxv. 10), but doubtless they rejoice in it most because the mercy\nshown us is a holy mercy; it was so shown as to solve some of the\nprofoundest moral problems, and so as to leave untouched the\nprinciple of righteousness on which God's throne eternally abides\n(Rom. iii. 26). Not having needed that mercy themselves, it is\nnatural that they should rather magnify the holiness which had been\nshown in it and which is the need of all. 2. _It is the holiness of\nGod that gives value to all His other attributes._ They are valuable\nonly because they are directed by unswerving holiness. The holiness\nof God is the foundation of the peace, and joy, and the love of the\nmoral universe. Were God not holy, even hell itself would be a more\nawful abode; for then to all its other woes would be added the\npossibility of suffering inflicted in mere vindictiveness. We also\nare called to join in the song of the seraphim (Ps. xxx. 4,\nxcvii. 12): let us beseech Him so to sanctify us by His Spirit, that\nin our lips the song may not be a sacrilege!\n\nIII. THE EFFECTS OF THE SONG. 1. _\"The posts of the door moved at the\nvoice of him that cried.\"_[5] A symbol this of the constant effects\nof the proclamation of truth. At every new announcement of it earthly\nthings that seem most solid shake, and many of them totter and fall\nand disappear (2 Cor. x. 4; Heb. xii. 26-28). 2. _And the house was\nfilled with smoke._ In response to the worship of the seraphim the\ntemple became so completely filled with the Divine glory that the\nradiance overpowered the prophet's vision. What he calls \"smoke\" was\nexcess of light (1 Kings viii. 10-12; Rev. xv. 8).[6] So would it be\nwith us were our craving for a fuller manifestation of God in His\nworks and word granted. We have as much light now as we can bear. A\nfuller revelation would only dazzle, confuse, and blind us. The time\nis to come when we shall see God \"as He is,\" but this will then be\npossible, because \"we shall be like Him;\" and that time is not yet!\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] _\"Above the throne stood the seraphim. Each one had six\n     wings. With twain he covered his face, and with twain he\n     covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.\"_ The sense of\n     awe increasing with the clearness and purity of a spirit\n     and with the nearness of its approach to God; the face\n     being veiled which receives the light for Him, and most\n     covets to behold Him; the absence of all which to display\n     their own perfection in spirits who are perfect; the\n     freedom and willingness to go anywhere, to do any errands\n     of mercy; these are some of the more obvious thoughts which\n     the study of this vision suggests. There are others which\n     lie hidden, which we may have a glimpse of from time to\n     time, and which words might mar. For it is true of earthly\n     symbols, still more of heavenly visions, that they are\n     meant to carry us out of words and above words.--_F. D.\n     Maurice._\n\n [2] Among the ancients, _Mercury,_ the messenger of Jupiter,\n     was always represented with wings.--_Barnes._\n\n [3] This title of Jehovah, with some variations, is found\n     upwards of 160 times in the Old Testament. The meaning of\n     the word _hosts_ is doubtless the same as that of _army_ in\n     Dan. iv. 35, and includes all the myriads of holy angels\n     who people the celestial spheres, as in 1 Kings xxii. 19\n     the host of heaven were seen by Micaiah standing round the\n     throne of God. So in Ps. ciii. 21, cxlviii. 2, the hosts of\n     God are His angels. (Comp. Deut. xxxiii. 2.) By a light\n     metonymy, or may be in a slightly different sense, _the\n     host of heaven_ designates the heavenly spheres themselves\n     (Gen. ii. 1; Deut. iv. 19, xvii. 3; Isa. xxxiv. 4, &c.). It\n     is probably with reference to the idolatrous worship of the\n     host of heaven that the title of _the Lord of hosts_ was\n     given to the true God, as asserting His universal\n     supremacy. (See Neh. ix. 6.) In the New Testament, the\n     phrase occurs only once, James v. 4, _the Lord of Sabaoth._\n     In Rom. ix. 29, it is a quotation from Isaiah.--_Professor\n     Rawlinson._\n\n [4] Sin has already served, as all things must, to bring into\n     view more clearly the glory of God, for had there been no\n     sin there could have been no mercy; and in its punishment,\n     its overthrow, and its extirpation, His glory will be yet\n     more signally displayed. Hercules could never have been\n     deified, if there had been no monsters to overcome. True is\n     the seraph's song even now, but it shall be more manifestly\n     and gloriously true in that day, so surely and swiftly\n     drawing nigh, when Christ shall have subdued all enemies\n     unto Him, and God shall be All in all.--_R. A. B._\n\n     The vision reaches its highest point in the cry, _Holy,\n     holy, holy!_ It is the holiness of God which the seraphim\n     proclaim, that which cannot be represented to the eye, that\n     of which descriptions and symbols furnish no image. It is\n     that holiness which fills not the heaven of heavens only\n     but the whole earth, _seeing that was made very good,\n     seeing that in its order and constitution it was still\n     perfectly good,_ though man defiled it by their deeds,\n     though the habitations of cruelty were set upon the midst\n     of it.--_F. D. Maurice._\n\n [5] The voice of the seraphim at this time was so loud and\n     melodious, and the power of their heavenly music was so\n     great, when extolling the holiness and glory of Jehovah\n     that the posts, with the lintel of the door of the temple,\n     seemed to tremble, to be shaken in the place where they\n     stood, or loosed from their place. This was a very\n     surprising effect (though seen only in vision); for these\n     posts were so large and strong, that they supported gates\n     of brass which are said to have required twenty men to shut\n     them, on account of their ponderous weight.--_Macculloch._\n\n [6] _Delitzsch_ thus gives the usual interpretation of this\n     clause: _The house was filled with smoke._ Many compare\n     this with the similar occurrence in connection with the\n     dedication of Solomon's temple (1 Kings viii. 10); but\n     Drechsler is correct in stating that the two cases are not\n     parallel, for there God simply attested His own presence by\n     the cloud of smoke behind which He concealed Himself,\n     whereas here there was no need of any such\n     self-attestation. Moreover, in this instance God does not\n     dwell in the cloud and thick darkness, whilst the smoke is\n     represented as the effect of the songs of praise in which\n     the seraphim have joined, and not of the presence of God.\n     The smoke arose from the altar of incense mentioned in\n     verse 6. But when Drechsler says that it was the prayers of\n     _saints_ (as in Rev. v. 8, viii. 3, 4), which ascended to\n     the Lord, in the smoke, there is a thought which is quite\n     out of place here. The smoke was the immediate consequence\n     of the seraph's song of praise.\n\n\n\nA SIGHT OF GOD AND A SENSE OF SIN.\n\n     vi. 5-7. _Then said I, &c._\n\nVisions of the throne of God were given to Isaiah, Ezekiel, and\nDaniel among the prophets, and to John among the Apostles.[1] +I. The\ndistinguished privilege.+ \"I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high\nand lifted up, and His train filled the temple.\" \"Mine eyes have seen\nthe King, the LORD of hosts.\" The invisible and unapproachable God\nrevealed Himself to the bewildered seer through the glory of the\nafterwards incarnate Christ (John xii. 41). May we behold God?\nCertainly we may. 1. _In His Son Jesus Christ_ (Heb. i. 3; 2 Cor.\niv. 4; Col. i. 15; John xiv. 8, 9). 2. _In His works and Word._ The\nworks are the embodied words of God. In the Scriptures we may see the\nmind, the heart, the purposes, the character of God. 3. _In His\nsanctuary._ In the act of worship, while in the temple, Isaiah beheld\nthe glory of the Lord (Ps. lxiii. 1, 2, lxviii. 24). +II. The\nprofound abasement.+ It is true that \"before honour is humility.\" The\nconverse is also true. Isaiah's humility was the effect of\noverwhelming honour. A sight of God brought self-revelation;\ndepravity was revealed by the dazzling whiteness of Divine purity.\n1. _There was consternation._ \"Woe is me; for I am undone.\" 2. _There\nwas self-loathing._ \"I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the\nmidst of a people of unclean lips.\" The vision of God results in a\nvivid and painful sense of sin (Job xlii. 5, 6; Luke v. 8). +III. The\nDivine cleansing.+ Absolution is connected with confession (1 John\ni. 9). 1. _The cleansing_ _was efficacious._ 2. _The purification was\nby means of sacrifice._ 3. _The removal of defilement was immediate._\nA man so prepared is made ready for any ministry of testimony, toil,\nor tribulation.--_Matthew Braithwaite._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] We should naturally expect that a vision vouchsafed to an\n     Apostle of Christ, at the end of the first century of the\n     Christian era, would be larger in scope, brighter in glory,\n     less enigmatical in structure, in significance, than those\n     which were attached to the ministrations of prophets. This\n     expectation is not disappointed. We find the visions of the\n     throne of God which prophets saw revived and incorporated\n     in the Apostle's vision, and we find the Christian seer\n     enlightened with a more distinct understanding of the\n     heavenly symbols. _Isaiah_ saw the throne of God in the\n     temple, surrounded by seraphim, \"crying one to another,\n     Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts.\" _Ezekiel,_ sitting\n     by the river of Chebar, saw the throne of God, as a chariot\n     of war coming out of a whirlwind and going forth over the\n     earth, attended by mighty ministers of judgment, carrying\n     the Son of Man to victory. _Daniel_ beheld the great\n     session of justice; the gathered myriads before the awful\n     purity of the Divine Judge; the consuming laws executed by\n     the faithful servants. But the Christian _Apostle,_ looking\n     through the door of heaven, beheld all these ancient\n     visions, which had come down through eight centuries of\n     time, blended into one. He saw Isaiah's seraphim, but they\n     had the appearance of Ezekiel's living creatures, with\n     fourfold countenances; their wings were still visible, and\n     their voices still responded, \"Holy, holy, holy, Lord God\n     Almighty!\" He saw the thrones round about _the Throne,_ as\n     Daniel saw them, but he was able to count them; they were\n     four and twenty; and upon the seats he \"saw four and twenty\n     elders sitting, clothed in white raiment, and they had on\n     their heads crowns of gold.\" The stream of fire, which the\n     prophet saw proceeding from under the throne was now \"a sea\n     of glass like unto crystal.\" He that sat on the throne, who\n     appeared to Ezekiel as though He were clothed with fiery\n     amber, was \"to look upon like a jasper and sardine stone;\"\n     and the rainbow was still there, \"round about the throne,\n     in sight like unto an emerald.\" \"Lightnings, thunderings,\n     and voices\" proceeded out of the throne, as before fire\n     flamed out and devoured. \"The seven spirits of God,\" like\n     \"burning lamps of fire,\" stand in the presence of the Holy\n     One. And the Apostle witnesses the sublime service of\n     heaven, the living creatures \"giving glory and honour and\n     thanks to Him that sat on the throne;\" and, in response to\n     their worship, \"the four and twenty elders falling down\n     before Him and worshipping Him,\" and singing their united\n     praises, \"Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and\n     honour and power; for Thou hast created all things, and for\n     Thy pleasure they are and were created!\"--_R. A. Redford._\n\n\n\nVOLUNTEER SERVICE.\n\n     vi. 8. _Then said I, Here am I, send me._\n\nThis is a chapter of autobiography. Here is disclosed the secret of\nthe wonderful energy with which for more than half a century Isaiah\nprosecuted his ministry. He is the Paul of the Old Testament.\nAllowance being made for difference of phraseology, there is a\nstriking resemblance between the call of Isaiah and of Paul (comp.\nchap. vi. with Acts ix.). Both sought to serve the heavenly King; and\nboth received a commission to work, spiritual and catholic beyond all\nconceptions of their time,--the one penning the Gospel of the\nsuffering Messiah, the other vindicating the truth that the Gospel is\nGod's message to the _world._ The text reminds us--\n\n+I. Of the Christian's offer of service.+ The offer of service which\nthe prophet made was--1. _Free._ He spoke spontaneously, and not as\nthe result of pressure from without.[1] 2. _Truthful._ Unlike one of\nthe sons in the parable (Matt. xxi. 30), he meant what he said.\n3. _Bold._ It was made concerning an unknown mission. The\njustification of the boldness of his offer is, that it was made to\nGod, who always qualifies His servants for the tasks to which He\ncalls them. 4. _Personal._ The prophet placed at God's disposal, not\nsome of his property merely, but _himself._ 5. _It involved the most\ncomplete self-surrender._ All thought of self control the prophet\nresigned. He placed himself as an instrument in God's hands. He was\nready go to where, when, and on what errand God might determine.[2]\nSuch are the offers of service in which God delights.\n\n+II. Of the steps that lead up to this offer.+ The offer may take men\nby surprise, but there has always been preparation for it, as there\nhas been long preparation for the lightning that leaps suddenly from\nthe sky. Such offers as the prophet made are preceded--1. By _a\nvision of God,_ of the thrice Holy One, filling the soul with awe,\nand causing it to tremble (vers. 1-4). 2. By _self-prostration of\nspirit,_ a conviction of utter sinfulness (ver. 5). This is the\ninvariable result of a true vision of God (Exod. iii. 2; Josh. v. 14;\nJudg. vi. 22, xii. 22; Luke v. 8; Rev. i. 17). This is also a prime\ncondition of fitness for service. 3. By _the touch of a mediator_\n(vers. 6, 7). \"They that be struck down by visions of God's glory\nshall soon be raised up again by visits of His grace.\" Blessed is the\nman who has _both_ visions. A sense of pardon is essential to large\nusefulness. Imperfect realisation of forgiveness is one of the most\nfrequent causes of weakness in Christian service. 4. By _a moral\ntransformation._ The offerer has become a new man from the centre\noutwards. Now he can hear God's voice: \"I heard,\" &c. It is a voice\nto which now he feels he _must_ respond: \"Here am I,\" &c. In some\ndegree every Christian is thus prepared. These essentials of service\nare also essentials of Christian life. These experiences are at once\nyour credentials and your powers.\n\n+III.+ That +God always accepts offers of service for which there has\nbeen this preparation, and that bear these marks.+ He never rejects\ntrue volunteers. Offers hastily made and half-meant He passes by\n(Josh. xxiv. 18, 19; John ii. 23-25); but genuine, whole-hearted\noffers of service, He invariably accepts.\n\nIn conclusion, let us lay up in our memories three facts in\nconnection with service. 1. _True service is not incompatible with\nfailure._ We are too apt to connect failure with incompetency in the\nservant. Many do fail through incompetency, but not all. The prophet\ndivinely called and most royally endowed may fail, because of the\nmoral obduracy and perverseness of those to whom he is sent (vers. 9,\n10). 2. _True service is not incompatible with sorrow_ (vers. 11,\n12). That man is inhuman who without profound grief can behold the\nperversity of sinners, and the calamities with which in consequence\nthey are visited. 3. _True service will never be left without\nreward._ Multitudes may reject the prophet's message, yet there will\nbe \"a tenth\" who will accept it and be saved.--_J. R. Wood._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] H. E. I., 3633-3639.\n\n [2] H. E. I., 3618-3626.\n\n\n\nMESSENGERS WANTED.\n\n     vi. 8. _Also, I heard the voice of the Lord, &c._\n\n+I. God wants messengers unto sinful men.+ Tidings concerning sin and\nsalvation, mercy and deliverance, God's grace and man's misery, must\nbe published. Might send seraphim and the angel host. God elects to\nsend men to their fellow-men. \"Whom shall I send?\" is not the inquiry\nof a Divine perplexity, but the stimulative question of one who calls\nfor willing workers. +II. God especially qualifies His messengers.+\nHow does He in an especial manner fit men for His highest service?\n1. _By an awe-inspiring sight of Himself._ 2. _By distressing\nconvictions of personal sin._ 3. _By sanctifying all the faculties to\nHis use._ +III. God's call should meet with a ready response.+ He\ndesires volunteers, \"Who will go for us?\" The constraint of love is\nthe omnipotent motive force. 1. _The call is heard individually._ \"I\nheard the voice of the Lord.\" 2. _The call provokes self-surrender._\n\"Here am I.\" 3. _The call demands entire self-abandonment._ \"Send\nme\"--anywhere, on any errands, at any time, in any capacity. +IV. How\nmay we ascertain that we are required to become messengers of the\nliving God?+ 1. By the separating voice of God. 2. By the discipline\nof preparation. 3. By the openings of beckoning opportunities. The\n\"joy of the Lord\" will be our strength when most we feel the pressure\nof \"the burden of the Lord.\"--_Matthew Braithwaithe._\n\n\n\nA STRANGE AND SAD ERRAND.\n\n   vi. 9, 10. _And He said, Go, and tell this people, &c._\n\nA sad and mysterious errand, the statement of which might well have\nquenched the enthusiasm inspired by his vision of the Divine glory.\nWhen he exclaimed, \"Here am I, send me!\" how little did he anticipate\nfor what purpose he would be sent! It must have astounded and\nsaddened him, and it is full of astonishment and mystery for us. How\ncould God have sent His servant on an errand such as this?\n\nMuch of the mystery will be relieved, though not altogether removed,\nif we recognise--what I believe to be the fact--that here we have a\nstatement, not of the messages Isaiah was to deliver (for they were\nmany, and were revealed to him at various times), but of what would\nbe the result of them all. Those to whom he was sent, and whom he\ndesired to bless, would not be made better, but worse, by his\nministry.\n\nThis is in accordance with a well-known and terrible fact, viz., that\nthe proclamation of truth often leads men to cleave more desperately\nto error.[1] Why, then, does God send His servants to proclaim it?\n\n_Not because He desires the depravity and destruction of men._ Such a\ndesire would be utterly inconsistent with His _character_ and with\nHis express _declarations_ (Ezek. xviii. 23, 32, &c.). We need not\nimagine, then, that we have here a confirmation of those schemes of\narbitrary election and reprobation which some theologians have\nattributed to Him.\n\nBut 1. _Because it is necessary for the preservation of His character\nas a God of righteousness and mercy that He should do what_ OUGHT _to\nresult in the salvation of men._ Had He not sent His prophets forth\non their sad mission, we should have been confronted by a greater\ndifficulty: God permitting His chosen people to go on to ruin without\none word of warning spoken, without one effort put forth to arrest\nthem. But one of the supreme moral necessities of the universe is\nthis, that His character as a God desiring the redemption of sinners\nshould be maintained unimpaired; and therefore He sends forth His\nmessengers to proclaim the truth, although He foresees that to many\nthey will be the \"savour of death unto death,\"--and not \"the savour\nof life unto life,\"--not as that same frosty air which \"braces\" and\ninvigorates those who are already vigorous. As this quotation reminds\nyou, this is the effect of the Gospel itself. Ought God, therefore,\nnever to have sent its preachers forth? 2. _That stubborn sinners may\nbe left without excuse in the day of their doom._ God will not merely\ntake vengeance on the violators of His laws of righteousness; He will\nmake it manifest that while in Him there is an awful severity, there\nis no vindictiveness; and He will so act that, even when that\nseverity is most manifested, not only the onlookers, but even those\nwho experience it shall be constrained to confess, \"Just and true are\nThy ways, Thou King of saints!\" He will not leave it possible for\nthem to say, \"Hadst Thou warned us, we should not have sinned.\" They\nshall be speechless (Matt. xxii. 12; Jer. xliv. 2-5). 3. _That the\nrighteous may be saved._ Did He not send His prophets forth to\ninstruct and warn, even the men in whose hearts are the germs of\nrighteousness and holiness of life would follow the multitude to do\nevil: _they_ hear, and turn, and live: and this is ample\njustification of the prophet's mission. Those who perish would have\nperished without it; but without it those who are saved would have\nperished also. And in this respect Isaiah's ministry was not in vain:\nwhile to the vast majority of the nation it was \"the savour of death\nunto death,\" it was to a few--\"the holy seed\" of whom also this\nchapter speaks to us--\"the savour of live unto life.\" They learned to\ntrust, not in Assyria nor in Egypt, but in the Holy One of Israel,\nand therefore were \"kept in perfect peace\" amid all the convulsions\nand catastrophes of their time.\n\nThe passage seemed at the outset full of mystery; our tendency was to\nshun it as one that would not bear investigation, as one about which\nthe least that could be said the better, as one which we could have\nwished had never been written. What do we see now? That here we have\nan illustration of the Psalmist's saying, \"Clouds and darkness are\nround about Him\"--so to our purblind vision it seems, the brightness\nbeing _so_ bright that it dazzles and blinds us; \"but righteousness\nand judgment are the habitation of His throne.\" What should we learn\nfrom this? 1. _Never to fear to investigate anything in God's Word._\nThere is nothing here which its friends need wish to hide out of\nsight; it is all worthy of Him from whom it came (Ps. xix. 9).\n2. _Never to distrust God because of anything in either His Word or\nHis Providence._ Things that might cause distrust we shall meet with;\nsome of them we shall never explain here, when we can know only \"in\npart;\" yet let us keep fast hold of the glorious and gladdening\ntruth, that \"in Him is no darkness at all.\" God is light; God is love.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] To a man living in the belief of what is erroneous or the\n     practice of what is wrong you proclaim the truth, and what\n     happens? (1) Either he amends his creed or his conduct; or\n     (2) he _disregards_ what you say, and goes on as before; or\n     (3) he _rejects_ what you say, and cleaves to his error\n     more passionately than he would have done otherwise. The\n     latter is a very frequent result. For example, slavery once\n     prevailed throughout our colonies and the United States of\n     America. Holy men held slaves; they had no suspicion of the\n     wrongfulness of slavery. When its wrongfulness was\n     proclaimed, many abandoned it; but others held to it,--some\n     not caring whether it was wrong or right, looking only to\n     the fact that it was profitable; but others reasoned\n     themselves into a persuasion that it was right, that it is\n     Scriptural, and maintained the system with a tenacity and\n     passion they never felt before its wickedness was declared.\n     In thousands of cases that was the result of the\n     anti-slavery movement. God foresaw it, yet He raised up\n     faithful men to proclaim the doctrines of human brotherhood\n     and freedom, and sent them forth on their perilous errand,\n     saying to them in effect, _\"Go, and tell this people, Hear\n     ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but\n     perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make\n     their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with\n     their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with\n     their heart, and convert, and be healed.\"_ He sent them\n     forth, notwithstanding that He foresaw that one inevitable\n     effect of their mission would be the confirmation of\n     thousands in error, the hardening of thousands in iniquity.\n     In like manner He raised up Isaiah and other prophets to\n     denounce their political schemes--their alliances now with\n     Egypt and now with Assyria--to be huge mistakes, and to\n     exhort them to a life of holiness and of simple trust in\n     God; He foresaw that the result of their efforts would\n     _not_ be the reformation of the nation, and yet He sent\n     them forth!\n\n\n\nTHE REJECTION OF DIVINE TRUTH.\n\n     vi. 9, 10. _And He said, Go, and tell this people, &c._\n\nThe Divine message--a message of melting pathos and of startling\nwarning, of beseeching entreaty and of terrible threatening--must be\ndelivered to men. \"Go and tell this people\" is a command that\nshatters excuses and imposes an imperative obligation. God's speakers\nhave no option--speak they must (Jonah iii. 2). The effects of God's\ncommunications correspond to the willingness or the wilfulness of men.\n\n+I. Divine truth elicits human disposition.+ In the spring season,\nthe sun sits in judgment upon the trees of gardens and forests. Then\nthe trees that have life have it more abundantly. Their latent powers\nand possibilities are developed and exhibited. The same sun-force\nsmites the decaying trees and shrivels those having only goodliness\nwithout life. Is not the Sun of Righteousness \"a discerner of the\nthoughts and intents of the heart\"? When on earth, He who is \"the\nTruth\" evoked the hidden feelings, purposes, and qualities of men;\nand His manifold message repeats the process to the end of time (John\nix. 39). The ministry of Isaiah was a revealing ministry: the\ncharacter of men and the character of the nation by it were made\nmanifest. +II. Divine truth repelled because of dislike.+ \"Lest they\nsee, hear, understand, be converted and healed.\" A diseased eye\nwinces under the scorching sunlight, as a disordered soul will flinch\nunder the fierce light that streams upon it from above. The\ndisquieted conscience repels the entrance of the truth, because of\nthe revolutions in thought, disposition, purpose, character, and\nactivity which its admission would necessitate. None are so blind,\ndeaf, insensible as those who do not want to see, hear, or feel (John\niii. 19, 20). Men dislike the purpose of God's good but severe\ndiscipline: they want not to \"be converted and healed,\" and they\nrecoil from the painful process.[1] +III. Divine truth cannot be\nrejected without injury.+ Divine truth and grace will not be void of\nresult, though the result may be most injurious (Rom ii. 4, 5).\nConsequences of lasting duration are involved in our action of\nopening or shutting the doors of the soul.[2] Not to receive the\n\"grace upon grace\" of God is to put the spirit into an attitude of\nopposition: this attitude can easily become a confirmed habit; and\nthe habit, in righteous retribution, may be ratified (Rev. xxii. 11).\nAntagonism to God's revelation injures the soul's highest life; its\npower of vision is dimmed or veiled; the understanding loses its\nalertness and fails to comprehend; the affections become gross and\ncarnal. Inexorable is the spiritual law and appalling the spiritual\ndoom (Eph. iv. 18). Isaiah unfolded God's design of salvation; but\nthe design was intercepted and frustrated by human perversity. Men\n\"rejected the counsel of God against themselves,\" and persistent\nresistance rendered them \"past feeling.\" \"Take heed how ye hear.\"\n\"Hear, and your soul shall live.\"[3]--_Matthew Braithwaite._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] \"There is light enough for those whose sincere desire is to\n     see; and darkness enough for those of a contrary\n     disposition. There is brightness enough to illuminate the\n     elect; and enough of obscurity to humble them. There is\n     obscurity enough to blind the reprobate; and brightness\n     enough to condemn them and to leave them without\n     excuse.\"--_Blaise Pascal._\n\n [2] \"The smallest particle of light falling on the sensitive\n     plate produces a chemical change that can never be undone\n     again; and the light of Christ's love, once brought to the\n     knowledge and presented for the acceptance of a soul,\n     stamps on it an ineffaceable sign of its having been there.\n     Once heard, it is henceforward a perpetual element in the\n     whole condition, character, and destiny of the hearer.\n     Every man that ever rejects Christ, does these things\n     thereby--wounds his own conscience, hardens his own heart,\n     and makes himself a worse man, just because he has had a\n     glimpse of holiness, and has willingly, and almost\n     consciously, \"loved darkness rather than light.\" Unbelief\n     is its own judgment, its own condemnation: unbelief, as\n     sin, is punished like other sins, by the perpetuation of\n     deeper and darker forms of itself. Every time that you\n     stifle a conviction, fight down a conviction, or din away a\n     conviction, you have harmed your soul, made yourself a\n     worse man, lowered the tone of your conscience, enfeebled\n     your will, made your heart harder against love; you have\n     drawn another horny scale over the eye that will prevent\n     you from seeing the light that is yonder. You have, as much\n     as in you is, approximated to the other pole of the\n     universe (if I may say that), to the dark and deadly\n     antagonist of mercy, and goodness, and truth, and\n     grace.\"--_Alexander Maclaren._\n\n [3] \"The great iniquity is, or then is the Gospel hid in a\n     sinful sense, when men have it among them, or may have it,\n     and will not hear it; or do hear it, and never understand\n     it,--that is, never apply or set themselves to understand\n     it; or receive no conviction from it; or receive no\n     suitable impression on their hearts from it. Thus, all the\n     while, is the Gospel hid to them by their own iniquity,\n     that they do voluntarily make resisting efforts against it,\n     as everything of sin must have somewhat of _voluntarium_ in\n     it. It supposeth that otherwise a brute agent might be as\n     capable of sin as a rational one, and that cannot be. But\n     here lies the iniquity, that men might understand and they\n     will not; and there is a natural faculty that should turn\n     them, even in their very hearts; but there is a sinful\n     disinclination, and they will not turn. For it is the will\n     that is not turned: \"Ye will not come unto me that ye might\n     have life.\" And so, when the Gospel is hid, it is hid, not\n     because men cannot see, but because they will not. They do\n     (as it were) pretend the veil; stretch forth the veil\n     before their eyes or bind it close over their own eyes,\n     hoodwink themselves that they will not see. Being thus\n     sinfully hidden, it comes also to be penally hidden by a\n     _nemesis,_ hidden by a just _vindicta._ Ye will not\n     understand, then ye shall not understand; ye will harden\n     your hearts against light, against grace, against the\n     design of the Gospel, and they shall be hardened. Since ye\n     will have it so, so let it be.\"--_John Howe._\n\n     P. D., 2938, 3391.\n\n\n\nTHE DURATION OF THE PROPHET'S MISSION.\n\n     vi. 11-13. _Then said I, Lord how long? &c._\n\nFor an exposition of this passage see note.[1]\n\nLet us look steadily at the _facts_ before us, and then, perchance,\nwe may discern the _lessons_ associated with them. Isaiah desires to\nknow how long his strange and sad mission is to continue; and the\nanswer is, until its utter failure to save his fellow-countrymen from\ntheir sins and their impending doom has been demonstrated, until\nnothing but the mere life-germ of the nation is left. Here really are\nthree facts, full of instruction for us to-day. I. _Isaiah's mission\nand the calamities he desired to avert by it were to work together._\nThere was thus a twofold appeal to the men of that generation; and at\nits close God might have repeated the challenge, \"What could I have\ndone more?\" (chap. v. 4). Both by offers of mercy and manifestations\nof righteous anger He sought to deliver them from the doom towards\nwhich they madly hastened. Thus God deals with the world to-day: His\npreachers of righteousness and His judgments because of\nunrighteousness work side by side; this fact is a conclusive proof\nthat God is not willing that the sinner should die. This is true of\nnations, and it is true of individuals. II. _Isaiah was to prosecute\nhis mission to the end, notwithstanding the proofs that his efforts\nto deliver his fellow-countrymen were vain._ This is always the duty\nof God's messengers: they are to deliver their message, and reiterate\nit. Whether it is popular or unpopular is a thing of which they are\nnot even to think! the one thing they have to consider and remember\nis, that it is true. III. _In the midst of all the calamities of his\ntime, Isaiah was sustained by the assurance that the nation he loves\nshould not utterly perish._ Nothing could hurt \"the holy seed\" that\nconstituted its true life. The Church of to-day is full of\nimperfections; the forces of unbelief are marshalling themselves\nagainst her; it may be that she will again be tried by fierce\npersecutions: but the Lord's true prophet can survey all these\npossible calamities with calmness; he knows that \"the holy seed\"\nwhich constitutes her true life cannot be injured by them.\n\nHere, then, is instruction and encouragement for the Lord's prophet\nto-day. He is to preach the preaching which God has bidden him,\nregardless of everything but the fact that God had sent it forth. He\nis not to modify his message, to make it more palatable to his\nhearers. He must not cease to deliver it, although he sees that his\nhearers are hardening themselves against it, and so are bringing upon\nthemselves a heavier doom. Comfort he will need, but he must find it\nin the fact that there is a \"holy seed\" to whom his ministry will be\na blessing, and in whose salvation, if he be faithful to the end, he\nshall share.\n\nIn this passage there are also some supplementary lessons of general\ninterest. 1. We have here an illustration of _the persistence and\nsuccess of the Divine purposes._ God selected the descendants of\nAbraham as the instruments through whom He would bless the world\n(Exod. xix. 5, 6). Their history has been one long struggle against\nthis purpose; but it has not been a frustration of it: their very\nwaywardness and wickedness have afforded occasions for the\nmanifestation of His character, and the consequent revelations both\nof His goodness and of His severity have been blessings in the world.\nIn spite even of their rejection of His Son they are still His\npeople, and He will at length make them a holy people (Rom.\nxi. 28-29). 2. _God does not hesitate to use any means that will help\nto conform His chosen ones to His own ideal._ It is a solemn thing to\nbe chosen of God: that choice may involve possibilities from which\nflesh and blood shrinks.[2] The way to avoid those possibilities is\nto find out what God's purpose concerning us is, and endeavour to\nconform ourselves thereto: then we shall find His choice of us a\nwell-spring of constant blessing. 3. _God does not despise the merest\ngerms of goodness._ Insignificant, comparatively, as was \"the holy\nseed\" in Israel, He watched over it with ceaseless care. Comfort\nthere is here for those who lament that there is in them so little of\nwhich God can approve. That little He will not despise (1 Kings\nxiv. 13; Isa. xlii. 3); He sees what possibilities of excellence\nthere are in His chosen ones;[3] and those little germs of excellence\nHe will nourish until they have developed into that which will\nsatisfy even Himself.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] He inquired how long this service of hardening and this\n     state of hardness were to continue,--a question forced from\n     him by his sympathy with the nation to which he himself\n     belonged (cf. Exod. xxxii. 9-14), and one which was\n     warranted by the certainty that God, who is ever true to\n     His promises, could not cast off Israel as a people for\n     ever. The answer follows in ver. 11_b_-13: _\"Until towns\n     are wasted without inhabitant, and houses are without man,\n     and the ground shall be laid waste, a wilderness, and\n     Jehovah shall put men far away, and there shall be many\n     forsaken places within the land. And is there still a tenth\n     therein, this also again is given up to destruction, like\n     the terebinth and the oak, of which, when they are felled,\n     only a root-stump remains: such a root-stump is the holy\n     seed.\"_ The hardening judgment would come to an end only\n     when the land of Israel had been made utterly desolate. Up\n     to the words \"given up to destruction,\" the announcement is\n     a threatening one; but from this point to \"remains\" a\n     consolatory prospect begins to dawn; and in the last three\n     words this brighter prospect, like a distant streak of\n     light, bounds the horizon of the gloomy prophecy. It shall\n     happen as with the terebinth and the oak. These trees were\n     selected as illustrations, not only because they are so\n     near akin to evergreens, and produced a similar impression,\n     or because there were so many associations connected with\n     them in the olden times of Israel's history; but also\n     because they formed such fitting symbols of Israel, on\n     account of their peculiar facility for springing up again\n     from the root (like the beech and nut, for example), even\n     when they had been completely felled. . . . The root-stump\n     was the remnant that had survived the judgment, and the\n     remnant would become a seed, out of which a new Israel\n     would spring up after the old had been destroyed. Thus in a\n     few words is the way sketched out which God would\n     henceforth take with His people. The passage contains an\n     outline of the history of Israel to the end of time. Israel\n     as a nation was indestructible, by virtue of the promise of\n     God; but the mass of the people were doomed to destruction\n     through the judicial sentence of God, and only a remnant,\n     which would be converted, would perpetuate the nationality\n     of Israel, and inherit the glorious future. This law of a\n     blessing sunk in the depths of the curse actually inflicted\n     still prevails in the history of the Jews. The way of\n     salvation is open to all. Individuals find it, and give us\n     a presentiment of what might be and is to be; but the great\n     mass are hopelessly lost, and only when they have been\n     swept away will a holy seed, saved by a covenant-keeping\n     God, grow up into a new and holy Israel, which, according\n     to chap. xxvii. 6, will fill the earth with its fruits, or,\n     as the Apostle expresses it in Romans xi. 12, become \"the\n     riches of the Gentiles.\"--_Delitzsch._\n\n [2] _Homiletic Encyclop\u00e6dia of Illustrations,_ 86-90, 99-115.\n\n [3] As the eye of the cunning lapidary detects in the rugged\n     pebble, just digged from the mine, the polished diadem that\n     shall sparkle in the diadem of a king; or as the sculptor\n     in the rough block of marble, newly hewn from the quarry,\n     beholds the statue of perfect grace and beauty which is\n     latent there, and waiting but the touch of his hand,--so He\n     who sees all, and the end from the beginning, sees\n     oftentimes greater wonders than these. He sees the saint in\n     the sinner, the saint that shall be in the sinner that is;\n     the wheat in the tare; the shepherd feeding the sheep in\n     the wolf tearing the sheep; Paul in the preacher of the\n     faith in Saul the persecutor of the faith; Israel a prince\n     with God in Jacob the trickster and the supplanter; Matthew\n     the Apostle in Levi the publican; a woman that should love\n     much in a woman sinning much; and in some vine of the earth\n     bringing forth wild grapes and grapes of gall a tree which\n     shall yet bring forth good fruit, and wine to make glad the\n     heart; so that when some, like those over-zealous servants\n     in the parable, would have Him pluck it up, and to cast it\n     without more ado into the wine-press of the wrath of\n     Almighty God, He exclaims rather, \"Destroy it not, for a\n     blessing is in it\" (Isa. lxv. 8), and is well content to\n     await the end.--_Trench._\n\n     See also _Homiletic Encyclop\u00e6dia,_ &c., 2454 and 3056.\n\n\n\nFEARS AND COMFORTS.\n\n     vii. 1-9. _And it came to pass, in the days of Ahaz the son\n     of Jotham, &c._\n\nThe historical statements[1] in these verses afford illustrations of\nspiritual truths. +I. The powers of evil are confederate against the\nLord's people+ (vers. 1, 2, 6). By the combined forces of evil, God's\nchosen ones have always been assailed. The conflict began in Eden,\nand has continued ever since. These combined forces attacked our\nLord, and appeared for a time, outwardly at least, to conquer. We\nmust expect similar assaults (John xvi. 33). The ultimate object of\nthese foes is to destroy our spiritual life. +II. The Lord's people\nare often terrified by the action of their foes.+ Two things may\ncontribute to this. 1. _A sense of personal guilt._ Conscience often\nslumbers in prosperity, but awakens and alarms us when danger\nthreatens. No doubt Ahaz remembered his sin, when he saw his foes\nwere coming. 2. _Distrust of the Lord._ It does not appear that Ahaz\ntold the Lord about his trouble, or sought His help. His idolatry had\nled him into unbelief--a frequent cause of the Christian's terrors.\nHe looks at his troubles, and sinks, because he does not lay hold on\nChrist (Matt. xiv. 30). +III. God seeks to allay the fears of His\npeople in the hour of their trouble.+ This is done in three ways.\n1. _By exhorting them to keep their minds calm._ \"Take heed, and be\nquiet; fear not, neither be faint-hearted.\" Picture Ahaz restless,\nexcited, his breast fainting, hope and courage failing. How timely\nwas the prophet's exhortation! how helpful it might have been to\nAhaz! Who of us does not know the blessedness of such an appeal? We\nhave been excited, trembling, fainting, because of temporal dangers\nor spiritual foes, and in our agitation have been likely to do\nsomething foolish. But a voice has said, \"Fear not; be calm!\" Who\nsays, \"Fear not\"? The loving, omnipotent Saviour, who is able to\ndeliver us. 2. _By showing His people the weakness of their foes._\nThey are only the \"two tails of smoking firebrands.\" You think them\npowerful, but they are really weak (1 John iv. 4). 3. _By predicting\nthe failure of the plans of their foes_ (vers. 7-9)--a prediction\nwhich was fulfilled sixty-five years afterwards, when Esarhaddon\ndesolated the country, and filled it with foreigners. So God shows to\nus the weakness of our foes, and predicts their failure. +IV. God\nshows His people that faith is necessary for the establishment of\ntheir peace+ (ver. 9. See also 2 Chron. xx. 20; Isa.\nxxvi. 3).--_H. F. Walker._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] For a statement of these circumstances see following paper:\n     THE VIRGIN'S SON.\n\n\n\nFAITH'S IMPREGNABLE CITADEL.\n\n     vii. 1-9. _And it came to pass, in the days of Ahaz the son\n     of Jotham, &c._\n\n+I. There are many things calculated to fill us with\nfear+--sufferings, losses, temptations, death, &c. Especially\nalarming are combinations of evil: when they threaten, we are apt to\nfeel as did Ahaz and his people (ver. 2). Afflictions seldom come\nsingly: sickness brings poverty in its train, &c.; and the heart is\napt to fail before such accumulations of misfortune. +II. But God\nguarantees the safety of those who trust in Him.+ 1. _He controls all\nevents_ (ver. 7). The Prince of Orange, when he took the field\nagainst France and the Emperor, said he had made an alliance with\nHeaven, and feared not for the result. Much more may the believer be\nconfident in the warfare of life (H. E. I. 200-203, 2372, 2373, 4049,\n4055-4058). 2. _It is only while we trust in Him that we are thus in\nalliance with Him._ Only by trusting in Him are we kept from trusting\nin that which cannot deliver us--ourselves or our fellow-men, to the\nexclusion of God and the rejection of His proffered help. Only by\ntrusting in Him are our hearts kept in peace (chap. xxvi. 3, H. E. I.\n1893, 1894, 1911-1919, 1923-1926). Only by trusting in Him do we give\nHim the glory which is His due, and which He will not give to another\n(H. E. I. 4054). +III. The guarantee of safety which God offers to\nall who trust Him extends to the soul as well as the body.+ Because\nof our sins, and the enemies they bring against us, we might well\nfear; but in the Gospel help is offered, and perfect safety is\nguaranteed to them that believe. +IV. The inevitable result of\nrefusal to accept the help which God mercifully offers us is ruin.+\nAhaz, refusing the sign offered him, and trusting in Assyria, was\noverthrown by his ally. There is deadly peril in any other alliance\nthan that which God offers to form with us. Said our Lord to all who\nare tempted to apostacy, \"Remember Lot's wife,\" and in like manner we\nmay say to all who are tempted to disregard and reject God's offers\nof help, _Remember Ahaz!_--_John Johnston._\n\n\n\nPURPOSE AND PANICS.\n\n     vii. 1, 2. _And it came to pass, in the days of Ahaz the\n     son of Jotham, &c._\n\nIn this brief record of events[1] that occurred so long ago, we may\nfind suggestions of truths which it will be well for us to lay to\nheart to-day. +I. Men often confidently form purposes when they find\nit impossible to fulfil+ (ver. 1). Rezin and Pekah no doubt were sure\ntheir project would be successful; they left no means untried to make\nit a success; they had many things to encourage them (2 Chron.\nxxviii. 5-7); success seemed certain, yet they failed! In verse 6 we\nhave another statement of their purpose, and in verse 7 we are told\nthe real reason why it failed: GOD determined that it should not\nstand. This is an illustration of much that takes place in our own\nday, in our own life. Purposes daringly conceived, and wisely and\nenergetically prosecuted, come to nothing; and in such cases GOD is\noften the real hindrance. He hinders, not because He has any\ncapricious delight in frustrating our plans, but because in them we\nintend only our own self-aggrandisement. It is with our purposes as\nwith our prayers (Jas. iv. 3). If He hinders, no alliance formed with\nmen can profit us; even Rezin will help in vain. In forming our\nplans, let us remember and acknowledge our dependence on the\npermission and help of God (Jas. iv. 13-15; Ps. cxxvii. 1). If plans\nshould be formed for our hurt or overthrow, let us comfort ourselves\nby remembering that all men are under God's control. The confederacy\nmay be very powerful; most elaborate preparations may be made for the\naccomplishment of its purpose; but there can be no success unless the\nLord will (Dan. iii. 16-18). +II. Men often give way to unreasonable\npanics+ (ver. 2). Panics are very common, very painful, very\ndangerous and hurtful. Their cause: lack of faith in God. Without\nfaith in the controlling providence of God, men are naturally as\nliable to alarm as is a wealthy man who on a foggy night has to make\nhis way through a dangerous quarter of a strange city; he knows not\nwhether those footsteps he hears behind him are those of a policeman\nor of a garotter! Firmness is the reward of faith--of intelligent\nconfidence exercised by righteous men in a righteous God (Ps. iii. 6;\nlvi. 11; xci. 5; cxii. 7, 8, &c.). Deliverance from fear is one of\nthe respects in which \"godliness has the promise of the life that now\nis.\" This blessing may be yours, if you will; yours in times of\ndomestic, of commercial, of national alarm. You may be delivered, if\nyou will, from the supreme fear--fear of death. Christ came into the\nworld for the purpose of delivering you from it (Heb. ii. 14, 15).\nYield yourself to be really His, and your end shall be peace (Ps.\nxxiii. 4; lxxiii. 26).\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] For a statement of these events, see following paper: THE\n     VIRGIN'S SON.\n\n\n\nISAIAH'S INTERVIEW WITH AHAZ.\n\n     vii. 3-25. _Then said the Lord unto Isaiah, &c._\n\nIn this interview of Isaiah with Ahaz we have an instance--+I. Of\nGod's efforts to turn men from ruinous courses.+ God is the great\nLawgiver, and the Judge before whose bar all impenitent transgressors\nof His law will have to stand. Absolute inflexibility is necessarily\nHis characteristic in both these capacities. But these are not the\nonly capacities He seeks to sustain to us. It is His ambition to be\nthe Saviour of men from sin and ruin. Consequently, He does not\nmerely lay down His law and stand coldly by, to see whether men will\nkeep it or not. He plies them with inducements to keep it. When He\nsees them bent on transgression, He endeavours to arrest them in\ntheir foolish and fatal purpose. Short of that destruction of the\nfreedom of their will, which would be the destruction also of their\nresponsibility and of their possibilities of virtue, He leaves\nnothing undone to turn them from the broad road that leads to\ndeath.[1] By adverse providences, by the strivings of His Holy\nSpirit, by awakening conscience to an active exercise of its\nfunctions, He works upon and in them to will and to do His good\npleasure. No sinner has ever gone down to perdition unheeded,\nunpitied, without attempts to rescue him. Your own experience attests\nthe truth of these statements: you know you had to fight your way\nthrough to those transgressions of which you are now ashamed. God's\n\"preventing grace\" is a great fact of which we should take reverent\nheed, and for which we should give fervent thanks.[2] +II. Of the\nmanner in which sinners, by insincere pretences, resist God's saving\npurposes.+ The stubbornness and insincerity of Ahaz are obvious.[3]\nBut in neither of these is he singular. Sinners who are bent on their\nsins not seldom go on to the under pretexts of righteousness, with\nwhich they endeavour to deceive themselves and others. The greatest\ncrime ever committed was done under a pretext of righteousness (Matt.\nxxvi. 65). So has it been with countless crimes since. Let us be on\nour guard against our own hearts (Jer. xvi. 9; Prov. xiv. 12) Let us\nnot act upon any reason which we do not really believe will bear the\nscrutiny of God. +III. Of the twofold result which always follows\nsuch resistance to the Divine purposes.+ 1. _The sinner is, ere long,\ncompelled to confess that the counsels he set aside were counsels of\ntruth and wisdom._ In less than three years, Ahaz had cause to\nacknowledge the soundness of the advice to which on this memorable\nday he refused to listen.[4] A typical case. 2. _The obstinate sinner\nis left to the ruin from which he would not permit God to deliver\nhim._ There is no salvation by force. God acts upon our will, but He\nwill not save us against our will. Neither shall those who refused to\nbe saved from sin be saved from its consequences. If we choose evil,\nno act of omnipotence will render the choice harmless (chap.\niii. 11). Ahaz chose the help of Assyria rather than the help of\nJehovah, and with the help of that great and unscrupulous power he\nhad to take its domination and destructiveness (2 Chron. xxviii. 16,\n20). Again a typical case. The retributive justice of God is a fact\nof which it behoves us to be heedful.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Augustine, in his _Confessions,_ makes thankful note of the\n     manner in which in the years of his ungodliness, God had\n     raised up obstacles in his path of sin. When sinful desires\n     raged within him, he says, the means for gratifying them\n     were absent; or when the desires and the means of\n     gratifying them came together, some witness was present to\n     deter him; and when the means were present, and no\n     witnesses stood by to hinder him, the desire to transgress\n     was wanting. He rightly judges that these were no mere\n     accidents or coincidences.\n\n [2] The preventing methods of grace may deservedly pass for\n     some of the prime instances of the Divine mercy to men in\n     this world. For though it ought to be owned for an eminent\n     act of grace to restore one actually fallen, yet there are\n     not wanting arguments to persuade, that it is a greater to\n     keep one from falling. Not to break a limb is more\n     desirable than to have it set and healed, though never so\n     skilfully and well. Preservation in this, as in many other\n     cases, being better a great deal than restoration; since\n     after all is done, it is odds but the scar will remain when\n     the wound is cured and the danger over.--_South._\n\n [3] Ahaz listened in sullen and incredulous silence; and the\n     prophet resumes--\"Ask thee a sign of Jehovah thy God; ask\n     it either in the depth, or in the height above.\" But Ahaz,\n     who looked on Jehovah not as his God, but only (like any of\n     his heathen neighbours) as the god of Jud\u00e6a, and as such\n     inferior to the god of Assyria; and who had determined to\n     apply to the king of Assyria, or perhaps had already\n     applied to him, as a more trustworthy helper than Jehovah,\n     in the present strait; declines to ask a sign, excusing\n     himself by a contrary use of the words of Moses, \"Thou\n     shalt not tempt Jehovah.\" He refused the sign, because he\n     knew it would confirm the still struggling voice of his\n     conscience; and that voice he had resolved not to obey,\n     since it bid him give up the Assyrian, and trust in Jehovah\n     henceforth.--_Strachey._\n\n [4] Within the space of time figuratively indicated by the time\n     necessary for the child of the prophet to become capable of\n     discerning between good and evil--_i.e.,_ in about three\n     years,--Rezin and Pekah were slain, and the fact that they\n     were but \"two tails of smoking firebrands\" demonstrated.\n     (See 2 Kings xv. 27-30; xvi. 1-9.)\n\n\n\nA THREEFOLD COUNSEL.\n\n     vii. 4. _Take heed, and be quiet; fear not._\n\n+I. \"Take heed.\"+ This is just what Ahaz fancied he was doing. He was\ntaking heed to the alliance which had been formed for his overthrow,\nand he was at that very moment doing his best to frustrate it--by\nstrengthening the fortifications of Jerusalem, and by summoning the\nking of Assyria to his help. This seemed to him and his court\nsupremely wise: it was eminently foolish. He was taking heed\nexclusively to the danger, and had no attention left for the\nDivinely-provided defence against it. That defence lay in God's\npromise made to David (2 Sam. vii. 12-16). From one point of view, it\nmay be said that in allying themselves for the destruction of the\nroyal house of David, Rezin, Pekah, and the son of Tabeal embarked on\nan enterprise foredoomed to failure; they might as well have\nconspired to prevent the sun from rising any more in the east. That\nthe descendants of David should reign in Jerusalem and that the sun\nshould rise in the east, were both guaranteed by the same thing--the\nwill and appointment of God. Resistance was as vain in the one case\nas in the other--that is, while the conditions attached to the\npromise made to David were observed. For there were conditions\nattached to it (1 Chron. xxviii. 9; 2 Chron. xv. 2). It was to this\ngreat promise and to its essential conditions that God would have\nAhaz \"take heed.\"\n\n_\"Take heed\"_ is good counsel to give to every man standing in\ncovenant relations with God. Many of us stand in such relations to\nHim, both as the result of the relations in which our parents stood\nto Him (Ex. xx. 6; Deut. vii. 9, &c.), and as the result of our\npersonal acts; \"the seed of the righteous,\" we have ourselves\nvoluntarily taken the Lord to be our God, and have solemnly sworn to\nwalk before Him in righteousness all the days of our life. Let us\nthen evermore \"take heed\" to this covenant which God has condescended\nto make with us. It lays upon us great responsibilities, but it\nsecures to us glorious privileges. Conspicuous among them is this\nthat we need not fear the might of any of our adversaries, whether\nthey be those of the body or of the soul (ch. liv. 17).\n\n+II. \"Be quiet.\"+ Or better, \"_And_ be quiet.\" Quietness would follow\nnaturally from right heed-taking. What was Ahaz doing? He was\nstraining every nerve to do for himself what God had promised to do\nfor him. God had promised to defend Zion and her king, and if Ahaz\nhad had faith in God's promise, the appeal to Assyria for succour\nwould never had been made. Alas! how often have better men than Ahaz\nfailed in this very respect. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the founders\nof the Hebrew nation, all fell into grievous sin through the want of\nfaith in God's promises which led them to try to do for themselves\nwhat God had promised to do for them (cf. Gen. xv. 1, and xx. 11-13;\nxxvi. 3 and 7; xxv. 23, and xxvii. 24). To what a shameful state of\ndegradation was David brought by the same cause (cf. 1 Sam. xvi. 13\nand xxi. 12, 13). How many imitators they have had! God has promised\nthat His people shall be safe and prosperous; but not taking heed to\nHis promises, to how many tricks and devices have they had recourse\nto secure for themselves the blessing God would surely have sent to\nthem if they had been obedient and believing, and into what shame,\nmisery, and ruin have they plunged themselves.[1] Let their sins be\nto us as beacons; let us \"take heed\" to God's covenant on both its\nsides, and be quiet (Ps. xxxvii. 3-9).\n\n+III. \"Fear not.\"+ Yet there seemed good reason for fear. It was\nreally a powerful confederacy that threatened Ahaz with destruction.\nLooked at on its human side, it was no groundless panic that had\nsmitten him and his people. Yet the pain of mind and heart which they\nendured (ver. 2), they endured needlessly. They were really in no\ndanger for their enemies. Their danger lay only in the unbelief and\nstubbornness of their own hearts. They had but to return to the Lord\nand they would find Him a refuge and strong tower, as their fathers\nhad done aforetime. _\"Fear not\"_ is the counsel which I give to God's\npeople to-day. Some of you are fearing greatly; some concerning\ntemporal things, some lest the spiritual conflict you are waging\nshould issue in defeat and eternal ruin. \"Take heed\" to the promises\nGod has made to you in both these respects; \"be quiet,\" and fret not\nyourselves in any wise to do evil; with calm and courageous hope wait\nfor the fulfilment of these promises; instead of yielding to\ndistressing, utterly unnecessary, and God-dishonouring fears, say\nwith David (Ps. xxvii. 1, xxxiv. 22).\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] See _Homiletic Encyclop\u00e6dia of Illustrations,_ NOS.\n     173-175, 2017.\n\n\n\nHEEDFULNESS.\n\n     vii 4. _Take heed._\n\nThe Hebrew word signifies, to prevent or keep off any evil with which\nwe are threatened. The direction ought to extend to all that we do;\nfor not one duty can be rightly performed without diligent attention,\nand it is no less incumbent upon us than upon the king and people of\nJudah (H. E. I. 4880-4890). It is a necessary and useful caution,\nwhich ought to be reduced to practice at all times, especially in\nseasons of perplexity and distress, such as that wherein Ahaz and his\nsubjects received this admonition. 1. Take heed to your _senses,_\nparticularly what you see and hear; for these are the avenues by\nwhich sin and vanity, or wisdom and instruction, enter into the heart\n(H. E. I. 4895). 2. Take heed to your _actions,_ what you do, and how\nyou act, and for what purpose you are employed, that you may happily\navoid the many sins and dangers to which you are exposed, and attain\nthe great ends which you ought uniformly to pursue. 3. Take heed to\nyour _tongue,_ that you sin not with your mouth; consider wisely what\nyou say, to whom you speak, and to what purpose, especially when your\nminds are fretted, and when you feel yourselves under the influence\nof timidity and disappointment (P. D. 3558, 3559). 4. Take heed to\nyour _hearts,_ and keep them with all diligence, for out of them are\nthe issues of life; attend to the secret operations of your minds,\nand the objects on which your affections terminate, that you may\nperceive whether they are properly moderated and directed (H. E. I.\n2695-2705, 4887; P. D. 1735).--_Robert Macculloch: Lectures on\nIsaiah,_ vol. i. p. 395.\n\n\n\nFAITH, THE CONDITION OF FIRMNESS.\n\n     vii. 9. _If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be\n     established._\n\n\"Established\" is what every man wishes to be--fixed in fact and in\nfeeling; established like a great oak which, because its roots take\nfast hold of the soil, is able to grow broader and higher and more\nluxuriant year by year. Such growth is impossible to a tree that is\nfrequently transplanted. Notwithstanding--nay, in perfect harmony\nwith the desire for progress that is in us all, we all desire to be\n\"established.\"\n\nBut no man can be \"established\" unless he believes. It is a universal\nlaw: No faith, no firmness. There are two things essential to\n\"establishment,\" to blessedness and peace in life: First, that we\nshould find a good foundation, and then that we should rest upon it\ncalmly and immovably. These are the conditions of social, commercial,\npolitical, and scientific blessedness and prosperity. In every realm\nof human activity, if we would be strong in fact and in feeling, it\nis essential that we should find something trustworthy, and then that\nwe should trust (H. E. I. 1882-1888).\n\nWe are only stating this general truth in its highest form, when we\nsay that if men do not believe in God as He has revealed Himself in\nHis Word, they cannot be \"established.\" 1. God has revealed Himself\nin His Word _as the righteous Ruler of nations,_ who will exalt the\nnations that seek after righteousness, and bring swift vengeance upon\nthose who follow courses of evil. What will happen if a statesman,\nlike Ahaz, does not really believe this? He will become a mere\npolitician; he will do what seems to him \"expedient.\" This will often\nbe iniquitous, and this at no distant period will inevitably lead to\ndisaster and ruin (P. D. 2544). 2. God has revealed Himself _as the\nsupporter and rewarder of individual men who are resolved always and\nsimply to do what is right._ Confidence in God as thus revealed to\nthem was the secret of the courage and endurance of the martyrs (Dan.\niii. 16-18), and of countless sacrifices for truth and righteousness\nknown only to God, but which He will never forget. But if a man does\nnot really believe this truth, how easily is he swept away by\ntemptation, whether it presents itself threateningly or seductively!\n3. God has revealed Himself _as, for Christ's sake, pardoning\nabsolutely all who repent and believe._ Into the hearts of those who\naccept this revelation there come peace and joy, but into their\nhearts only. Want of faith in this revelation is the secret of all\npainful efforts to merit the Divine mercy. 4. God reveals Himself _as\nthe Saviour of His people from sin,_ as their Sanctifier from all the\nstains of iniquity. Want of faith in this revelation is the secret of\nthe trouble that fills and oppresses many devout souls. They will\nnever travel towards Zion with steadfast feet and rejoicing hearts\nuntil they do indeed believe it (Jude 24, 25). 5. God reveals Himself\nin Christ _as the Good Shepherd who is with His people always._ How\ntroubled, because of the possibilities of life and the mystery of\ndeath, are those who do not with any vital faith accept this\nrevelation which He has been pleased to give us! But the twenty-third\nPsalm is the song of those who do believe it (P. D. 1156-1160).\n\nThe practical application of all this is very simple, but supremely\nimportant. First, let us inquire whether God is worthy of our trust;\nand then, if the inquiry should lead us to an affirmative conclusion,\nlet us trust Him. This trust will transform our whole life. No\nterrors shall have power to dismay us. The misery of Ahaz and his\npeople (ver. 2) we shall never know (H. E. I. 1911-1919); but ours\nshall be the rejoicing confidence of the spiritual hero of whom Ahaz\nwas such an unworthy descendant (Ps. xxvii. 1-6; P. D. 1177).\n\n\n\nSTABILITY THROUGH FAITH.\n\n     vii. 9. _If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be\n     established._\n\nThus closes the address of Isaiah to Ahaz and his people on a very\nmemorable and trying occasion. . . . Its meaning is, Take God at His\nword; place entire reliance upon Him, and not upon an arm of flesh.\nIf ye will not do this as a country, the state cannot be safe; and if\nyou will not do this as individuals, your minds cannot be composed\nand established. Now, let us pass from the house of David naturally\nto the house of David spiritually, and pursue the train of thought\nset in motion. Let us consider the stability of faith, and the peace\nit induces. In the Christian's life there are three kinds of\nstability. +I. There is a stability of judgment.+ This regards the\n_truths_ of religion. It is of great importance to have a judgment\nclear and fixed, as it respects the great concerns of the soul and\neternity, and the great doctrines of the Gospel of Christ; for as we\nthink we feel, as we feel we desire, and as we desire we act, and as\nwe act our characters are formed and our conditions determined.\nInstability concerning these great truths is both perilous and\npainful; but whence is stability to come? Not through human\nauthority; for what one patronises, another denies. Not through human\nreason (H. E. I. 537, 1087, 2022-2024; P. D. 2926, 2929, 2931, 2934).\nThere must be a revelation received by faith; Divine declarations,\nbelieved because God has made them. This leads to an experience which\ntends still further to establish the Christian in the faith (H. E. I.\n1087, 1142-1148). +II. There is a stability of practice.+ This\nregards the _duties_ of religion (1 Pet. i. 5). In order to see the\nstrength and beauty of the sentiment contained in the text, let us\nplace the believer in three positions. 1. In a place of _secrecy._ To\nmany this is a place of temptation. Not so to the believer. Faith\nbrings God and places Him before us (Gen. xvi. 13; xxxix. 9). 2. _In\nprosperity and indulgence_ (Prov. i. 32). But faith brings to the\nChristian the earnests of a better country, the first-fruits and\nforetastes of it, and thus gives him a victory which others can never\nachieve (1 John v. 4). 3. In a condition of _suffering and danger_\n(Heb. xi. 24-27; Dan. vi. 10; H. E. I. 1911-1919). +III. There is a\nstability of hope.+ This regards the _comforts_ of religion (Rom.\nxv. 13; 1 Pet. i. 8; Ps. xxiii. 1, 4, 6). 1. _Beware of unbelief._ It\nis a grievous offence against God; it is hurtful and perilous to man.\nEvery sin renders our salvation impossible by the law, but only one\nsin renders it impossible by the Gospel, and that is unbelief; not by\nany desire or threatening of God, but by its natural tendency and\nresult. For there is only one remedy that can restore a perishing\nsinner, and if this be rejected, destruction is inevitable (H. E. I.\n443). 2. _Labour and pray for an increase of faith_ (Mark ix. 23;\n2 Chron. xx. 20).--_William Jay: Sunday Morning Sermons,_ pp. 101-109.\n\n\n\nMAN'S IMAGINED INDEPENDENCE OF GOD.\n\n     vii. 12. _But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I\n     tempt the Lord._\n\nWe are commanded to ask for all we need and desire (Matt. vii. 7;\nPhil. iv. 6). But many say, \"I will not ask.\" +I. Men are apt to act\nthus when possessed of earthly resources.+ How hard it is for a man\nof wealth to pray, \"Give us this day our daily bread!\" He has much\ngoods laid up for many years. How natural for a man in health and\nprosperity thus to forget his dependence on God (H. E. I. 4000,\n4001). Even in trouble a man is apt to look elsewhere for aid:\n_e.g.,_ in sickness to the physician; even when convinced of sin, to\nhis own efforts, or to a human priest. +II. Men often act thus on the\npretence of not tempting God.+ On the ground that their affairs are\nbeneath His notice (H. E. I. 4015-4025, 2245-2248, 2325, 3226, 3403).\nOn the ground that God has already established the laws by which all\nthings are regulated (H. E. I. 3179-3182, 3751, 3752, 3757).\n+III. But the real reasons why men act thus are because they trust in\nthemselves, and have no real faith in God.+ The real reason why Ahaz\ndid not ask was because he was bent on forming an alliance with\nAssyria. Let it be ours gratefully to accept the privilege so\ngraciously offered, seeing that God has given us far more than was\ngiven to Ahaz: we have all the great and precious promises contained\nin the Scriptures, the knowledge of the unspeakable gift of God's\ndear Son, the accumulated experience of all generations of His\nfaithfulness as the hearer of prayer. We may have our own experience\nof it; if we will but ask, we shall receive. How much greater our sin\nthan that of Ahaz, if in these circumstances we say, \"I will not\nask!\"--_John Johnston._\n\n\n\nMOMENTOUS DECISIONS.\n\n     vii. 12. _But Ahaz said, I will not ask, &c._\n\nIn studying what the commentators have to say about this chapter, I\nmet with a sentence that set me thinking. It was this: \"In that very\nhour, in which Isaiah was standing before Ahaz, the fate of Jerusalem\nwas decided for more than two thousand years\" (_Delitzsch_). +I. How\ntrue is this declaration!+ Ahaz was called upon to choose between the\nalliance with Assyria and alliance with God. His choice was announced\nin these four words, \"I will not ask;\" then he decided against God,\nand all the disasters which have come upon Jerusalem since that day\nhave been in a very real sense the result of that fatal decision.\n+II. How typical is this incident!+ How often men, like Ahaz, arrive\nat decisions which are irrevocable, and unspeakably momentous! 1. To\nhave to make decisions that may be solemn in both these senses is one\nof the things that make the position of a ruler or statesman so\nserious. Not to be coveted are the positions in which a man's\nresolves and utterances become fateful for whole peoples. But Pharaoh\nwas in such a position, and like Ahaz he made a fatal mistake (Exod.\nx. 28). 2. Few are called to fill positions of such responsibility,\nbut every man is at some juncture called to make a decision the\nresults of which to him individually will be of unspeakable\nimportance. The Young Ruler arrived at such a juncture, and made such\na decision. Every one of you will at some moment be called upon to\ndecide for or against Christ, and the decision will be final and\nirreversible. The fact that it is so will probably not be suspected\nby you; you will decide against Christ, in the expectation of\nreversing the decision on some other occasion, _which will never come\nto you._ This decision you _may_ make now; it is the undeniable\npossibility which makes the preaching and hearing of the Gospel so\nsolemn a thing. This supreme decision may be made by you in another\nmanner. The test may come to you in another form--in the shape of a\ntemptation appealing to some passion of the mind or lust of the\nflesh, and your eternal destiny may be determined by the manner in\nwhich you deal with that _one_ temptation (H. E. I. 4737, 4738,\n4636). 3. Like a railway train, we are continually arriving at\n\"points,\" and the manner in which we \"take\" them affects our whole\nafter career. This is true in regard to many things, unspeakably\ninferior in importance to the questions of surrender or non-surrender\nto Christ, or of loyalty or disloyalty to Him, but yet of marvellous\ninfluence in determining whether our after life is to be happy or\nmiserable: business, social and domestic relations.\n\nIn view of these facts--that so much may depend upon any decision we\nmake, and that it is absolutely concealed from us _which_ decisions\nare final and irrevocable--what is it that, as wise men, it becomes\nus to do? +1. Let us settle each question that is put before us in\nthe spirit of righteousness.+ Always let us ask only, What is\n_right?_ (1.) This is the only path of _safety._ (2.) By this path\n_heroism_ is reached, and _world-wide influence_ may be reached. We\nthink of Moses (Heb. xi. 24-27), of the Apostles (Acts iv. 19, 20),\nand of Luther before the Diet of Worms, as heroes; but _they_ had no\nsuch thought--their only thought was that of fidelity to duty; and it\nis thus only that true heroism can be reached (P. D. 1189). +2. Let\nus day by day commit ourselves to the guidance of God,+ praying Him\nto strengthen our conscience, to sanctify our desires, and so to\n\"work in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure.\"\n\n\n\nIRRELIGIOUS PIETY.\n\n     vii. 12. _But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I\n     tempt the Lord._\n\nAhaz here poses as a better man than the prophet. He refuses to\nfollow the direction which Isaiah has given him, and refuses, because\nhe alleges, to do so would be wrong. His disregard of what he knows\nto be a Divine direction, he covers by an appeal to a general\nprinciple which God has been pleased to give for our guidance (Deut.\nvi. 16). Thus he sought to silence the reproaches of conscience\nwithin, and of good men without. We may take him as the\nrepresentative of that large class of persons who for their actions\nassign reasons that really are not their governing motives, and cover\nwrong actions by what appear to be cloaks of righteousness, but\nreally are cloaks of hypocrisy.\n\nHow numerous these people are! We find them in all ranks of life;\nthere is this skilful use of pretexts in all realms of human\nactivity. +1. Social life,+--_e.g.,_ A man rejects a suitor for his\ndaughter's hand, the suitor being forty-five years of age and the\ndaughter twenty-two, professedly for the excellent reason that too\ngreat a disparity in age between man and wife is not desirable but\nreally because the suitor is not sufficiently wealthy.\n+2. Business,+--_e.g.,_ A man refuses to become security for another,\nbecause, he says, he has entered into an undertaking with his\npartners not to incur any such responsibility, and because it is\nimportant that deeds of partnership should be honourably observed;\nreally because he had no wish to oblige the man who asks his aid.\n+3. Politics.+--Why, this is a form of activity which has to a large\nextent ceased to be care for the welfare of the city or of the\ncommunity, and has to the same extent become a game of pretexts, in\nwhich broad and great principles are used to cover petty and personal\nends. +4. Religion.+--Alas! into this realm also men carry the same\nspirit and practices. Let us look at some of the prevalent forms of\nirreligious piety. (1.) There is the man who will not make any\nconfession of Christ, because \"religion is a thing between a man's\nown soul and God.\" (2.) There is the man who will not join the\nchurch, because the members of the church are so inconsistent, and\ninconsistent Christians are among the greatest of all hindrances to\nthe progress of Christianity. (3.) There is the man who never attends\na week-evening service, because \"there is no real religion in\nneglecting one's daily duties, and we are expressly told that we are\nto be diligent in business.\" The same man, however, finds it neither\nimpossible nor inconsistent with his duties to attend political\nmeetings and popular concerts. (4.) There is the man who never\nsubscribes to any foreign missionary society, because \"religion, like\ncharity, should begin at home, and even in this so-called Christian\nland there are millions of practical heathen who need to have the\nGospel preached to them.\" How much does this man contribute towards\nhome missions? (5.) There is the man who will not contribute towards\nany church-building fund, because he does not \"believe in bricks and\nmortar,\" and because \"true religion before God and the Father is--not\nto build costly sanctuaries--but to help the fatherless and widows in\ntheir affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world\" (cf.\nJohn xii. 4-6). (6.) There is the man who has no hesitation in\njoining in a Sunday excursion, because \"the Sabbath was made for man,\nnot man for the Sabbath,\" and because--the two pleas almost always go\ntogether--\"it is possible to worship God as truly in the great temple\nof nature as in any temple built by man.\" Picture the man as he\nactually \"worships God in the great temple of nature;\" and inquire\nhow he feels on Monday after what he calls \"a little relaxation on\nthe Sunday.\" (7.) There is the man who indulges freely in what many\npeople consider worldly amusements, because \"it is not well to be too\nstrait-laced; Solomon, indeed, warns us against being righteous\nover-much; and there is nothing so likely as Pharisaism to disgust\nyoung people with religion\" (H. E. I. 5038-5043).\n\nSo we might go on with this miserable catalogue. Satan, we are told\nappears sometimes in the guise of an angel of light, and in this\nrespect his children are wonderfully like him; they are marvellously\ningenious in using holy principles to cover unholy purposes. But what\ndoes all this ingenuity amount to? Whom do they succeed in deceiving?\nNot men for any length of time. The wolf never succeeds in long\ncompletely covering itself with the sheep's clothing. The mask of the\nhypocrite will slip aside. And when it does so, men despise him for\nwearing it. Did he show himself as he is, men might, would, condemn\nhim; but they would not despise him so much. And God--He is never\ndeceived. He loathes the false pretenders to righteousness; and ere\nlong He will strip them bare, and expose them to the execration of\nthe universe (H. E. I., 3017-3032; P. D., 1923, 1924, 1930).\n\nWhat is the practical lesson to be learned from the whole? To pray\nthat God will help us in all things to be sincere; to live, \"as\nseeing Him who is invisible,\" remembering that _He_ sees what is\ninvisible--the motives underlying the actions that are seen of men.\nNothing else can win for us from Christ the priceless commendation,\n\"Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!\"\n\n\n\nTRIALS OF THE DIVINE PATIENCE.\n\n     vii. 13. _Will ye weary my God also?_\n\nIn this chapter we are told under what circumstances this question\ncame to be asked. An astonishing assumption underlies it, viz., that\nanything can be a weariness to God, that anything can be a trial of\nthe Divine patience. Let us think of this.\n\n+I. It is a wonderful and glorious thing that there is a Divine\npatience to be tried.+ This is a distinctively Biblical idea.\nUninstructed by the Scriptures, men naturally think of God as doing\nas He pleases and when He pleases,--His pleasure being always a\nselfish one; a Divinity of Power who permits nothing to arrest or\ndelay His purposes, crushing every obstacle as an express train\ndashes through or over a flock of sheep that has strayed on to its\ntrack. Or if men seem with impunity from a time to disregard or defy\nHim, this is only because He is indifferent to them, caring nothing\nwhat they do, because He knows that whensoever He pleases He can\ndestroy them. But in this Book we are taught to think of Him as\nprofoundly interested in what men do, as grieved and provoked by what\nthey do, and as not merely resisting the impulse to destroy them, but\nas feeling no such impulse; as longing over them with yearning desire\nthat they would, by repentance and reformation render it possible for\nHim righteously to abstain from dealing with them according to their\ndesserts. The _forbearance_ of God is a conception which we find only\nin this Book and that should excite our wonder, our thankfulness,\nour love. This forbearance of God--this marvellous Divine patience\nwith sinful men--what is its secret and explanation? It is the _love_\nwhich God has for us. Love is slow to strike.[1]\n\n+II. It is a sad and terrible thing that the Divine patience should\nbe tried.+ There are some offences that are horrible, because they\noutrage even our imperfect sense of what is fitting, _e.g.,_ to\nfalsely direct a blind man, so that he shall fall over a precipice;\nto kill a hunted creature that has fled to us for protection. But of\nall these outrages, the vilest are sins against love. This is the\nsupremely loathsome thing in seduction, that it is a sin against\nuninstructed but trustful love. Our whole soul rises in disgust\nagainst the brutal wretch who smites to the earth the mother who bore\nand nursed him. But when we think of what God is, as He is presented\nto us in scriptures, we see that most heedlessness to His appeals,\nand warnings, and entreaties, of which we are apt to think so little,\nis really a horrible offence, because it is a sin against a love the\ndepth and tenderness of which is but faintly imaged forth to us by\nthe purest and most fervent human affection. Persistence in\nwrong-doing--we see its hatefulness even when it is maintained in\nspite of human love: the prodigal hardening himself against his\nmother's entreaties to reform. But what must we say of it as\nmaintained against the entreaties of a love that is more sensitive\nthan any mother's, and that it is rendered so wonderful by the fact\nthat it is associated with a power that could instantly destroy? It\nis so startling and so horrible that it ought to be impossible. But--\n\n+III. The Divine patience is often tried.+ Sins against it are\ncommon. In this respect Ahaz does not stand alone. Men commit such\nsins without compunction. Have we not done so? With what contempt and\nindifference we have treated God's expostulations with us! We have\ndeferred the duty of repentance. Why? Very much because we know that\nGod is patient, and will not be swift to take vengeance upon us. We\nhave practised on His forbearance, and thus have been guilty of the\nbasest crime that is possible; we have deliberately sinned against\nlove. Yet we are not troubled; so possible it is to drug conscience;\nso delusive is peace of conscience in the impenitent. But let us look\nat our conduct as God must regard it, as any reasonable and holy\nintelligence must regard it, and let us humble ourselves before Him\nagainst whom we have sinned so basely.[2]\n\n+V. Those who tire out the Divine patience shall find themselves\nrighteously confronted by the Divine justice.+[3] God will not be\npermanently mocked. He would be unworthy of His position if He\npermitted sin to go unpunished.[4] What the punishment of sin is we\ndo not know, because we are now living in an economy in which justice\nis tempered by mercy. Yet in the calamities and unspeakable woes that\nhere and now befall obdurate transgressors, we have some faint\nintimation of what will be their doom when, having rejected mercy,\nthey find themselves given over to the unmitigated rigours of\njustice. Of these things God has spoken because He would save us from\nthem. All the threatenings of Scripture are merciful warnings.[5] Let\nus give heed to them, and return to Him who has declared with equal\nclearness and emphasis that He will by no means clear the guilty, and\nthat He has no delight in the death of the sinner.[6]\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] H. E. I. 2295.\n\n [2] H. E. I. 2250.\n\n     Where men are bent upon wrong there is always a strong\n     tendency to elect a character of God that is not very just,\n     but that is very kind--so kind that behind it they may gain\n     some security in their wrong course. And when God's\n     long-suffering and patience are opened up to men they often\n     say, \"Well, if God is a being that is tender and loving, I\n     need not be in a hurry to leave off my evil ways. He will\n     bear with me a little longer, and I do not believe that He\n     will account with me for my petty transgressions.\" Men\n     deliberately employ God's mercy and goodness to violate His\n     feelings. . . . That is infernal; it is inhuman, because\n     kindness seems to lay almost every man under a debt of\n     gratitude. A dog, even, feels itself laid under a debt of\n     gratitude by kindness. It is only men who are corrupted\n     that would ever think of making goodness, and kindness, and\n     generosity towards them the ground on which to base a\n     violation of these qualities. And yet hundreds say, \"God is\n     good, and we will go on a little longer in sin.\" Yes, He is\n     infinitely good. He has been patient with you; He has\n     longed for you; He has sent ten thousand invisible mercies\n     to you, besides those visible mercies he has showered upon\n     you; He has been long-suffering and forgiving; He has sunk\n     in the depths of the sea thrice ten thousands of\n     transgressions; He did it yesterday, He is doing it to-day,\n     and He will do it to-morrow; and shall you argue with\n     yourself that because God is so good you will go on and\n     insult Him, and wound Him, and injure Him? Or shall the\n     goodness of God lead you to repentance and newness of life?\n     I beseech of you, for the sake of honour and manhood, do\n     not tread upon God's goodness, and generosity, and\n     magnanimity to offend Him more.--_Beecher._\n\n [3] H. E. I. 2296-2301, 2349.\n\n [4] H. E. I. 2316, 2317.\n\n [5] H. E. I. 604, 605.\n\n [6] H. E. I. 2283, 2284.\n\n\n\nTHE VIRGIN'S SON.\n\n     vii. 13-16. _And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David,\n     &c._\n\nOn this supremely difficult passage Dr. Kennicott preached a\nremarkable sermon before the University of Oxford, on the 19th of May\n1765. As this sermon is not readily accessible, I here give some\nextracts from it.\n\nConcerning these words there have been the four following opinions:--\n\nI. That the whole passage relates only to a son of Isaiah.\n\nII. That the whole passage relates only to CHRIST.\n\nIII. That the whole passage relates both to Isaiah's son and to\nCHRIST; to the former in a primary and literal sense, and in a\nsecondary sense to the latter.\n\nIV. That there are here _two_ prophecies, each literal, and each to\nbe understood in one sense only: the first relating to CHRIST, the\nsecond to Isaiah's son.\n\nThe first of these opinions is strenuously contended for by Jews and\nDeists, who, by confining this passage wholly to Isaiah's son, have\nattempted to derogate from the authority of St. Matthew, who applies\nit as a prophecy to CHRIST. But the word here translated _virgin_\nsignifies, in every other part of the Old Testament, a _woman who\nhath not known man._ And the consequence from hence is, that the\nwords \"a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son,\" cannot be applied\nproperly to Isaiah's wife. As it is here affirmed that the original\nword signifies a _virgin_ in every other text, it should be just\nobserved that the text in the book of Proverbs (xxx. 18, 19), which\nhas been often brought to prove the contrary, is not here forgotten;\nand that even _that_ text might (if the nature of this discourse\nwould permit) be explained fairly and to satisfaction, in a manner\nperfectly consistent with the preceding assertion.\n\nIf it should be objected, that the original words are not future, and\ntherefore not likely to point out an event so very distant as the\nbirth of CHRIST, it may be answered that the words are, strongly\ntranslated, \"Behold! a virgin is conceiving and bearing a son,\" &c.\nThis mode of speech is the animated but customary style of prophetic\nScripture, which, in order to express the greatest certainty,\ndescribes future events as _past,_ or paints future scenes as\n_present_ to the eye. Thus the same prophet, in his most magnificent\npredictions of the Messiah's birth, exultingly cries, \"Unto us a\nchild IS BORN, unto us a son IS GIVEN:\" and afterwards, in his\npathetic description of the Messiah's sufferings, \"He is despised and\nrejected of men. . . . Surely He HATH BORNE our griefs,\" &c. But\nthough no argument can be drawn against the Christian sense of these\nprophetic words from their expressing the then present time, yet an\nargument of great weight may, and must be, formed upon this very\ncircumstance, in proof of what is here contended for. And certainly,\nif the words mean _\"a virgin is conceiving,\"_ a woman conceiving was\nyet a virgin! this wonderful circumstance was true as to the Virgin\nMary, but it was true as to no other woman.\n\nTo these remarks upon the original language must be added one arising\nfrom the circumstances of the text, for we learn from thence likewise\nthat Isaiah's wife and the birth of a child in the common way cannot\nhave been here intended. And an appeal may safely be made to persons\nof sense, though wholly unacquainted with the Hebrew language,\nwhether it is at all probable that the prophet should address himself\nto the house of David so solemnly, on so interesting an occasion;\nshould awaken their attention; should raise their wonder; should\npromise them in the name of GOD _a sign_ or _miracle;_ should mention\nthe future son, not of a _man_ (as usual) but of a _woman,_ and call\nthat woman _a virgin;_ and should foretell the Birth of IMMANUEL,\n_i.e.,_ GOD WITH US--and yet that no more was meant by all this than\nthat _a son should be born of a young married woman,_ which is\nevidently no wonder, no miracle, at all.\n\nIf then, from this constant signification of the noun for _virgin,_\nfrom the expression of the words in the _present_ tense, and from the\nnature of the context, a son of Isaiah by his wife cannot have been\nhere meant; and if the first opinion be consequently proved\nindefensible, we may now proceed to consider the _second,_ which is\nthat the whole passage of the text relates only to CHRIST.\n\nBut these words cannot be wholly applied to an event distant by more\nthan seven hundred years, because the concluding clause speaks of a\nchild either then born, or to be born soon; and before the child so\nspoken of should be old enough to distinguish natural good from evil,\nthe two kings then advancing against Jerusalem were to be themselves\ndestroyed.\n\nThe _third_ is the option of those who contend for a _double_\ncompletion of some prophecies, and insist that this whole passage\nrelates both to Isaiah's son and to CHRIST; to the former in a\nprimary and literal sense, and in a secondary sense to the latter.\nBut--not to enter into that extensive question, whether though some\nprophecies relate solely to the Messiah, others may, or may not, be\ndoubly fulfilled--I shall only observe, that no such double\ncompletion can possibly take place here.\n\nWhether a secondary sense is insisted on, there we must have a\nprimary sense also which is at least _true._ But the present case\nrenders that impossible. Because, if the principle noun does\neverywhere else signify a _virgin;_ and if it be here meant of the\nVirgin Mary, and was afterwards properly applied to _her,_ it cannot\nwith any truth be applied to the wife of Isaiah. And further, if it\nwere possible for _every other_ prophecy to admit of a double\ncompletion, yet will not _this_--because a child's being conceived\nand born of a virgin happened in the world only _once;_ and\ntherefore, as this prophecy derives its force from specifying a case\n_singular and without example,_ it can be fulfilled in _one_ sense\nonly.\n\nThere remains then the _fourth_ opinion, which is, that the text\ncontains _two_ distinct prophecies, each literal, and each to be\nunderstood in one sense only; the first relating to CHRIST, the\nsecond to Isaiah's son. This, which is the opinion of some eminent\ndefenders of Christianity, will (I presume) appear true and\nsatisfactory, when the end of the first prophecy, and the beginning\nof the second, shall have been properly considered; and when some\nproofs which seem absolutely necessary, but perhaps were never yet\nproduced, shall have been added to former observations.\n\nThe genuine sense of this passage depending greatly on the\ncircumstances of those to whom it was delivered, it is here necessary\nto state the history.\n\nAhaz became King of Judah when the people were greatly corrupted, and\nhe himself was strongly inclined to idolatry. To correct, therefore,\nboth king and people, God permitted a powerful confederacy to take\nplace between Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, king of Israel; who,\ngrowing jealous of their formidable neighbour, invaded Jud\u00e6a in the\nfirst year of Ahaz; and so successfully, that above 100,000 of the\nmen of Ahaz were slain in the battle, and above 200,000 of his people\nwere carried captives into the land of Israel.\n\nFlushed with these successes, the two kings thought that Jerusalem\nitself would soon become an easy prey to their power; and in the\nsecond year of Ahaz marched towards it, with a resolution totally to\nabolish the royal succession, which had been for twelve generations\nin the house of David, and to establish, in the holy city, a heathen\nking, a Syrian, \"the son of Tabeal.\"\n\nAt the approach of these confederates, \"the heart of Ahaz was moved,\nand the hearts of all his people, as the trees of the wood are moved\nwith the wind.\" The consternation was universal, and no wonder. For\nthe young king and the corrupt part of his people would easily be\nled, from the sufferings they had felt, to fear greater. And the\nreligious part of the nation would entertain fears still more\nalarming, fears of the extinction of the house of David; for were\nthat house to fall, then farewell to all their glorious hope of a\nMessiah, a son of David, who was to reign for ever. These men,\ntherefore, no doubt, \"cried unto the Lord in their distresses,\" and\nexpostulated with Him concerning \"the sure mercies of David:\" \"Lord,\nwhere are Thy old loving-kindnesses, which Thou swearest unto David\nin Thy truth?\"\n\nAmidst these distresses, we find Ahaz \"at the end of the conduit of\nthe upper pool,\" probably surveying that chief source of their water,\nand contriving how to secure that water to the city, and defend it\nagainst the enemy. At this place, constantly frequented by the\npeople, and then visited by the king, attended probably by the chiefs\nof his family, Isaiah is commanded to meet him, taking with him\nShear-jashub, and to declare in the name of Jehovah, that the evil\ncounsel against Jerusalem should not come to pass.\n\nThe counsel of these kings was evil, because, in opposition to God's\nappointment of the royal house of David, and His promises thereto\n(particularly of Messiah, the Prince, to spring from thence), their\ncompact was, probably, like Eastern conquerors, to destroy the house\nof David; certainly, to remove the house of David from the throne,\nand to fix in the holy city a heathen king.\n\nThe prophet, having declared to Ahaz that the scheme of the\nconfederates should be frustrated, bids him, at the command of God,\nask some sign or miracle, either in heaven or on earth. \"But Ahaz\nsaid, I will not ask, neither will I tempt Jehovah.\"\n\nThe king's disobedience, however coloured over with a specious piety\nin his allusion to a text of Scripture, appears from the next words\nof the prophet to have been highly censurable. And it probably\nproceeded from his distrust either of the power or the favour of\nJehovah, after Jud\u00e6a had suffered so much from these same enemies who\nworshipped other gods.\n\nThus repulsed by the king, the prophet addresses himself at large to\n\"the house of David;\" and probably there were then present other\npersons of the royal family. \"Hear ye now, O house of David,\" &c.\n\nThe word _\"Therefore\"_ (ver. 14) may, upon good authority, be\ntranslated _\"nevertheless,\"_ a sense very applicable to this place. A\nsign or miracle hath been now offered at the command of God, but is\nrefused; and can _you_ think it of little moment to treat with such\ncontempt both the prophet and his God? \"_Nevertheless,_ the Lord\nHimself will give to _you_ the sign following: Behold, a virgin shall\nconceive, and bear a son, and call His name IMMANUEL. Butter and\nhoney shall He eat, that He may know to refuse the evil, and choose\nthe good.\"\n\nHere, I presume, ends this first prophecy, and the meaning may be\nstated thus: \"Fear not, O house of David, the fate threatened you.\nGod is mindful of His promise to your father, and will fulfil it in a\nvery wonderful manner. Behold, a virgin (rather, THE virgin, the only\none thus circumstanced) shall conceive, and bear a son; which son\nshall therefore be what no other has been or shall be, the seed of\nthe woman, here styled THE VIRGIN; and this son 'shall be called'\n(_i.e.,_ in Scripture language, _He shall be_) IMMANUEL, God with us.\nBut this great Person, this GOD visible amongst men, introduced into\nthe world thus, in a manner that is without example, shall yet be\ntruly _Man:_ He shall be born an infant, and as an infant shall He be\nbrought up; for 'butter and honey' (rather, milk and honey) shall He\neat,--He shall be fed with the common food of infants, which in the\nEast was milk mixed with honey, till He shall know (_not_ that He\n_may_ know, as if such food were to be the cause of such knowledge,\nbut _till_ He shall grow up to know) how to refuse the evil and\nchoose the good.\"\n\nHere, then, we find a comprehensive description of the Messiah, of\nthe \"Word who was made flesh and dwelt among us.\" His Divinity is\nmarked by His being GOD; His residence upon earth, by His being GOD\nWITH US; and His Humanity, by His being born of a woman, and fed with\nthe usual food of infants during His infant state. How perfect is the\nharmony between the parts of this description and the marks of the\ntrue Messiah in other sacred passages; and also between the first\nprophecy in the very beginning of the Old Testament and the\ncompletion of it, first mentioned in the very beginning of the New!\n\nFor the first promise of a Messiah was, that He should be (not the\nseed of Adam, as He would have been called, if to descend from a\nhuman father, but) \"the seed of the woman,\" because He was to be born\nof a virgin. Therefore, the Apostle says, \"When the fulness of time\ncame, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman.\" And that it was GOD,\nnot man, who was to \"prepare a body\" for the Messiah, appears from\nthe fortieth Psalm, according to the Apostle's very remarkable\nquotation of it, where the Messiah is prophetically represented as\nsaying unto God: \"A body didst Thou prepare for Me; then said I, Lo,\nI come; as in the volume of the Book it is written concerning Me.\"\n\nHaving thus endeavoured to illustrate the first prophecy contained in\nthe text, and to defend the application of it to the Virgin Mary's\nconception and birth of Jesus Christ, I shall now briefly state the\nsecond prophecy, which is thus expressed in our present translation,\n\"For before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the\ngood, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her\nkings.\"\n\nNow, that this verse contains a distinct prophecy may be proved thus--\n\n1. The words preceding have been proved to be confined to the\nMessiah, whose birth was then distant above seven hundred years:\nwhereas, the words _here_ are confined to some child who was not to\narrive at years of discretion before the two kings, then advancing\nagainst Jerusalem, should be themselves cut off.\n\n2. Some end was undoubtedly to be answered by the presence of\nIsaiah's son, whom God commanded to take with him on this visit to\nAhaz; and yet no use at all appears to have been made of this son,\nunless he is referred to here.\n\n3. These prophecies are manifestly distinguished by their being\naddressed to different persons: the first being _plural,_ and\naddressed to the house of David; but the second is _singular,_ and\ntherefore is addressed to Ahaz.\n\nWe see, then, that the prophet addressed himself at large to the\n\"house of David,\" when he foretold the birth of the Messiah; which,\nthough the event might be very distant, would give present\nconsolation, as it assured them of the preservation of the house of\nDavid; but that he addressed himself in particular to the king, when\nhe foretold the speedy destruction of the two kings, his enemies.\nNote also, that King Ahaz is the person addressed in the very words\nwhich immediately follow, \"The Lord shall bring upon thee and upon\nthy people, and upon thy father's house, days,\" &c.\n\nThis transition will be the more evident if we render the first word\n_But,_ as the same word is rendered just before in the same passage:\n\"Is it a small thing for you to weary men, _but_ will ye weary my God\nalso?\" It is so rendered in this very place in our old English\nBibles, printed in 1535, 1537, 1539, 1549, 1550.\n\nThe word now rendered _\"the child,\"_ should be here rendered \"THIS\n_child;_\" and the sense of the verse may be then clearly ascertained.\n\nThe necessity for this last rendering has been observed by more than\none expositor, but perhaps no one has quoted any parallel instance,\nor produced proper authority for this necessary change of our\ntranslation. But, that we may not be charged with offering violence\nto an expression, in order to defend the Evangelists or to confute\ntheir adversaries, some authority should be produced in a point on\nwhich so much depends, and I shall mention several passages similar\nto the case now before us.\n\nWhen Jacob blessed Joseph's two sons, he laid his hands upon their\nheads, and used the very same word in the plural number which Isaiah\nhere uses in the singular; and as that word is rendered \"_these_\nchildren\" by the authors of the Greek and other very ancient\nversions, we have their joint authorities for rendering the word here\n\"_this_ child.\"\n\nThe authors of our own translation have not indeed rendered the word\nin the text \"_this_ child,\" but they have shown that it _may_ be so\nrendered, because they have themselves, in several other places,\nexpressed the emphatic article by _this_ and _that_ in the singular\nnumber, and by _these_ in the plural. Thus in Jeremiah xxiii. 21, \"I\nhave not sent _these_ prophets;\" in Numbers xi. 6, \"There is nothing\nbefore our eyes, but _this_ manna;\" in 1 Samuel xxix. 4, \"Make _this_\nfellow to return;\" and, to omit other instances, we read in Jeremiah\nxxviii. 16 (what it is impossible to translate otherwise), \"_This_\nyear thou shalt die.\"\n\nBut besides these instances, in which similar words _may_ and _must_\nbe so rendered, agreeably to our present translation, in this same\nverse of Isaiah there is the authority of our old English translation\nfor both the alterations here proposed; for the very first printed\nedition, and at least two others, render these words, \"_But_ or ever\n_that_ child,\" &c. And, to obviate any prejudice against the other\nalteration before proposed, it should be observed that so far from\ntheir being now first thought of to favour any new opinions, almost\nall of them are the very readings in our former English Bibles, from\nwhich our present has varied in this and other instances very\nimproperly.\n\nThe translation of the principal word here by _this child_ being thus\nvindicated, it may perhaps be asked who this child was, and the\nanswer is, A son of Isaiah, called _Shear-jashub,_ whom God had\ncommanded the prophet to take with him upon this occasion, but of\nwhom no use was made, unless in the application of these words;--whom\nIsaiah might now hold in his arm, and to whom therefore he might\npoint with his hand when he addressed himself to Ahaz, and said, \"But\nbefore _this_ child shall grow up to discern good from evil, the land\nthat thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.\" There is an\nabsolute necessity of attending to this action in several other\nsacred passages, as in John ii. 18, 19. \"What sign showest\nThou? . . . Destroy this temple;\" our Lord there pointing to His own\nbody.\n\nThe child's name is evidently prophetical, for it signifies, _a\nremnant,_ or the remainder, _shall return._ And probably he was so\ncalled because born the year before, when such multitudes were\ncarried captives into the land of Israel; and this by way of\nprediction to the Jews that, though they had lost 100,000 men by the\nsword in one day, and double that number by captivity, yet those who\nremained alive--the _remnant_--certainly should return to their own\ncountry.\n\nThis prophecy was soon after fulfilled. And therefore, this son,\nwhose name had been so consolatory the year before, was with the\nutmost propriety brought forth now, and made the subject of a second\nprophecy--namely, that before _that_ child, then in the second year\nof his age, should be able to distinguish natural good from\nevil--before he should be about four or five years old--the lands of\nSyria and Israel, spoken of here as one kingdom, on account of their\npresent union and confederacy, should be \"forsaken of both her\nkings:\" which, though at the time highly improbably, came to pass\nabout two years afterwards, when those two kings, who had in vain\nattempted to conquer Jerusalem, were themselves destroyed, each in\nhis own country.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\"If the miraculous birth of Christ were true, yet how could an event\nso very distant be properly a _sign,_ at the time when the prophecy\nwas delivered?\"\n\nTo this natural and important question, Dr. Kennicott answers:--\n\nThe original word for a _sign_ means also a _miracle._ And as God had\noffered _Ahaz_ a miracle to be _then_ performed, which had been\nrefused, God Himself promises to _the house of David_ a miracle which\nshould be performed, not then, but _afterwards._ But the word\nsignifies, not only something done at present, to induce a belief of\nsomething future, but also something to be done afterwards, declared\nbeforehand in confirmation of something foretold.\n\nThus, when God commanded Moses to go from the wilderness into Egypt\nto demand the dismission of his brethren, God assures him of success,\nand tells him: \"This shall be _a sign_ unto thee; when thou hast\nbrought forth the people, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.\"\n\nAnd thus, when the Assyrians were marching against Jerusalem in the\ndays of Hezekiah, Isaiah is again commanded to declare that the city\nshall not be taken; and after saying, \"This shall be _a sign_ unto\nyou,\" he specifies several particulars which were all future.[1]\n\nIf then a thing, at all future, may be declared as _a sign,_ it makes\nno difference whether the thing be future by three years or three\nhundred, provided that one circumstance be observed--which is, that\nthe man, or body of men, to whom the fact is declared to be a sign\nshall exist to see the thing accomplished. This was manifestly the\ncase here. For not only Ahaz, to whom the second prophecy was\ndelivered, saw that fulfilled as to the two kings his enemies, but\nalso the house of David, to whom the first prophecy as addressed, saw\n_that_ fulfilled in JESUS CHRIST.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Compare also our Lord's treatment of the demand for a sign,\n     Matt. xii. 38-40. In this case also, to unbelievers, was\n     given a \"sign\" which they could not possibly have\n     understood when it was given.\n\n\n\nIMMANUEL.\n\n     vii. 14. _And shall call His name Immanuel._\n\nHis being \"called so,\" according to the usual dialect of the Hebrew,\ndoes not signify so much that this should be His usual name, as that\nthis should be His real character.\n\n+I. Explain the meaning of this great and extraordinary title,+\nIMMANUEL (_cf._ viii. 8 and Matt. i. 23). This title may be\nconsidered under a double reference, either, 1. To the constitution\nof His person; or, 2. To His office and actings as mediator. 1. It is\none of the great mysteries of the Christian revelation that \"God was\nmanifest in the flesh.\" The eternal Son of God became man, and was\nboth God and man in His own person. In a matter of pure revelation,\nand of so sublime a nature, it is certainly the wisest and safest\ncourse to keep close to the revelation, and make it the standard and\nmeasure of all our conceptions about it. 2. As mediator, He is\n_Immanuel_ in this sense, that in Him the presence and favour of God\nwith His people are most eminent and conspicuous. This has always\nbeen true. (1.) As a distant friend is said to be \"with us\" whose\nheart and thoughts are with us (1 Cor. v. 3), so Christ was\n_Immanuel_ from all eternity as to His purpose and design of mercy,\nand as His heart was towards us with thoughts of pleasure (Prov.\nxxix. 30). (2.) All the appearances of God to His people under the\nOld Dispensation were appearances of Christ (John i. 18, v. 37;\n2 Cor. iv. 6). 3. As He took our nature and became man. This is the\nessential and highest meaning of our text. He took upon Him _our_\nnature, with all its parts and powers, all its natural affections and\ninfirmities, sin only excepted. 4. As He conversed with men, and\nrevealed the will of God to them. 5. As He offered Himself a\nsacrifice for sin, and reconciled God and man together. This is\nmentioned by the Evangelist in the same context (Matt. i. 21). This\nwas the great end of His taking our nature, and coming into the world\n(Heb. v. 9). 6. As He gives His Spirit to every true believer, and is\npowerfully present with them to the end of the world. He is present\nin them, on the principle of Divine life in their souls (John\nxiv. 16; Ephes. iii. 17). He is present with them whensoever they\nassemble to hear His Word or observe His ordinances (Matt. xviii. 20;\nJohn xx. 19). He is always present with His Church to preserve and\nsuccour it. 7. As He will be the visible Judge of the world at last;\nHe will be the Judge in our nature who was Saviour of our nature\n(John v. 22; Acts xvii. 13). 8. He will be the glorious and\ntriumphant Head of the redeemed world for ever. Their happiness will\nlie very much in being with Him and beholding His glory; and their\nemployment in adoring love and triumphant grace.\n\n+II. Consider why this declaration fills the hearts of God's people\nwith joy.+ 1. God is here presented to us as we need Him. God\nabsolutely considered is an awful name; the Divine majesty is bright\nand glorious, apt to strike an awe upon our minds, to awaken a sense\nof guilt, and keep us at a distance from Him (Gen. iii. 10; Deut.\nxxvii. 58; Job xiii. 21). But now He is _God with us,_ God in our\nnature, conversing with sinful men, and concerned for their good;\nthis abates the natural dread of our minds, and is a ground of holy\nfreedom towards Him (Eph. ii. 18; iii. 12). 2. The union in Christ of\nall Divine and human perfections--(1) Is the reason of our worship\nand adoration of Him; (2) Is the proper ground of confidence and\ntrust in Him. We may safely depend upon Him for the accomplishment of\nHis promises and the salvation of our souls, for He is an\nall-sufficient Saviour. 3. By this great doctrine the solemnity of\nour future life is relieved. The consideration of Immanuel, or God,\nin our nature, has been found by pious and devout persons a great\nrelief to their thoughts of the final blessedness; we can conceive\nwith greater ease, and with a more sensible pleasure, of being with\nChrist than of being with the absolute Deity.\n\n+III. Consider some of the duties which arise out of this wonderful\nand glorious fact.+ 1. Let us adore the amazing condescension of our\nblessed Redeemer, who stooped from heaven to earth, consented to\nbecome a man, and submitted to die a sacrifice (Phil. ii. 7, 8).\n2. Let us maintain constantly and boldly before all men the doctrine\nof His deity. If He were only a man, or only a creature, of how a\nrank soever and however dignified, He could not be _God with us;_ He\ncould not restore the fallen world, or obtain by His sacrifice the\npardon of sin, or give eternal life. 3. Be always ready to approach\nHim. Wait upon Him in all the ways of acceptable worship, for the\nmanifestation of His favour and communication of His grace, for\nfurther discoveries of His will, and fresh supplies of His Spirit.\nParticularly attend upon Him at His _table;_ here He is with us in a\nmore familiar and sensible manner in the brightest displays of His\nmercy and the largest communications of His grace. 4. Regard His\npresence with you in all your use of the means of grace. 'Tis\nreckoned a rude affront among men, and a token of great disrespect,\nto take no notice of a great personage or overlook a superior. Regard\nHis presence with you as a mark of condescending favour, and as the\nlife and soul of all the ordinances you attend upon. This will hallow\nyour thoughts in the use of them, and make them to you \"means of\ngrace\" indeed.--_W. Harris: Practical Discourses on the Principal\nRepresentations of the Messiah throughout the Old Testament,_ pp.\n275-304.\n\n\n\nTHE GREAT OBJECT OF CHILD-TRAINING.\n\n     (_A Sunday-School Anniversary Sermon._)\n\n     vii. 16. _The child shall know to refuse the evil, and\n     choose the good._\n\nThese words, taken above, form a complete sentence; yet they occur in\nthe clause of a sentence which is intended to denote a space of time.\nBefore the child which Isaiah held in his arms[1] should know the\ndifference between right and wrong certain events would take place:\nin other words, before a space of four or five years at the most\nwould elapse, certain things would occur. But it is not our intention\nto discuss the prophecy itself; we shall find it more in harmony with\nthe present occasion, and perhaps more profitable, to consider what\nmay be suggested to us by these words thus taken apart from their\ncontext.\n\n_\"The child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.\"_\nThere is nothing else so important for any child to know as this\n(H. E. I. 1751). Seldom made the object of education; consequently\nthe majority of lives are failures. No child knows this without\ntraining: the child's natural tendencies are precisely the reverse of\nthis. But, if this training is urgently needed, how immense and\ndifficult is the task of those who undertake to give it! How\ndifficult it often is to discern between what is good and what is\nevil--in all the realms of thought and activity; especially in the\nmoral realm. The difficulty of the text is not to cause us to decline\nit. We have wonderful helps in it. 1. GOD'S WORD. What a wonderful\nhelp that is! What a proof that in the Bible we have God's Word is\nthis, that for helpfulness in this task no other book can be compared\nwith it (H. E. I., 506, 508, 509). Our text reminds us of what should\nbe our object in the Scriptural teaching we give our children. What\nvalue is there in any so-called Scriptural instruction that does not\ntend to cultivate spiritual discernment--hate of what is evil, and\nlove of what is good? 2. THE EXAMPLE OF CHRIST, \"the law drawn out in\nliving characters.\" Let us not overlook or neglect to use this\nmarvellous instrumentality and help. 3. THE HOLY SPIRIT. Always ready\nto co-operate with us. Christian parents, let the remembrance of\nthese helps encourage you to resume this supremely important task\nwith fresh vigour. Keep it ever in view, aim at the whole of it. The\ntraining which consists merely in fighting against evil is foredoomed\nto fail. The child must be taught, not merely to refuse the evil, but\nto choose the good. Do not be content in the field of your child's\nheart merely to plough up the weeds; so there the corn which, when it\nis full grown, shall overshadow and kill the weeds which, in spite of\nall your efforts, will struggle for a place there. In those who\nundertake to give this training, there is imperative need of\nseriousness, humility, hopefulness, and a wise comprehensiveness.\nConsider what will be the result of success in child-training such as\nthis. 1. Our children will be spared from indescribable misery.\n2. They will grow continually in all that is noble and love-worthy.\n3. Learning to choose what is good, they will necessarily choose God\nas He has been thus revealed to us in Jesus Christ. 4. Beholding them\nthus allied in heart and will to the supreme source of all goodness,\nand daily becoming more like Him, we shall feel that all our labours\nand sacrifices for them are overpaid.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] See the paper entitled THE VIRGIN'S SON.\n\n\n\nA SENTENCE OF DOOM.\n\n     vii. 17-25. _The Lord shall bring upon thee, and upon thy\n     people, &c._\n\n\n+I. God is sovereign in the whole earth.+ He is the great controller\nof all nations. All governments are but instruments which He uses\nwhen and as He pleases (vers. 17-21). A thought full of comfort for\nthe righteous, of terror for the unrighteous.\n\n+II. The consequent insecurity of all prosperity that is not based\nupon, and promotive of, righteousness+ (ver. 23). True of nations:\nBritain will be \"_Great_ Britain\" only so long as God pleases. True\nof individuals: (H. E. I. 3991, 4403-4406).\n\n+III. Whatever chastisements God may have inflicted, He has always a\nmore terrible one behind+ (ver. 17).\n\nIV. Seeing that all these things were threatened against and\ninflicted upon God's chosen people, learn that +no mercy that God\nhas shown us will furnish any immunity for us, if, notwithstanding\nthat mercy, we sin against Him.+ There is a tendency in our evil\nhearts to think, that because God has been spiritually good to us, we\nmay sin with less risk than others; but the teaching of the Bible is,\nthat those who \"turn the grace of God into lasciviousness\" shall be\nvisited with a sorer doom than others (H. E. I. 4564, 4568, 4570).\n\n\n\nMAHER-SHALAL-HASH-BAZ.\n\n     viii. 1-4. _Moreover, the Lord said unto me, Take thee a\n     great roll,_ &c._[1]\n\nThis singular record reminds us, +I. How marvellously varied are the\nmeans which God employs to bring men to a knowledge and belief of\nsaving truth.+ That which God's ancient people needed to save them\nfrom their mistakes and miseries was real faith in the elementary\ntruth that God is the only safe counsellor, for this simple reason,\nthat He alone sees the end from the beginning. All their\ncircumstances, interpreted by merely human wisdom, seemed to point to\nthe desirableness of an alliance with Assyria, the very thing which\nGod by His prophets emphatically forbade. That it might be easier for\nthem to believe what seemed so incredible, namely, that the Assyrian\nalliance would be a calamity and not a blessing to them, God gave, in\naddition to the testimonies of His prophets to this effect, a\nprophecy of an event seemingly as incredible, namely, that the great\npower of the two nations, Israel and Syria, from which they had\nsuffered so much, and which seemed so likely to be permanent, and on\naccount of which they sought Assyrian help, should be utterly broken,\nand that speedily. God predicted this in words (chap. vii. 4-9), and\nHe condescended to a symbolic act that He might impress this truth\nmore vividly on their minds. It is of that symbolic act that we have\nthe record here. Now that God took so much trouble for such a purpose\nis a fact worth thinking about. As a matter of fact, it is but one\ninstance of His constant method of dealing with men. He is so bent on\nbringing them to a knowledge and belief of truth that to them would\nbe saving, that He shrinks from no trouble at all likely to secure\nthis result (Jer. vii. 13, 25; Heb. i. 1; Luke xx. 10-13).\nIllustrate, _e.g.,_ how various are the methods by which He\nendeavours to awaken a careless soul to anxiety, and to effect its\nconversion! What is the explanation of this versatility and ingenuity\nof methods in dealing with us? It is the tenderness of His love for\nus; it is His yearning solicitude for our welfare.\n\n+II. How mercifully clear are the warnings by which God seeks to turn\nmen from ruinous courses.+ The tablet[2] on which Isaiah was to write\nwas to be large, and he was to write upon it \"with a man's pen,\" an\nobscure expression, but yet at least meaning this, that the writing\nupon it was to be easily legible (Hab. ii. 2). It is true that though\nthe words on the tablet were easily legible, their meaning was\nobscure. But that very obscurity was of a kind to excite inquiry\n(Dan. v. 5-7), and that inquiry earnestly and honestly conducted\nwould have led God's ancient people to a saving knowledge of truth.\nThus it is with all the warnings contained in God's Word (H. E. I.\n602-606).\n\n+III. How important it is that God's servants should be prudent as\nwell as zealous.+ After the prophecy was fulfilled, unbelief might\nhave questioned whether it had ever been given, and therefore Isaiah,\nacting under Divine direction, selected two witnesses whose testimony\ncould not be gainsaid.[3] Probably that which they were required to\ntestify was, that the prophecy, _and its interpretation,_ was\ndelivered to them on a certain day; the interpretation embracing both\nthe facts, that to the prophet another son was to be born, and that\nwhile still in his infancy the two nations of which Judah stood in\ndread should themselves be conquered. Isaiah was thus acting on the\ngeneral principle given by our Lord for the guidance of His people\n(Matt. x. 16). Now, as then, His prophets, while loyally obedient to\nHis directions, should maintain a constant wariness and prudence, in\norder that the testimony they bear for Him should be placed beyond\ncavil and dispute.\n\n+IV. How certain of accomplishment are the prophecies involved in\nGod-given names.+ The prophecy contained in the name bestowed on this\nchild of Isaiah's was fulfilled.[4] So already had that implied in\nthe name bestowed on the child previously born to him,\n_Shear-jashub,_ \"a remnant shall return.\"[5] As it was with the sons\nof Isaiah, so is it with the Son of God. The names bestowed on Him\nare not merely glorious but empty titles. He is the very truth JESUS\nand IMMANUEL (Matt. i. 21-23). He is JESUS because IMMANUEL. On the\npromises involved in these great names we may lay hold with joyful\nconfidence, for they also shall be fulfilled.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] In the first chapter of Hosea occurs a like instance of\n     symbolic names given by a prophet to his children, and in\n     Habakkuk ii. 2, we have mention of the practice of writing\n     a prophecy on a tablet in easily legible characters, and\n     hanging it up in the Temple, market-place, or other public\n     resort. And most modern commentators prefer to think that\n     Isaiah now merely inscribed \"HASTE PLUNDER, SPEED SPOIL,\"\n     in large letters on a metal or waxed tablet, the \u05dc\u05b4 which\n     the Authorised Version translates \"concerning,\" being the\n     _Lamed_ inscription is, in Jerem. xlix. 1, 7, 23, 28; Ezek.\n     xxxvii. 16; though it may be observed that the direction to\n     \"tie up and seal the testimony,\" in ver. 16, is in favour\n     of the older version, which understands him to have made a\n     record of his expectation of the birth of the child, and of\n     the significance of that birth, at some length. He wrote\n     \"with a man's pen,\" or \"style,\"--a phrase not unlike our\n     \"common hand\" or \"popular style;\" and he took as credible\n     witnesses that the record had preceded the event, Uriah the\n     high priest at the time (2 Kings xvi. 10), and Zechariah,\n     who was not improbably the father-in-law of Ahaz and a\n     Levite (2 Kings xxviii. 2; 2 Chron. xxix. 1, 18). He calls\n     his wife \"the prophetess,\" as the wife of a king is called\n     a queen (says Vitringa), though she does not reign, and in\n     some old ecclesiastical canons the wife of a bishop\n     \"episcopa,\" and of a presbyter \"presbytera;\" and he thus\n     claims for her a place with her husband and children (see\n     ver. 18) in the holy and symbolic family, who are for \"a\n     sign in Israel.\" She gave birth to a child, and his name\n     was called, in accordance with the writing, \"Haste-plunder,\n     Speed-spoil,\" that the people might understand that before\n     he was old enough to utter the words \"father\" and\n     \"mother,\"--that is, within a short but somewhat indefinite\n     period such as we should express by \"in a year or two from\n     his birth,\"--the spoils of the plundered cities of Samaria\n     and Damascus, the capitals of the nations now invading\n     Judah, shall have been carried before the Assyrian\n     conqueror in triumph.\n\n     In order to realise the practical impressiveness of such\n     symbolic acts and names upon Isaiah's contemporaries, we\n     must remember that Jerusalem was a very small town for size\n     and population compared with the notion we insensibly get\n     of a capital from our own vast London; and also that there\n     was as little in the ways of thinking and living of that\n     age and country as in the extent of the city to effect such\n     a separation between a public man's political and private\n     life as exists in England. We respect the domestic reserve\n     of our neighbours, and we fortify ourselves in the like\n     reserve, by our habit of learning what they are doing that\n     concerns us through the newspaper which we read by our own\n     fireside. With no newspapers, and a climate which\n     encouraged an out-of-door life, the people of Jerusalem\n     would become as familiar with that personal demeanour of\n     Isaiah in the market-place or elsewhere which he made a\n     part of his public ministry, as we are with the mental\n     habits and political conduct of Mr. Gladstone or Mr.\n     Disraeli, though the greater part of us would recognise\n     neither of them by sight, and still fewer know anything of\n     their personal and private life.--_Strachey._\n\n [2] _A great roll._ Rather, _a large tablet:_ of wood or metal,\n     covered with a smooth surface of wax; which, when written\n     upon, was hung up in public for all to read (cf. Jer.\n     xxxii. 11, 14).--_Kay._\n\n [3] _Faithful witnesses._ Or, _sure_ witnesses; whose testimony\n     none would be able to gainsay: partly, because of their\n     rank, but still more, it would seem, from their being\n     adherents of Ahaz. For \"Uriah the priest\" can scarcely be\n     any other than the one who made the Syrian altar after the\n     description sent him from Damascus by Ahaz (2 Kings\n     xvi. 10-16); thereby (as Mr. Birks notices) furnishing\n     incontrovertible evidence of the fulfilment of Isaiah's\n     prediction. Zechariah may have been Ahaz's own\n     father-in-law (2 Chron. xxix. 1).--_Kay._\n\n [4] Isaiah's interview with Ahaz (chap. vii.), the preparation\n     of the tablet, the birth of Isaiah's child, and the\n     conquest of Syria and Israel by the Assyrians under\n     Tiglath-pileser all took place within the year 743-739 B.C.\n\n     _Alexander_ remarks on ver. 4:--\"Samaria is here put for\n     the kingdom, and not for the capital city. But even if the\n     name be strictly understood, there is no reason to doubt\n     that Samaria was plundered by Tiglath-pileser (2 Kings\n     xv. 29), although not destroyed. . . . The carrying away of\n     its wealth does not necessarily imply anything more than\n     such a spoiling of the capital as might be expected in the\n     course of a brief but successful invasion.\"\n\n [5] See Dr. Kennicott's remarks on _Shear-jashub_ in preceding\n     paper: THE VIRGIN'S SON.\n\n\n\nTHE STREAM REJECTED FOR THE RIVER.\n\n     viii. 5-8. _Forasmuch as this people refuseth, &c._\n\nFor \"rejoice _in_ Rezin and Remaliah's son,\" read \"rejoice\n_concerning_ Rezin and Remaliah's son,\" _i.e.,_ rejoice in the\ndisaster which had befallen the allied powers who had inflicted such\ndisasters upon Judah, and had threatened it with utter destruction.\n\nWe have here a prophecy given in symbols. One of them is explained by\nthe prophet himself. He explains that by \"the river\" he means the\nKing of Assyria. Commentators are generally of opinion that by \"the\nwaters of Shiloah\" is meant the Davidic dynasty, which God, on\ncertain conditions, had pledged Himself to maintain. But this put\nthem to hard shifts to explain the rejoicing of the people. It is\nbetter to regard \"the waters of Shiloah\" as symbolical of the help\nwhich God offered His people. The contrast then becomes intelligible.\nBecause that help was unseen--apprehensible only by faith--it seemed\nto the multitudes, when compared with that which the King of Assyria\nwas visibly rendering them, in the overthrow of Syria and Israel, to\nbe as little worthy of consideration as is the little stream of\nShiloah[1] in comparison with that mighty river, the Euphrates.[2] We\nhave, then, here _the case of men who are rejoicing in a success that\nis godless,_ that has been obtained by the rejection of God; and we\nare here told what the end of that success must be. Thus we find a\ntheme that bears upon our life to-day.\n\n1. Whatever be our life-work, there are two ways of seeking success\nin it--with God, or without God. 2. If we take God to be our ally, we\nmust do our work on _His_ terms and plans. But these are frequently\ncontrary to our natural expectations, and opposed to what the world\ncalls \"common sense.\" As helps to a speedy and great success, they\nseem to most men as despicable as the little stream of Shiloah in\ncomparison with the broad river Euphrates. 3. Consequently the vast\nmajority of men reject them, and seek for success without God, and\ncontrary to His methods (H. E. I. 4198). 4. In this way, they\nfrequently speedily attain to a success which appears to be a\ncomplete justification of the wisdom of their policy. When the\nprophecy contained in our text was uttered, the forces of Syria and\nIsrael were being swept away by the triumphant Assyrian host, and no\ndoubt Ahaz and His court felt they could afford to laugh at Isaiah,\nwho had steadily opposed the alliance which appeared to have been so\nadvantageous. 5. But the triumph of the wicked is short. The unholy\nsuccess in which bad men rejoice contains within itself the seeds of\nperil and pain, of retribution, and ruin (H. E. I. 4609, 4612). The\nally in whom Ahaz had trusted presently became his oppressor; it was\na verification in actual life of the fable of the horse that took a\nman for its ally. So it is to-day with all who prosper without God\nand against God. Their prosperity is, strictly speaking, unnatural,\nand everything that is unnatural speedily brings on disorder. For\nexample, a family has been enriched by godless plans; to those who\nhave no fear of God in their hearts, there is nothing so perilous as\nwealth; it is used for the gratification of the baser passions; by\nthis gratification health is broken down; when the physical frame is\nshattered, conscience, that has been suppressed, breaks forth into\nfreedom and activity, and remorse turns the gilded palace into a\nhell. The illustrations of the working of this great law are endless.\n\nPRACTICAL APPLICATIONS.--1. In the conduct of daily life, as well as\nin our spiritual concerns, let us walk by faith, not by sight. God's\nhelp, though it may seem inconsiderable as Shiloah's stream, is yet,\nlike that stream, constant. Our reliance upon it will never issue in\ndisappointment. By means of it we shall certainly attain to all the\nprosperity that would be for our real welfare (H. E. I. 3984-3986,\n5059, 5060). 2. Let us not envy the prosperity of the wicked\n(H. E. I. 4943-4948, 4961-4966). It is short-lived, like the mighty\nflood of Euphrates itself. Out of that very prosperity heart-aches\ninnumerable will spring. The rejoicing that is so exultant and\nscornful to-day, to-morrow will be turned into lamentation and woe.\nThen those who triumphed without God will find that in defeat they\nare without Him: this will be their description, \"Without God, and\nwithout hope in the world.\" 3. When Jesus of Nazareth was called to\nchoose between the stream and the river, His decision was prompt and\nunhesitating (Matt. iv. 8-10). Up to the very end of His life His\nchoice seemed to have been a foolish one (Matt. viii. 20); on Calvary\nit seemed to have been madness: but all history since has been a\nvindication of its wisdom (Phil. ii. 9, 10).\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] All accounts combined in asserting that the waters of the\n     two pools of Siloam, as well as that of the many fountains\n     of the \"Mosque of Omar,\" proceed from a spring or reservoir\n     of water beneath the Temple vaults. There was no period of\n     its history when such a provision would not have been\n     important to the Temple for the ablutions of the Jewish, no\n     less than of the Mussulman, worship; or to the city, which\n     else was dry even to a proverb. It was the treasure of\n     Jerusalem, its support through all its numerous sieges, the\n     _\"fons perennis aqu\u00e6\"_ of Tacitus, the source of Milton's\n\n             \"Brook that flowed\n        Hard by the oracle of God.\"\n\n     But, more than this, it was the image which entered into\n     the very heart of the prophetical idea of Jerusalem (Ps.\n     xlvi. 4, lxxxvii. 7; Isa. xii. 3). It is the source of all\n     the freshness and verdure of the vale of Hinnom. In\n     Ezekiel's vision the thought is expanded into a vast\n     cataract flowing out through the Temple rock eastward and\n     westward into the ravines of Hinnom and Kedron, till they\n     swell into a mighty river, fertilising the desert of the\n     Dead Sea. And with still greater distinctness the thought\n     appears again, and for the last time, in the discourse,\n     when in the courts of the Temple, \"in the last day, that\n     great day of the feast\" [of Tabernacles], \"Jesus stood and\n     cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto\n     Me. . . . out of his belly shall flow rivers of living\n     water.\"--_Stanley._\n\n     The expression in Isaiah, \"waters of Shiloah that go\n     softly,\" seems to point to the slender rivulet, flowing\n     gently, though once very profusely, out of Siloam into the\n     lower breadth of level, where the king's gardens, or \"royal\n     paradise,\" stood, and which is still the greenest spot\n     about the Holy City, reclaimed from sterility into a fair\n     oasis of olive groves, fig-trees, pomegranates, &c., by the\n     tiny rill that flows out of Siloam. A winter-torrent, like\n     the Kedron, or a swelling river like the Euphrates, carries\n     havoc with it by sweeping off soil, trees, and terraces;\n     but this Siloam-fed rill flows softly, fertilising and\n     beautifying the region through which it passes.--_Bonar._\n\n [2] The Euphrates, _i.e.,_ the good and abounding river. The\n     Euphrates is the largest, the longest, and by far the most\n     important of the rivers of Western Asia. It rises from two\n     chief sources in the Armenian mountains . . . they meet at\n     _Kebben-Maten,_ nearly in the long. 39\u00b0 E. from Greenwich,\n     having run respectively 400 and 270 miles. Here the stream\n     formed by their combined waters is 120 yards wide, rapid\n     and very deep. . . . The entire course is calculated at\n     1760 miles, nearly 650 more than that of the Tigris, and\n     only 200 short of that of the Indus; and of this distance\n     more than two-thirds (1200 miles) is navigable for boats,\n     and even, as the expedition of Colonel Chesney proved, for\n     small steamers. The width of the river is greatest at the\n     distance of 700 or 800 miles from its mouth, that is to\n     say, from its junction with the _Khabour_ to the village of\n     Werai. It there averages 400 yards. . . . The annual\n     inundation of the Euphrates is caused by the melting of the\n     snows in the Armenian highlands. It occurs in the month of\n     May. . . . The Tigris scarcely ever overflows, but the\n     Euphrates inundates large tracts on both sides of its\n     course from H\u00eet downwards.--_Rawlinson._\n\n     Considered in a commercial respect, as well as with regard\n     to its uses in agriculture, the Euphrates manifestly stood\n     in the same relation to Babylon and the surrounding region\n     that the Nile did to Egypt; it was the source, to a large\n     extent, of its prosperity, and the most important element\n     of its greatness. It is in this relation that the\n     _symbolical_ use of the Euphrates in Scripture proceeds,\n     and by keeping it in view the several passages will be\n     found to admit to an easy explanation. Contributing so\n     materially to the resources and wealth of Babylon, the\n     river was naturally taken for an emblem or representative\n     of the city itself, and of the empire of which it was the\n     capital. In this respect a striking application is made of\n     it by the prophet Isaiah (chap. viii. 5-8), where the\n     little kingdom of Judah, with its circumscribed territory\n     and its few earthly resources, on the one hand is seen\n     imaged in the tiny brooklet of Shiloah; while, on the\n     other, the rising power of Babylon is spoken of under the\n     emblem of \"the waters of the river, strong and many, even\n     the King of Assyria and all his glory.\" And he goes on to\n     expose the folly of Israel's [Judah's] trusting in this\n     foreign power on account of its material greatness, by\n     declaring that in consequence of this mistaken trust, and\n     in chastisement of it, the mighty stream would, as it were,\n     desert its proper channel, and turn its waters in a\n     sweeping and desolating flood over the Holy\n     Land.--_Fairbairn._\n\n\n\nTHE WATERS OF SHILOAH.\n\n     viii. 6-8. _Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of\n     Shiloah that go softly, &c._\n\nReminded, I. That the peaceful blessing of the people of God appear\nin lovely contrast to the false and tumultuous pursuits and pleasures\nof the world (H. E. I. 1080-1084, 4163-4168). II. That those who\ndespise and neglect God's promised blessings expose themselves to His\nsevere displeasure.--_Samuel Thodey._\n\n\nI. _The state of mind referred to:_ A disposition to reject God's\npromises of salvation, and rest on the hopes, promises, and resources\nof the world. We see it manifested, 1. In the systems of religion men\nprefer. 2. In the schemes of worldly aggrandisement they pursue.\n3. In the sources of consolation to which they betake themselves\n(H. E. I. 174). II. _The consequence of continuance in this state of\nmind._ 1. Mental darkness and sorrow of heart. 2. Providential\nchastisements.--_Samuel Thodey._\n\n\n\nTHREATENED, BUT SAFE.\n\n     viii. 9, 10. _Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be\n     broken in pieces, &c._\n\nThis is a shout of triumphant defiance which Ahaz and his people\nmight have raised, had they listened to Isaiah's counsels, and turned\nto the Lord with full purpose of heart. Then they might have been\nthreatened by foes numerous, powerful, determined, and confederated,\nbut they would have been safe. Its doctrine clearly is, that it\nmatters not who may be against us, if God be with us. This has been\nthe faith of God's people in all generations.\n\n+I. On what ground does it rest?+ 1. On what may be regarded as a\nsettled conviction of the human mind, that this world, disordered as\nit is, is really governed by a righteous Ruler, omnipotent and\nall-wise, and that it must be well with those who have Him on their\nside. 2. On the declarations of God's Word (Gen. xv. 1; Ps. xxxiv. 7;\nIsa. liv. 17, &c.) 3. On the experience of His people as recorded in\nHis Word. The promise to Abraham was kept; David (1 Sam. xvii. 37);\nHezekiah (2 Kings xix. 32-35); Daniel and his companions (Dan.\nvi. 22, iii. 28); Peter (Acts xii. 7). On these accounts His people\nhave felt and expressed the utmost contempt for, and defiance of,\ntheir foes (Ps. xxvii. 1-6; Micah vii. 8-10). Old as these utterances\nare, they express the confidence of countless thousands to-day. But,\n+II.+ Let us look at +the grounds that might cause us to hesitate to\nreceive it.+ 1. There is the undoubted fact that we are living in a\nworld in which many things happen that are contrary to what we would\nhave expected; and it would be only one more contradiction of our _\u00e0\npriori_ expectations if a good man, or a number of good men, were\nutterly destroyed by a number of bad men. 2. As a matter of fact,\nthis has often happened. Who were \"the noble army of martyrs,\" but\ngood men who suffered intolerable wrongs, and were put to cruel\ndeaths? If Peter was delivered, James, his fellow-apostle, was left\nto his fate (Acts xii. 2); yea, Peter himself at last died by the\nhands of the executioner, as did nearly all the Apostles. See, what a\nterrible record of the sufferings of righteous men we have in Heb.\nxi. 35-37. +III. How are these two sets of facts to be harmonised?+\nHow account for it that, notwithstanding the latter set, which are\nobvious and not denied, it is still the settled conviction of pious\nand otherwise sensible men, that it shall be well with the righteous?\n1. This _is_ undoubtedly true, on the whole. We see what is the\nteaching of experience, taken on any considerable scale, in the\nfamiliar proverb, \"Honesty is the best policy.\" Deadly as is the\nconflict between the powers of good and of evil, on the whole, the\nvictory is on the side of goodness, of righteousness, of truth. The\nworld grows better, not worse (H. E. I. 1161, 1162). And it is\nmanifest that \"godliness has the promise of the life that now is, as\nwell of that which is to come.\" 2. The exceptions to which our\nattention is directed are necessary. Without them the difficulties in\nthe way of the existence and growth of virtue would be immensely\nincreased. If those who served God ran no risk in doing so, it would\nbe as difficult for them to show that they loved Him for His own\nsake, as it would be for soldiers to prove their bravery, if it were\npossible to send them forth to battle in absolutely impregnable\narmour. If the safety assured to God's people were absolute and\nwithout exceptions, there would be no room for the exercise of faith\nand loyalty. 3. This life is not all. It is but the prelude to our\nreal existence; and for whatever we suffer in God's cause here, we\nshall be abundantly compensated hereafter. So that, with Sir Thomas\nMore, we may say, \"They may take off my head, but hurt me they\ncannot.\"\n\nThis is a plain and sober statement of the facts of this great\nproblem. What are the practical inferences to be drawn from it?\n1. _Let us dismiss from our minds all fears for the cause of truth\nand righteousness. That_ is safe (2 Cor. xiii. 8). God's Church and\nGod's Word will survive all the assaults that are made upon them\n(H. E. I. 642-645, 1246-1251, 2449). 2. _Let us not be greatly\nconcerned as to what may happen to ourselves._ If God pleases, He can\ndeliver us from any danger that may threaten us. If He is not pleased\nto do so, He knows how to make our sufferings promote the cause we\nhave at heart. \"The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church\"\n(P. D. 2421, 2422, 2426). 3. _If we are called to suffer, let us\nrejoice_ (Phil. i. 29; 2 Tim. ii. 9; P. D. 2419).\n\n\n\nBIBLICAL POLITICIANS.\n\n     viii. 11-15. _For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong\n     hand, &c._[1]\n\nGod's people are to be \"a peculiar people.\" Their whole life is to be\ngoverned by Divine principles. 1. By these principles they will be\nsaved from the grievous practical heresy of abstention from public\nlife.[2] Civilised life, especially in a free community, is a\npartnership, and no man has a right to take all the advantages of a\npartnership and evade all its labours and obligations. \"Owe no man\nanything.\" We are bound to labour as well as pray, that God's will\nmay be done on earth as it is done in heaven. The result of\nabstention on the part of Christian men from public life is the\ndomination of bad men, and the employment of the resources of the\ncommunity for evil purposes (Ps. xii. 8). If we need example in this\nmatter, we have the example of the prophets, who were much more than\npreachers of a monastic piety: they were active politicians, and yet\npoliticians of an utterly unworldly type. 2. By these principles they\nwill be guided and kept aid all the duties and difficulties of public\nlife. They will be uplifted above party spirit in all its narrow and\ndebasing forms. Theirs will be that true patriotism which consists in\na steady loyalty to truth, and righteousness, and mercy.\n\nIf we are to be Biblical politicians, and this is the duty of every\nman among us, +I. We shall not necessarily be found on the side of\nthe majority+ (ver. 11). How often God's people have been called to\nstand in what is called \"a miserable minority!\" (Exod. xxiii. 2).\n+II. We shall not necessarily adopt as our own the popular cries+\n(ver. 12).[3] _Vox populi_ is often far other than _Vox Dei._\n+III. We shall not necessarily share in the prevalent feelings of our\ntime,+ whether they be those of fear or of hope (ver. 13). We shall\nknow that no permanent hurt can be done to our nation while it is in\npursuit of righteousness, and that no real advantage can be gained by\nmethods that will not bear the Divine scrutiny. +IV. Our supreme\ndesire will be, not to conciliate men, but to please God+ (ver. 13).\nWe shall consider all public questions, and vote for, and withhold\nour vote from, all public men, as in His sight (Heb. xi. 27). This\nmay cause us often to cut ourselves off from our \"party,\" but this\nwill not trouble us. Hostility may thus be excited against us--will\nbe excited against us, for such \"impracticable men\" are the\nabhorrence of mere politicians; but then God Himself will be to us\n\"for a sanctuary.\"[4] +V. We shall never lose sight of the fact that\nthe penalty of ungodliness in public life is ruin+ (vers. 14, 15).\nThe real Ruler of the world is God, who governs it according to a\nplan of truth, righteousness, and mercy; and every human \"policy\"\nwhich is not consistent therewith, though it may win for its authors\na short-lived triumph, will inevitably plunge those who accept it\ninto disaster. From those who fight against God, utter defeat cannot\nbe far off.\n\nWhen these facts are inwrought in the understandings and consciences\nof God's people and have become influential in their public and\npolitical life, much will have been done to usher in the millennium\nfor which we daily pray, and of which Isaiah himself has given us\nsuch glowing pictures (chaps. ii. 4, xxxii. 16, 17; lx. 17).\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] There was a general panic among the people: \"their heart\n     was moved as the trees of the wood are moved by the wind,\"\n     when they heard that Syria was confederate with Ephraim;\n     their cry was everywhere, \"A confederacy has been made\n     against us, and we must meet it by a counter-alliance with\n     Assyria;\" and the prophet says that he too should have\n     fallen under the influence of this panic, if Jehovah had\n     not laid hold of him with a strong hand, to keep him in the\n     way of dependence on Himself, and if He had not taught him\n     to escape the fear which possessed his fellow-countrymen,\n     by making the Lord of hosts his fear and his dread, by\n     sanctifying Him himself, as he now in His name calls on\n     them to do. To sanctify Jehovah is in mind and practice to\n     recognise Him as the _holy_ God, the Lord who is _absolute_\n     (absolutus), free from the limitations which hinder all\n     other beings from carrying their wills into full operation,\n     and to believe with the whole heart that God does and can\n     govern all things according to the counsel of His own will,\n     and that what He determines does certainly come to pass,\n     however probabilities and appearances may be against the\n     belief (Num. xx. 12; Deut. xxxii. 51; Isa. xxix. 23). To\n     the nation which thus sanctifies Jehovah, He (says Isaiah)\n     will be their sanctuary--their protection against all their\n     enemies. Such was His original covenant with both the\n     houses of Israel, and it still holds good. If, therefore,\n     they will break and renounce it, it becomes a\n     stumbling-block to them. When their statesmen endeavour to\n     remedy present mischief and secure future prosperity, by\n     craftily playing off against one another the nations who\n     they cannot hope to match by force, they are attempting to\n     go counter to the whole plan of Jehovah's government, and\n     they will do it only to their own confusion.--_Strachey._\n\n [2] H. E. I. 4137-4139.\n\n [3] The prophet, and such as were on his side, were not to call\n     that _kesher_ which the great mass of the people called\n     _kesher_ (cf. 2 Chron. xxiii. 13, \"She said, Treason,\n     treason! _Kesher, kesher!\"); . . . the reference is to the\n     conspiracy, as it was called, of the prophet and his\n     disciples. The same thing happened to Isaiah as to Amos\n     (Amos vii. 10) and to Jeremiah. Whenever the prophets were\n     at all zealous in their opposition to the appeal for\n     foreign aid, they were accused and branded as standing in\n     the service of the enemy, and conspiring for the overthrow\n     of the kingdom.--_Delitzsch._\n\n [4] _Mikdash_ generally means the sanctified place or\n     sanctuary, with which the idea of an asylum would easily\n     associate itself, since even among the Israelites the\n     Temple was regarded and respected as an asylum (1 Kings\n     i. 50; ii. 28). . . . _Mikdash_ is really to be taken in\n     this sense, although it cannot be exactly rendered\n     \"asylum,\" since this would improperly limit the meaning of\n     the word. The Temple was not only a place of shelter, but\n     also of grace, blessing, and peace. All who sanctified the\n     Lord of lords He surrounded like temple walls; hid them in\n     Himself, whilst death and tribulation reigned without, and\n     comforted, fed, and blessed them in his own gracious\n     fellowship (chap. iv. 5, 6; Ps. xxvii. 5;\n     xxxi. 20).--_Delitzsch._\n\n\n\n\"HALLOWED BE THY NAME!\"\n\n     viii. 13. _Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself; and let Him\n     be your fear, &c._\n\n\n+I. What is it to \"sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself\"?+ It is, 1. To\nfill our minds with the right thoughts concerning Him.[1] 2. To fill\nour hearts with right feelings towards Him (P. D. 1492-1526).\n+II. How is this to be done?+ By frequent, devout, prayerful, intense\nmeditation on the revelations of Himself which He has been pleased to\ngive (H. E. I. 3507-3514). +III. What will be the effect of doing\nit?+ 1. All other fear and dread will vanish from our minds (1 Sam.\nxiv. 6, xvii. 37; Jer. xxxii. 17; 1 Pet. iii. 14, 15). 2. Thus we\nshall unconsciously and inevitably attain to that heroism of which\nsome of us dream (Ps. xvi. 8; Dan. iii. 16-18; Acts iv. 19, 20).\n3. Thus we shall be qualified for the noblest service of God and man\n(Heb. xi. 24-27; 1 Cor. iv. 3, 4). 4. Thus a divine peace and joy\nwill fill our whole being, as a mighty tide fills every nook and\ncranny of a wide-stretching bay (Ps. civ. 34). We shall rejoice in\nGod as a soldier rejoices in a mighty fortress in which he feels\nsecure from all assaults (2 Sam. xxii. 2, 3).\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] See note [1] from preceding outline: BIBLICAL POLITICIANS.\n\n\n\nGOD OUR REFUGE, OR OUR RUIN.\n\n     viii. 14. _And He shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone\n     of stumbling, &c._\n\nIn God \"we live, and move, and have our being.\" We cannot be\nindependent of, or indifferent to, Him, as we can in regard to some\nof our fellow-men. There can be no neutrality between Him and us. We\nmust be obedient or disobedient to Him, and therefore we must find in\nHim our refuge or our ruin--our helper or our destroyer. That this\nvast truth may be received in our minds, let us take it somewhat in\ndetail.\n\n+I. We have to do with God in Nature.+ It is His world we live in;\nand all its substances and forces are things which He hath made, and\nintends to be used according to His plans. Nay, He acts in them,[1]\nin them He is willing to be our ally, but not our slave. We cannot\nuse Him to carry into effect our whims and fancies, as the old\nmagicians were said to use the genii supposed to be under their\ncontrol. God is of one mind, He changeth not; what is called \"the\nuniformity of the laws of nature\" is one manifestation of His\nunchangeableness; and that unchangeableness is most merciful\n(H. E. I. 3156, 3157, 3173-3177). If we fall in with His laws of\nnature, all nature is on our side; wind and tide then combine to bear\nus into our desired haven; but if we will not do so, the very stones\nof the field will be in league against us (Job v. 23; H. E. I. 3172,\n4612).[2] _E.g.,_ gravitation. If a builder comply with the demands\nof this great law, it will give stability to his structure; but if\nnot, from the very moment they are departed from, it will begin to\npull down the hut or the palace he has builded. So with all the other\nsubstances and forces by which we are surrounded; they are for us or\nagainst us: there is no neutrality possible.\n\n+II. We have to do with God in Providence.+ Not only are we in this\nworld, but whether we like or not, we are under His government. He\nhas laid down laws for our guidance, as communities and as\nindividuals. These laws are vast and comprehensive; they cover every\nrealm of activity and relationship of life; it is impossible for us\nto find ourselves in any place or circumstances in which some of them\nare not in force. If we obey them, they will be our helpers; if we\ndisobey them, they will be our destroyers: obey one, and all others\nstand ready to befriend us; disobey one, and more manifestly all\nothers become hostile to us. Illustrate--1. _Communities._ The law of\nfrugality. The law of freedom of exchange. The supreme law for every\nnation is, that God shall be acknowledged as the supreme ruler, _His_\nwill done, His protection sought and trusted in. It was this law that\nAhaz and his people were setting at defiance (chap. vii.), and God\nforewarned them that He would not stand idly by and see it broken\n(chap. vii. 17-20). If any nation commit itself to a godless policy,\nit may achieve a transient triumph thereby (ver. 6), but disaster is\ninevitable (ver. 7). It may be delayed, but it is only that it may\ncome in more awful form. United States of America: their maintenance\nof slavery when England abolished it, and their civil war.\n2. _Individuals._ The comprehensive law (Matt. vii. 12): if a man\nobey it, the very constitution of society fights for him; if he\ndisobey it, that same constitution fights against him. From God, as\nthe God of Providence, we cannot escape; we must have to do with Him\nas friend or foe. Those men who deliberately put Him out of their\nthoughts and plans find it so: just when they seem to themselves to\nbe triumphing in their godless courses, they stumble against Him\nunawares. They are snared and taken in the great retributive laws of\nHis universe.\n\n+III. We have to do with God in Redemption.+ In Christ, God is\nrevealed, and therefore we are not to be surprised when we see this\ngreat Old Testament truth conspicuously illustrated in Him. In the\nNew Testament we are distinctly taught that neutrality in regard to\nChrist is impossible (Matt. xii. 30; 2 Cor. ii. 16; Matt.\nxxii. 37-44). Not to accept His salvation, is to reject it; not to\nsubmit to His authority, is to rebel against it. We cannot choose\nwhether we will have to do with Christ or not! All that we can decide\nis the nature of the relationship that shall subsist between us. We\ncan make Him our sanctuary, and then all blessing is ours; or we can\nrefuse to do this, and then He becomes to us a stumbling-block and a\nsnare. Not as the result of any vindictive action on His part, but as\nthe inevitable result of the working of our own nature and of the\nconstitution of the universe. 1. The phrase, \"Gospel-hardened,\"\nrepresents a terrible reality (H. E. I. 2439-2442). 2. By our\nrejection of Christ, and consequent rebellion against His authority,\nwe put ourselves on the side of those powers of evil which He is\npledged to destroy, and then His very Almightiness, which would have\ninsured our salvation, becomes our ruin, just as the very same force\nof wind and wave, which would carry a vessel rightly steered into the\ndesired haven, hurls it when wrongly steered as a miserable wreck on\nthe rocks outside.\n\nThus, in all the realms of life, we must have God with us or against\nus; and if God be against us, we have cause to lament that He is\nGod--a being whom we cannot resist, from whom we cannot escape.\nTherefore, 1. _Let us recognise what the realities of our position\nare._ Let us not go on to eternal ruin through ignorance or\nheedlessness. 2. _Let us make God our \"sanctuary.\"_ We may do this.\nHe invites us to do it. Having done it, everything in Him that\notherwise would terrify us will be to us a cause of joy (Rom. v. 11).\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1]    \"He this flowery carpet made\n         Made this earth on which we tread,\n         God refreshes in the air,\n         Covers with the clothes we wear,\n         Feeds us with the food we eat,\n         Cheers us by His light and heat,\n         Makes His sun on us to shine:\n         All our blessings are divine!\"--_C. Wesley._\n\n [2] Man, as the minister and interpreter of nature, does and\n     understands as much as his observations on the order of\n     nature, either with regard to things or the mind, permit\n     him, and neither knows, nor is capable of more. . . .\n     _Nature is only subdued by submission._--_Bacon._\n\n\n\nTHE STONE OF STUMBLING.\n\n     viii. 14. _And He shall be for . . . a stone of stumbling\n     and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel._\n\nThis prophecy refers to our Lord Jesus Christ, and it has had a\nthreefold fulfilment. It was fulfilled--+1. In His own personal\nhistory.+ When He was made manifest to Israel He was so contrary to\ntheir conceptions of what the Messiah would be--in the lowliness of\nHis condition, in the spirituality of the kingdom He set up, and,\nabove all, in the ignominiousness of the death He accomplished at\nJerusalem,--that they \"stumbled at\" and rejected Him. +2. In the\nexperience of His disciples in all ages.+ In them He has been again\ndespised and rejected. This He foresaw and predicted (John xv. 18-21,\n&c.). In the world there is an irreconcilable hatred of Christ as He\nreappears in His people (Gal. iii. 28, 29). +3. In the hostility\nwhich faithful preaching has always created.+ The preaching of the\nGospel is the preaching of Christ (Acts v. 42; 1 Cor. i. 23; 2 Cor.\niv. 5). The great evangelical doctrines all centre in and flow from\n\"Christ and Him crucified,\" and can never be clearly and faithfully\nproclaimed without awakening the disgust and enmity of the carnal\nheart. They necessarily humble sinful men, and they hate to be\nhumbled. The offence of the cross is not yet ceased; multitudes still\nstumble at the truth, being disobedient.\n\n1. How sad that Christ should be an offence and a stumbling-stone to\na single soul! That His Word, which is sufficient for all the\npurposes of salvation, should become to any \"the savour of death unto\ndeath\"! 2. How terrible, and earnestly to be shunned, is that\nunbelief which thus reverses the design of God's greatest mercies!\n3. Whatever others may do, let us, with penitent and thankful hearts,\nmake Christ our \"sanctuary.\"--_Manuscript Sermon._\n\n\n\nTHE DUTY OF TEACHERS OF TRUTH IN TIMES OF NATIONAL PERVERSION.\n\n     viii. 16-18.\n\nIn Heb. ii. 13 the commencement of verse 18 is quoted as an utterance\nof the Messiah. This opens up questions concerning the New Testament\nquotations from the Old which cannot be fully discussed in this\ncommentary. It may suffice to remark that the Spirit inspiring Isaiah\nwas the Spirit of Christ, and that therefore Isaiah's utterances\ngenerally may be regarded as the utterances of Christ; and further,\nthis is especially true in those cases in which there is a close\nsimilarity in the position occupied by the great prophet of the\nMessiah and the Messiah Himself. At times Isaiah appears to be merely\nthe spokesman of the Messiah; but in others, while his words had\ntheir ultimate and highest fulfilment in Christ, they were primarily\ntrue of himself, and this appears to be the case here.\n\nThere are times when a nation goes utterly wrong, politically,\nsocially, and, as the root of all the evil, religiously. God is\nforgotten, and the people give themselves over to purposes of\nambition or of sensual pleasure. It is a time of formalism and\npharisaism, of infidelity and blasphemy, of luxury and vice. So\nstrong is this current of evil that it seems a hopeless and foolish\nthing for any man or body of men to resist it. What, then, is the\nprophet or faithful preacher to do? Prudence counsels compliance with\nthe prevailing temper (2 Chron. xviii. 12), or at least a temporary\nsilence. Shall he listen to prudence, and bid principle wait for a\nmore fitting season? Nay, but--+I. Let him betake himself in prayer\nto God+ (ver. 16). Let him pray especially that Divine truth may be\nkept in the hearts of the few who have been led to receive it.[1]\n+II. Let him wait upon God+ with immovable confidence that His truth\nshall yet prevail in the earth (ver. 17). Thus did the Primitive\nChristians, the Puritans, and the Covenanters in the evil days in\nwhich they lived. +III. Let him recognise and glory in the position\nhe occupies+ (ver. 18). He and his spiritual children are God's\nwitnesses (Isa. xliv. 8); what position could be more honourable? Let\nthem not shrink from its conspicuousness (Phil. ii. 15); let them not\nbe disheartened by the singularity it involves (H. E. I. 1032-1045,\n3906, 3914; P. D. 1188). Amid all that is depressing and threatening\nin the position to which they have been Divinely called, let them\nremember their Lord's declarations (Matt. x. 32; Rev. iii. 5).\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] I agree with Vitringa, Dreschler, and others in regarding\n     verse 16 as the prophet's own prayer to Jehovah. We\n     _\"bind\"--tie together_--what we wish to keep from getting\n     separated and lost; we _\"seal\"_ what is to be kept secret,\n     and only opened by a person duly qualified. And so the\n     prophet here prayed that Jehovah would take his testimony\n     with regard to the future, and his intimation, which was\n     designed to prepare for the future that _testimony_ and\n     _thorah_ which the greatest mass, in their hardness, did\n     not understand, and in their self-hardening despised, and\n     lay them up well secured and well preserved, as if by bond\n     and seal, in the hearts of those who receive the prophet's\n     words with loving obedience. For it would be all over with\n     Israel unless a community of believers should be preserved,\n     and all over with the community if the word of God, which\n     was the ground of their life, should be allowed to slip out\n     of their hearts.--_Delitzsch._\n\n\n\nWAITING ON THE LORD IN DESERTION AND GLOOM.\n\n     viii. 17. _And I will wait upon the Lord, &c._\n\n+I. The characteristic appellation of Jehovah.+ \"The God who hideth\nHimself.\"[1] +II. The implied mysteriousness of His dealings with His\npeople.+ It is not merely from Babylon or Egypt, from Tyre or\nNineveh, that He hides His face, but from \"the house of Jacob.\"\n1. The persons referred to may be regarded as typical of the Church.\nThough descended from Abraham, they were called \"the house of\n_Jacob_,\" to denote that they were a _chosen_ people--a _praying_\npeople (this at least was true of the best men among them)--a people\n_in whom God delighted._ 2. With these persons He dealt in a manner\ncontrary to what we should have expected. Looking only at the\nrelation in which He stood to them, we should have expected that the\nlight of His countenance would have gladdened them continually. Yet\nHe hid Himself; and He frequently hides Himself not only from the\nworld, but from the Church; not only from the wicked man, but from\nthe believer. Yet here is a difference: in the one case it is total\nand constant, in the other it is but partial and temporary. In the\none case it is in anger, in the other it is in love (Rev. iii. 19).\n3. The modes in which He hides Himself. (1) In the cloud of\nprovidential darkness--affliction, bereavement, &c. (Isa. l. 10)\n(2) In the withholding of the conscious enjoyment of religion (Job\nxv. 11; xxii. 2).[2] +III. The resolve of the believer under this\nvisitation.+ In nothing does the grace of God shine more unmistakably\nthan in the way in which the Christian bears trouble. \"Behold, this\nevil is of the Lord; why should I wait for the Lord any longer?\" said\na wicked man of old; but \"I will look unto the Lord, and will wait\nfor Him,\" is the prophet's resolve. 1. As to _looking_ for Him.\n(1.) _For whom_ do we look? For our God--our Father--our Friend--our\nDeliverer. (2.) _Where_ shall we look for Him? He is near, though\nconcealed. Then look for Him in Christ, in whom He is reconciling the\nworld unto Himself, in whom He is well pleased even with us. Look for\nHim in His promises--in His ordinances--in your closet. (3.) _How_\nshall we look for him? With faith--zeal--energy--determination (Job\nxxxv. 10; Jer. xxix. 13). 2. As to _waiting_ for Him. This is a state\nof mind frequently enjoined and commended in the Bible. Waiting\nimplies faith--desire--patience (P. D. 2643). When you have found\nHim, fall at His feet and confess your unworthiness. Resolve to\nfollow Him fully. Cleave to Him with purpose of heart. Pray, \"Abide\nwith me!\"--_George Smith, D.D._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] For details and suggestions under this division, see\n     outline: THE CONCEALMENT OF GOD, chap. xlv. 15.\n\n [2] For various suggestions and illustrations, see H. E. I.\n     200, 1644-1659, and P. D. 815.\n\n\n\nPENITENTIAL WAITING ON GOD.\n\n     viii. 17. _And I will wait upon the Lord, &c._\n\nBelievers are in the Scriptures abundantly encouraged to wait upon\nGod (Ps. xxvii. 14; Isa. xxv. 9). In Ps. lxii. 5, it is suggested\nthat this waiting upon God is connected with hopeful expectation of\nreceiving a blessing. The same truth is taught us by our Lord in His\nparable on prayer (Luke xviii. 1-8). However long God delays, we must\nwait expectantly. In our text, however, we have the idea of waiting\nupon God while He is hiding His face from His people. The very\npossibility that He should assume this attitude towards us is\ndepressing, and not unfrequently in our religious exercises we are\nhaunted by the fear that this _is_ the attitude He has assumed\ntowards us. Through fears and doubts that intercept our vision of\nHim, we look up to see the face of our Father, and behold only a\ncloud! In such a case our faith needs quickening, that our hopes may\nbe raised and our courage renewed. The following thoughts may conduce\nto this end. I. _God does not hide His face from us because His\nblessings have diminished_ (Isa. xl. 26-31; Jer. ii. 13; xvii. 13).\nII. _God does not hide His face from us on account of any weariness\nin His love_ (John xiii. 1; Isa. xlix. 15). III. _God does not hide\nHis face from us because of any caprice in His nature_ (Jas.\ni. 16-17). IV. _If God does hide His face from us, it is only on\naccount of our sinfulness._ This is the dark atmosphere in which God\nbecomes lost to us (chap. lix. 1, 2). V. Consequently, _if God's face\nis hidden from us, it is at once our only hope and our positive duty\nto wait upon Him_ (Jas. iv. 8). Let us wait for Him and look for Him.\n1. Penitently. 2. Believingly. 3. Patiently. Then will the Lord turn\nus again; He will cause His face to shine upon us, and we shall be\nsaved.--_William Manning._\n\n\n\nNECROMANCY.\n\n     viii. 19-22. _Seek unto them, &c._\n\nAs bearing upon the doctrine of necromancy, an exhaustive discussion\nof these verses would involve the following points: 1. Under the\ninstigation of a prurient curiosity, or under the pressure of\naffliction, godless men are wont to seek knowledge and help from the\nspirits of the dead. 2. Hence, in every age of the world and in every\nnation of universal history, there have been necromancers, wizards,\n&c., known by various names, practising various arts of divination\nand legerdemain; playing with the credulity of men and women, and\nclaiming access to supernatural knowledge and power. The spirits of\nmodern times are the latest species of this genus of necromancers.\n3. This passage implies irresistibly that God frowns upon and\ncondemns necromancy in whatever form. 4. The expostulations, rebukes,\nand threatenings of the Lord, through His prophet in this passage,\nassumes it to be impossible for man to get knowledge or help for the\nliving from the dead. The power of _God_ to send back to earth the\nspirits of the dead is quite another thing; yet as to this the\npractical question is--Does He see fit to use it? 5. Hence, to\ndiscard the light of God's revealed Word and to seek light and help\nfrom the dead, is to hurl oneself against the impermeable and\nimpassable wall with which God has shut in the living of our world,\nand involves both positive conflict against God and contemptuous\nrejection of His Divine Word. 6. As Satan has a natural sympathy with\neverything abhorrent to God and ruinous to man, we ought to look for\nhis hand in these agencies of necromancy, to whatever extent God may\ngive him scope and range for action. What these limits may be, who\ncan tell? It is man's wisdom to keep himself utterly aloof from the\nsphere of Satan's agencies and temptations. 7. Necromancers and\nspirits practically league themselves with Satan against God, and\nshould be aware that his lot must be theirs, and their end be as\ntheir works, no dawn of day ever breaking forth on the midnight of\ntheir gloom.--_Henry Cowles, D.D., Commentary on Isaiah,_ pp. 68, 69.\n\n\n\nTHE LAW AND THE TESTIMONY.\n\n     viii. 20. _To the law and to the testimony, &.c,_\n\nThis was one of the watchwords of the Reformation, and since then it\nhas been a favourite text with Protestants. The noble Sixth Article\nof the Church of England[1] is but an extension of it. It assumes\nthat there is one standard of truth, one infallible oracle, to which\nin all their moral perplexities and spiritual difficulties, it is the\nwisdom, if not the duty, of all men to appeal. And _we_ are persuaded\nthat we have this standard, this oracle, in the Bible (H. E. I. 543).\nIf men neglect it,--if they strive to construct a creed or direct\ntheir conduct without it, two things are certain: 1. _They lack the\nknowledge and wisdom essential to success in life._ Their neglect of\nit shows that they have no light in them.[2] 2. _There await them\ndisappointment, disaster, and despair._ This is the teaching of the\nother beautiful translation which many eminent scholars have adopted:\n\"To the teaching of God, and to the testimony! If they do not\naccording to this word, they are _a people for whom no morning\ndawns_\" (H. E. I. 641).\n\n\"But all who consult the Bible do not obtain from it sure guidance:\nthe proof of this is the difference among those who consult it, both\nas to belief and practice. In support of the most absurd doctrines\nand the most pernicious practices, the authority of Scripture is\nclaimed.\" True, but the error lies not in \"the law,\" but in the men\nwho refer to it.[3] If the Bible is to be really helpful to us, we\nmust consult it _honestly_ (H. E. I. 573, 574, 4854). _Humbly_\n(H. E. I. 387-389, 562-567, 587, 599). _With a constant recognition\nof our help of the Holy Spirit_ (H. E. I. 622, 623, 2877-2882).\n_Prayerfully_ (H. E. I. 570, 571, 598, 4856). _Diligently_ (H. E. I.\n576-580; P. D. 315). _Intelligently._ (1.) In regard to the subjects\nconcerning which we seek instruction (H. E. I. 540-542, 558-560).\n(2.) In regard to our interpretation[4] and application of its\nutterances (H. E. I. 544-550, 568, 569). The man who thus uses the\nBible[5] will be cheered as he advances in life by a dawn that will\nbrighten and broaden into perfect day. He will be led by it to\nChrist, \"The Light of the world,\" and following Him in loving\nobedience and unswerving loyalty, he will find the declaration for\never true, \"He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but\nshall have the light of life.\"\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] \"Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to\n     salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may\n     be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that\n     it should be believed as an article of the faith, or be\n     thought requisite or necessary to salvation.\"\n\n     Here also may be quoted the declaration of the Westminster\n     Assembly of Divines:--\n\n     \"VI. The whole counsel of God, concerning all things\n     necessary for His own glory, man's salvation, faith, and\n     life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good\n     and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture:\n     unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by\n     new revelations of the Spirit or traditions of men.\n     Nevertheless we acknowledge the inward illumination of the\n     Spirit of God to be necessary for the saving understanding\n     of such things as are revealed in the Word; and that there\n     are some circumstances concerning the worship of God and\n     government of the Church, common to human actions and\n     societies, which are so ordered by the light of nature and\n     Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the\n     Word, which are always to be observed.\n\n     \"VII. All things in Scripture are not alike plain in\n     themselves, nor alike clear unto all; yet those things\n     which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed for\n     salvation, are so clearly propounded or offered in some\n     scripture or other, that not only the learned, but the\n     unlearned, in a due use of the ordinary means, may attain\n     unto a sufficient understanding of them. . . .\n\n     \"X. The Supreme Judge, by which all controversies of\n     religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils,\n     opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men and private\n     spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are\n     to rest, can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in\n     the Scripture.\"--_The Confession of Faith._\n\n [2] Just as it would be conclusive proof of ignorance of\n     geology if a prospecting party of miners left unexplored\n     the very spot concerning which the character of the rocks\n     and soil cried loudly, _Gold!_ Or if some professional men,\n     perplexed by a serious and embarrassing case, should leave\n     unconsulted the standard works containing the solution of\n     the problem.\n\n [3] Lawyers and doctors, professedly consulting the standard\n     works of their profession, have misled their clients and\n     killed their patients; but the fault has not been in those\n     standard works, but in the men who failed to use them\n     aright. Bradshaw's Railway Guide is not a safe guide in the\n     hands of every traveller.\n\n [4] The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the\n     Scripture itself; and therefore, when there is a question\n     about the true and full sense of any Scripture (which is\n     not manifold, but one), it must be searched and known by\n     other places that speak more clearly.--_The Confession of\n     Faith._\n\n [5] The Holy Scriptures are to be read with an high and\n     reverent esteem of them; with a firm persuasion that they\n     are the very Word of God, and that He only can enable us to\n     understand them; with desire to know, believe, and obey the\n     will of God revealed in them; with diligence and attention\n     to the matter and scope of them; with meditation,\n     application, self-denial, and prayer.--_The Larger\n     Catechism._\n\n\n\nUNSANCTIFIED SUFFERING.\n\n     viii. 21, and ix. 13. _And they shall pass through it, &c._\n\n+I. Sin leads to suffering.+ 1. This is true of _individuals_\n(H. E. I. 4603-4612). But because there is another life and a future\nretribution, the full results of sin are frequently not seen in this\nlife. Nay, the sinner often appears prosperous, even to the end (Ps.\nlxxiii. 3-5). 2. But in the case of _nations,_ which as such have no\nimmortality, it is otherwise (P. D. 2544); it is more prompt; it is\noften exceedingly terrible. This fact should make those who have any\nlove for their children hostile to any national policy that is\nunrighteous, however politically \"expedient\" it may seem. +II. There\nis in suffering no sanctifying power.+ God may use it as a means of\narresting the careless, or of making good men better, but there is in\nit no certain reformative energy. On the contrary it may harden men\nin iniquity.[1] +III. Suffering does nothing in itself to abate God's\nanger against sinners.+ We, when we are wronged, often yield to a\npassion of vindictiveness, which is sated when we have succeeded in\ninflicting a certain amount of pain on the wrong-doer. But God's\nanger is not vindictive, but righteous (H. E. I. 2288-2294); hence\nits terribleness. As it does not thirst for suffering, it is not\nsatisfied by suffering. As long as the sinner holds to his sin, God's\nanger will burn against him, irrespective altogether of the suffering\nhe may have endured. Nothing will turn away that anger but a genuine\nrepentance (ix. 13).\n\n1. In the hour of temptation, let us think of sin not as it then\npresents itself to us, but as it will certainly appear to us when its\nresults are manifested (H. E. I. 4673-4676). 2. When suffering has\ncome upon us, let us regard it as God's summons to repentance\n(H. E. I. 56-59); and let us obey it with thankfulness that God is\nwilling to deal with us in the way of mercy.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] See outline: MORAL OBDURACY, p. 16.\n\n\n\nTHE REMEDY OF THE WORLD'S MISERY.\n\n     (_Missionary Sermon._)\n\n     ix. 2-7. _The people that waited in darkness, &c._\n\nThe prophecies contained in this text are of a mixed kind; they are\npartly fulfilled and partly unfulfilled. We have the authority of the\nEvangelists to apply the passage to Gospel times, and to prevent it\nfrom being restricted to the Jews (Matt. iv. 14-16; Luke i. 79;\nii. 32). Let us consider--\n\n+I. The view taken by the Prophet of the moral state of the world\nprevious to the glorious change which makes the subject of his\nprophecy.+ 1. _The people are represented as walking in darkness._\nDarkness is an emblem of ignorance and error; and an emblem the most\nstriking.[1] 2. _But darkness alone appears to the mind of the\nProphet only a faint emblem of the state of the heathen:_ he adds,\ntherefore, \"the shadow of death.\" In Scripture this expression is\nused for the darkness of that subterranean mansion into which the\nJews supposed the souls of men went after death. Figuratively, the\nexpression is used for great distress; a state of danger and fear at\nthe same time. Such is the state of the heathen. The religion of the\nheathen has ever been gloomy and horrible. 3. _The Prophet adds\nanother note of the state of the heathen:_ Thou hast multiplied the\nnation, and not increased the joy.[2] He beholdeth them increasing in\nnumber only to multiply their misery.[3] Universal experience proves\nthat misery is multiplied when God and truth are unknown. In this\ncase there is no redeeming principle; the remedy is lost; despair\ncompletes the wretchedness of the people, and were it not for the\nprospects opened by the Gospel, that despair would be final and\nabsolute. Here, however, the text breaks upon us with a glorious and\ncheering view. The Prophet beholds a light rising in obscurity; a\ngreat light dispels the heavy gloom; comfort, joy, and salvation dawn\nupon the earth (ver. 2).\n\n+II. On the blessed visitation we would now fix your attention.+\n1. _As darkness is an emblem of the religious sorrow which had\novercast the world, so light is an emblem of the truth of the\nGospel._ The Gospel is \"light.\" (1.) This marks its origin from\nheaven. (2.) This notes its truth. It is fitting that what is truth,\nwithout mixture of error, should be compared to what is the most\nsimple substance in nature. (3.) It is called \"light\" because of its\npenetrating and subtle nature. (4.) Because of the discoveries which\nit makes. (5.) Because it is life and health to the world. 2. _As in\nthe vision light succeeds to darkness, so also joy succeeds to fear\nand misery_ (ver. 3). The joy here described is no common feeling; it\nis the joy of harvest, the joy of victory. The effect of the\ndiffusion of the Gospel in producing joy is a constant theme of\nprophecy (chap. xxiv. 16; Ps. xcviii. 8; Luke ii. 10). True joy, as\nyet, there is none upon a large scale; of sorrow and sighing the\nworld has ever been full; and as long as it remains in this state,\neven sighs might fail rather than cause to sigh. Even that which is\ncalled joy is mockery and unreal, an effort to divert a pained and\nwounded mind; it gleams like a transient light, only to make men more\nsensible of the darkness. As long as the world is wicked it must be\nmiserable. All attempts to increase happiness, except by diminishing\nwickedness and strengthening the moral principle, are vain. The\nGospel is the grand cure of human woe. When it has spread to the\nextent seen by the Prophet, a sorrowing world shall dry up its tears,\nand complaint give place to praise (Isa. xiv. 8; xxxii. 17). They\nshall joy as in victory, for the rod of the grand oppressor shall be\nbroken; Satan shall fall, his reign be terminated; and one universal,\ntransporting \"Hallelujah\" ascend from every land, to the honour of\nHim by whom the victory is achieved.\n\n+III.+ So vast a change must be produced by causes proportionably\npowerful; and to +the means by which this astonishing revolution is\neffected,+ the Prophet next directs our attention (vers. 4, 5). These\nwords speak of resistance and a struggle. He that expects the\nconversion of the world without the most zealous application and\nperseverance among God's agents, and opposition from His enemies, has\nnot counted the cost. In the conduct of this battle two things\ndistinguish it from every other contest: The absolute weakness and\ninsufficiency of the assailants,[4] and their miraculous success. A\nremembrance of these things encourages us in our missionary\noperations. If our plans had been applauded by the wisdom of this\nworld, there would have been too much of man in them, and we might\nhave doubted the result (Jud. vii. 2). The victory shall be eminently\nof God. For the battle shall be, not \"with confused noise, and\ngarments rolled in blood, but with burning and fuel of fire.\" The\ndemonstration of the Spirit, the power of God, is here compared to\nfire. The Spirit, in His saving operations, is always in Scripture\ncompared to the most powerful principles in nature--to the rain and\ndew, to wind, to thunder, to fire. All these images denote His\nefficiency and the suddenness of the success; and the extent of the\nbenefit shall proclaim the victory to be the Lord's. We have seen the\neffect of this vital influence at home; and we may, in some degree,\nconjecture what will be done abroad. Yet perhaps something very\nremarkable may take place, as is intimated in the text; some peculiar\nexertion of the Divine power upon the mind of the world.\n\n+IV.+ But it may be said, \"is not all this a splendid vision? You\nspeak of weak instruments effecting a miraculous success; of the\ndisplay and operation of a supernatural power touching the hearts of\nmen and changing the moral state of the world, but what is the ground\nof this expectation?\" This natural and very proper question our text\nanswers (vers. 6, 7). In these verses we have +the grounds of that\nexpectation of success which we form as to missionary efforts.+ The\nplan of Christianising the world is not ours; it was laid in the mind\nof God before the world was. The principal arrangements of the scheme\nare not left to us, but are already fixed by the infinite wisdom of\nGod. The part we fill is very subordinate; and we expect success, not\nfor the wisdom or the fitness of the means themselves, but because\nthey are connected with mightier motives, whose success is rapid, and\nwhose direction is Divine; because God has formed a scheme of\nuniversal redemption, to be gradually but fully developed; because He\nhas given gifts to the world, the value of which is in every age to\nbe more fully demonstrated; and because He has established offices in\nthe person of Christ, which He is qualified to fill to the full\nheight of the Divine idea (text).\n\nOur text has set before us the moral misery of the human race; the\npurpose of God to remove it by the diffusion of His truth and grace;\nthe means chosen for this purpose; and the ground of that certain\nsuccess which must attend the application of the prescribed means\nunder the Divine blessing. It now only remains for me to invite you\nto such a co-operation in this great work as your own ability and the\nimportance of the enterprise demand.--_Richard Watson,_ \"Works,\" vol.\niv. pp. 206-224.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] As the pall of darkness is drawn over the world, the fair\n     face of nature fades from the sight; every object becomes\n     indistinct, or is wholly obscured, and all that can cheer\n     the sight or direct the steps of man vanishes. So the\n     gradual accumulation of religious errors, thickening with\n     every age, banished the knowledge of God and His truth from\n     the understandings of men, till all that was sublime in\n     speculation, cheering to the heart, supporting to the\n     hopes, or directive to the actions of men, passed away from\n     the soul, and left the intellectual world like that of\n     nature when deprived of light. The heaven of the soul was\n     hung with blackness, and \"their foolish heart was\n     darkened.\"--_Watson._\n\n [2] Alexander and several other modern scholars read: _\"Thou\n     hast enlarged the nation, Thou hast increased its joy,\"_\n     understanding the Prophet to mean that the true Israel had\n     been increased by the calling of the Gentiles, and that\n     this increase had been a cause of great gladness.\n\n [3] If the Prophet speaks of the Jewish people, he declares a\n     fact remarkably striking. One of the blessings promised to\n     their founder, Abraham, was, that his seed should be\n     multiplied as the stars of heaven and the sands of the\n     sea-shore. But that which was designed as a blessing, and\n     is described as such in the promise, was made a curse by\n     the wickedness of the Jews. For what end, in the former\n     periods of their history, did they multiply, but to furnish\n     food for captives, slaughter, and oppression? In later\n     times, they have multiplied, and spread themselves over the\n     world; but their joy has not been increased. Degraded in\n     character, and despised by the nations where they sojourn,\n     without a country, a temple, or a sacrifice, they bear,\n     like Cain, the marks of God's curse, are vagabonds in the\n     earth, preserved to warn us of the just severity of God.\n\n     There is nothing, however, in the connection to induce us\n     to suppose that the Prophet particularly contemplated the\n     Jewish nation. The same thing must be affirmed of every\n     nation that abandons itself to wickedness. When nations are\n     multiplied, their political strength is increased; and\n     happiness would be multiplied too, were it not for sin. But\n     in wicked nations the \"joy is not increased.\" This negative\n     expression signifies the misery is increased. God has not\n     added His blessing; and there is no joy.--_Watson._\n\n [4] The weakness and insignificance of the instruments used in\n     breaking the rod and yoke of the oppressor is sufficiently\n     marked by the allusion to the destruction of the host of\n     Midian by Gideon and his three hundred men. The family of\n     Gideon was poor in Manasseh, and he was the least of his\n     father's house; the number of men assigned him was\n     contemptible; their weapons were no better than an earthen\n     pitcher, a torch, and a trumpet; the men who dreamed of\n     Gideon dreamed of him under the image of a barley-cake. All\n     this meanness was adopted that the deliverance of Israel\n     might appear to be the work of God; and this is the manner\n     in which He has ever wrought in the revival and spread of\n     godliness in the world. Who were the instruments of\n     spreading true religion in the Apostolic age, we know; they\n     were the despised fishermen of Galilee. Feeble and\n     unpromising instruments have also been employed in\n     subsequent revivals; and for the conformity of the present\n     missionary system of this model we augur will be of future\n     success.--_Watson._\n\n\n\nTHE JOY OF HARVEST.\n\n     (_Harvest Thanksgiving Sermon._)\n\n     ix. 3. _They joy before Thee according to the joy in\n     harvest, &c._\n\n+I. The joy of the natural harvest.+ Harvest was peculiarly\ninteresting to the Jews.[1] Two things render \"the joy of harvest\"\npeculiar and impressive: 1. It is the completion and reward of the\nanxiety and labours of the year it closes. 2. It furnishes the supply\nof our needs in the year to come.--We call upon you to rejoice before\nthe Lord to-day (P. D. 1710-1712), and to associate your thanksgiving\nwith the name of Christ (Heb. xiii. 15). Let all outward gifts remind\nyou of that unseen Mediator through whom they flow. Our gratitude\nshould be deep and fervent; it should bear some proportion to the\nregret we should have felt if God had withheld the blessings in which\nwe now rejoice, and had blighted the promise of the year. Yet now,\nwhen these temporal gifts abound, let us remember their inability to\nsatisfy the needs of the soul. The satisfaction for these needs is to\nbe found only in Christ. He who had more corn than his barns could\nhold, now wants a drop of water to cool his tongue. +II. The joy of\nthe spiritual harvest.+ The vicissitudes of the religious life are\noften compared to those of the seasons (Ps. cxxvi. 5, 6). The\nChristian husbandman has his anxieties, arising from the badness of\nthe soil, the unfavourableness of the seasons, the delay of harvest,\nthe fear of final loss. Yet he has his reaping seasons of joy even in\nthis world--1. When a consciousness of sin which has long oppressed\nthe soul is exchanged for a sense of pardoning mercy, through the\napplication of the blood of sprinkling. 2. When, after a long period\nof depression, hope revisits the mind (H. E. I. 313, 314, 1658, 1659,\n3041). 3. When there come to us the answers to our prayers that were\nlong delayed (H. E. I. 3895, 3896). \"Hope deferred maketh the heart\nsick; _but when desire cometh, it is a tree of life._\" 4. When the\nspiritual triumphs of the gospel are made manifest; to parents in\ntheir families; to ministers in their congregations; to missionaries\nabroad. Just in proportion to the toil and prolonged anxiety is the\nrapture of success. The harvest sometimes come to us after long\ndelay, after many anxieties, after many fears (Jas. v. 7, 8). God\nsees fit to exercise His people with the discipline of suspense, but\nthis is for their good (Lam. iii. 26). +III. The joy of the eternal\nharvest.+ When all Christ's people are gathered into His immediate\npresence (Matt. xiii. 39); then will the declaration of our text be\nfulfilled in the highest sense of which it is capable. The ransomed\nwill rejoice when they think, 1. _Of the grace that reigns in their\nsalvation._ By that grace they were transformed from being tares, the\nend of which is burning, into wheat meet for the garner. 2. _Of the\ngreat cost and care bestowed upon their culture,_ that they might be\nripened for the heavenly kingdom. 3. _How often they despaired of\ntheir own safety._ 4. _Of their deliverance from the fearful fate of\nthe tares and chaff,_ whose end is to be burned.--_Samuel Thodey._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] They had scarcely any foreign trade--none till Solomon's\n     time. Every family lived upon its own inheritance and upon\n     the produce of its own land. Consequently if harvest\n     failed, all failed. They expressed their great joy by\n     solemn offerings to the Lord. Not a field was reaped before\n     the wave-sheaf was placed upon the altar; and when it had\n     been waved there, amidst the loud thanksgiving of the\n     people, before the Lord of the whole land, the messengers\n     from the Temple carried the proclamation to the husbandman,\n     in the field, \"Put ye in the sickle and reap!\"--_Thodey._\n\n\n\nTHE TITLES AND GOVERNMENT OF CHRIST.\n\n     ix. 6. _For unto us a Child is born, &c._\n\n+I. The Incarnation and Government of Jesus Christ.+ Let us\ncontemplate Him, 1. _As the Incarnate One._ \"Unto us a child is born\"\n(H. E. I. 846-853). 2. _As a gift of Heaven to a fallen world._ \"Unto\nus a Son is given.\" 3. _As advanced to supreme rule and authority._\n\"The government shall be upon His shoulder.\" +II. The names and\ncharacters by which He is distinguished.+ \"His name,\" &c. +III. The\nadaptation of these qualities to the purposes of His spiritual\nreign.+ 1. We need wisdom, and He is the \"counsellor.\" 2. We need\nreconciliation to God, and He is our \"Peace.\" 3. We need support\nunder the calamities of life, and this He gives us, for He is the\n\"Mighty God.\" 4. We need comfort under the fears of death, and this\nHe gives as \"The Father of the Everlasting Age.\"--_George Smith, D.D._\n\n\n\nTHE GOVERNMENT OF CHRIST.\n\n     ix. 6. _The government shall be on His shoulder, &c._\n\nLet me caution you against mistaking this government for that\nessential dominion which belongeth to our blessed Lord as God. To\nsuppose that this had been _given_ to our Lord would be to deny His\nessential Godhead. The government here spoken of is one that He\nreceives: a delegated government as the Mediator of the covenant:\nthat which we are told (1 Cor. xv. 24-28) He will hereafter deliver\nup to the Father. Three particulars we may point out, in which He\nexercises this dominion. I. He rules _for_ His Church, as \"The Lamb\nin the midst of the throne.\" II. He rules _in_ His Church, being its\nalone King and Lawgiver. The Church is never for one moment to assume\nthe power of legislation; it belongs not to her, but to Him: _she_\nhas the executive--nothing more--to obey His laws, to carry them out\naccording to the mind of Him who framed them. III. There is a third\npower--that which He exercises in the souls of His true subjects,\nruling in and over them by the power of His own blessed\nSpirit.--_J. H. Evans, M.A.: Thursday Penny Pulpit,_ vol. vii. p 337.\n\n\nIn this verse we have a constellation of titles, all of which\nillustrate the essential dignity and mediatorial claims of Jesus, and\ntend to awaken the confidence of the Church. The very first\ndeclaration, His \"name shall be called Wonderful,\" fitly prepares us\nfor all that is to follow, teaching us to expect something beyond the\nordinary works of God. He is \"wonderful\" in His incarnation, in His\ngovernment, in the counsels He originates, in the divinity of His\nnature, in the eternity of His existence, in the results of His\nmediatorial rule, for He is \"the Prince of Peace,\" swaying the\nsceptre of mercy over an apostate and disordered world. There is a\nbeautiful consistency in all this; for if the government of earth and\nheaven, the sovereignty of the Church and of the world, is to be\nexercised by the Redeemer, it is necessary that He should be\npossessed of attributes equal to the immense responsibilities. But\nthese attributes are His, and hence the command, \"Rejoice, for the\nLord reigneth!\" +I. It is a cause of peculiar rejoicing to all good\nmen that the government of the world is in the hands of Christ.+\nTheir interest and joy in this fact arise--1. From the near and\nsacred relation in which Jesus stands to them. 2. From the glorious\nperfectness of His character, which guarantees the wisdom and\nblessedness of His sway. 3. From the changelessness, perpetuity, and\ndestined universality of His rule. +II. The sovereignty of Christ\naffords great relief in contemplating the abject condition of the\nheathen world.+ The heathen have been given to Him for His\ninheritance, and He will certainly deliver them from the\nsuperstitions and miseries by which they are oppressed. +III. This\nfact gives us a deep interest in beholding the vast extent of the\nuniverse of God.+ Every part of it is but a province in Christ's\nboundless empire.--_Samuel Thodey._\n\n\n\nHIS NAME . . . WONDERFUL.\n\n     ix. 6. _His name shall be called Wonderful, &c._\n\n+I. Christ is wonderful in His nature.+ He is wonderful, 1. In\nrespect of _His essential Godhead._ 2. In respect of _His perfect\nmanhood._ _All_ excellencies were combined in him as a man, unlike\neven His most eminent servants, who are distinguished for the\npossession of _special_ graces, which too often are clouded by some\nopposite defect. 3. In respect of the _union in Him of Deity and\nhumanity_ (1 Tim. iii. 16).\n\n+II. Christ is wonderful in His offices,+ at once Prophet, Priest,\nand King. 1. As a _Prophet,_ what wonderful disclosures He has made\nto us of the Divine nature and will, and of human duty and destiny;\nwith what wonderful authority He spoke; with what wonderful\ncompleteness and beauty He fulfilled all His own commandments! 2. As\na _Priest,_ how wonderfully He was at once sacrifice and offerer: how\nwonderfully He still carries on the work of reconciliation (Rom.\nviii. 34). 3. As a _King,_ how wonderfully He rules, with omnipotent\npower, yet with lamblike gentleness.\n\n+III. Christ is wonderful in his relation to His people.+ 1. In the\ncare He exercises over them (Ezek. xxxiv. 11-16). 2. In the abundance\nof the grace which He ministers to them (2 Cor. xii. 9; John i. 16;\nH. E. I. 936). 3. In His condescending thoughtfulness for each one of\nthem (John x. 3, 14, 15).[1] 4. In the perfectness of His sympathy\nwith them. He identifies Himself so entirely with His people, that\nthey have not a single care, trial, or temptation of any sort, but it\nis as much _His_ as it is _theirs_ (H. E. I. 952-961).--_J. H. Evans,\nM.A.: Thursday Penny Pulpit,_ vol. vii. pp. 336-348.\n\n\nWe are continually struck with one marked contrast between the\ngreatness that is human and the greatness that is Divine: human\ngreatness the more it is examined the less wonderful it appears, but\nDivine productions, the more closely they are investigated the more\nbrightly they shine. We shall see that Christ is wonderful, if we\nconsider--I. _The excellences that compose His mediatorial\ncharacter._ God and man! Nor is this a wonder to men only (1 Pet.\ni. 12). II. _The stupendous blessings He bestows on His friends._\nIII. _The reserves of glory which He waits to exhibit in now unseen\nand future worlds._\n\nBehold Him, and 1. Never hesitate to acknowledge Him as your Saviour\nand Lord. 2. Yield a ready obedience to His authority. 3. Anticipate\nHis coming in glory.--_Samuel Thodey._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Oh, how \"wonderful\" must He be, that suits Himself to the\n     cares of all, as if He had but one! cares for each as much\n     as He cares for all, and cares for each as if he _were_\n     all! We are lost in this deep. I sometimes get some light\n     from this thought:--Why, the sun can shine into the attic\n     as well as into the Queen's palace; it occasions no\n     difficulty to the sun. Blessed Jesus! there is no\n     difficulty for Thee to supply all our minutest wants; in\n     Thee there is the abundance of power, and quite as great an\n     abundance of love.--_J. H. Evans, M.A._\n\n\n\nCHRIST OUR COUNSELLOR.\n\n     ix. 6. _His name shall be called . . . Counsellor, &c._\n\n+I. How Christ may be our Counsellor.+ Immediate, close and\nconfidential intercourse is involved in our idea of taking counsel.\nWhen we are in perplexity, we lay the whole matter before a friend in\nwhose wisdom we trust. So we may spread our difficulties before\nChrist in prayer. Thus far, all is clear. But how can we receive from\nChrist the answer and guidance we seek? How does an earthly friend\nhelp us in such a case? _By producing a certain impression on our\nmind._ He may do it by spoken words, by letter, or even by a gesture.\nThe _manner_ is unimportant. So Christ guides us _by producing\nimpression on our mind; how,_ we know not, nor does it matter\ngreatly. The well-instructed Christian seeks counsel from Christ in\nall things. He prays for _daily_ guidance. Special difficulties he\nmakes matter of special prayer. Then, upon the mind previously made\ncalm and willing, there comes a sense of rectitude, and a feeling of\nresolution. One course, generally that which involves most\nself-denial and manifests least self-dependence, comes prominently\nforth in strong relief, as most to be preferred. Its advantages each\nmoment look clearer and brighter; its consistency with his religious\nprofession, conformity to the will of God, and true wisdom, are more\nand more strongly impressed upon his mind. He doubts no more. He has\narrived at a decision. Christ's counsel has prevailed. It is our\nprivilege thus to be directed at every stage and in every vicissitude\nof life.\n\n+II. Why we should take Christ for our Counsellor.+ Because in Him\nare all the qualities that would cause us to value and seek the\ncounsel of an earthly friend--tenderness, wisdom, and power. He can\nhelp us to carry out His counsels.\n\n+III. What will the effects of making Christ the Man of our counsel?+\n1. _A special consistency of Christian conduct._ Inconsistency arises\nfrom listening to contradictory advisors; sometimes going to Christ,\nand sometimes taking counsel from flesh and blood. 2. _A conformity\nand likeness to Christ._ You will learn to love what He loves, and to\ndesire what He promises. In the man who constantly makes Christ his\ncounsellor, there is begotten a spirituality of mind, a deadness to\nthe world, a fixedness of purpose, a cheerfulness of temper, a\nself-possession and patience, which are scarcely conceivable and\nquite invaluable. A man is powerfully influenced by the company he\nkeeps--whether it be refined and moral, or coarse and profligate.\nWhat, then, must be the effect of habitual intercourse with the Lord\nof light and grace and glory? 3. _A preparedness for Christ's\npresence in heaven._ What is the bliss of heaven? It is the vision\nof the Almighty; unclouded and uninterrupted intercourse with the\nSaviour and Lord of all. The more we have cultivated this here, the\nmore fitted we shall be for it hereafter.--_Josiah Bateman, M.A.:\nSermons,_ pp. 1-18.\n\n\n\nTHE MIGHTY GOD.\n\n     ix. 6. _His name shall be called . . . The Mighty God._\n\nVarious devices to escape from the force of this declaration have\nbeen tried.[1] But after a discussion prolonged through centuries, it\nis now conceded by the foremost Hebrew scholars of our time, that,\nwhether we accept or reject it, Isaiah's declaration _is_ that the\nPerson concerning whom he wrote should be called \"The mighty God;\"\nwhich is merely the Scriptural way of asserting that He should _be_\n\"The mighty God,\" for names Divinely given represent realities. That\nthe Person concerning whom this declaration was made is our Lord\nJesus Christ is the conviction of the whole Christian Church. _He_ is\nthe \"Child,\" the \"Son,\" the \"Mighty God,\" concerning whom Isaiah\nwrote. Let us do more than give our assent to this statement: let us\nthink about it.\n\n+I.+ It is essential to soundness of creed, and to any full\nrealisation of the doctrine of +the perfect humanity of our Lord\nJesus Christ.+ He was a _man_ in the same sense that this is true of\nany man here; whatever was essential to perfectness of manhood\nexisted in Him. Unless we grasp this great truth intelligently and\nfirmly, 1. His _example_ can be of no considerable help to us\n(H. E. I. 898). The example of an angel, though it might excite our\nadmiration, would also smite us with despair. 2. His _sympathy_ with\nmen, because of His identity with them in their experience, can never\nbe to us, what it has been to missions, one of the most comforting\nand strengthening of all thoughts (Heb. ii. 17, 18; iv. 15; H. E. I.\n872, 954). +II.+ It is equally necessary that we should hold firmly\n+the doctrine of His Deity.+ That He is \"the mighty God\" is the\ntestimony, 1. Of His _works_ (Matt. xiv. 32, 33, &c.). 2. Of His\n_words_ (John vi. 48; vii. 37; viii. 12; &c.; H. E. I. 836, 840-842).\nThis doctrine pervades the New Testament (H. E. I. 835, 838). The sum\nof its teaching concerning Him is, that in Him God was manifest, that\nHe is the true God (1 Tim. iii. 16; 1 John v. 20). It is not only one\nof the profoundest of all doctrines, it is the most practical. Let me\ndoubt it, and how can Christ be to me a Saviour? How can He be more\nto me than any other eminently holy and wise man who died centuries\nago, or yesterday? 1. What comfort can I derive from the declaration\nthat He died for me? Could a _man_ atone for the sins of the whole\nworld, for my sins? 2. What comfort can I derive from the declaration\nthat He now lives and is in heaven? If so, as a _man,_ doubtless, He\nwill sympathise with me, but how can I be assured in times of\ndistress and danger I raise? or that, if He hears me, He is able to\nhelp?\n\n1. This complex Christian life of ours can be sustained only by the\ncomplex and unfathomably mysterious doctrine of the Divine-human\nnature of Christ, just as our physical life can be sustained only by\nthe compound yet simple atmosphere we breathe. To simplify the\natmosphere by taking away, if it were possible, either of its main\nconstituents would transform the earth into a sepulchre; and to\n\"simplify\" Christian doctrine by taking away the doctrine either of\nour Lord's humanity or of His Deity is the destruction of spiritual\nlife. 2. Let us, then, accept in all their fulness the declarations\nof Scripture concerning the Person of Our Lord. Those declarations\ntranscend our reason, but they do not contradict it (H. E. I. 851,\n4809-4814), and they should be joyfully accepted by our faith. 3. Let\nus think much of Christ as the Son of man, that by His example we may\nbe incited to strive after a noble manhood, and that by the assurance\nof His sympathy we may be sustained amid all the struggles and\nsorrows of life. 4. Let us think much of Him as \"the mighty God,\"\nthat our faith may rejoice in His ability to accomplish for us a\ncomplete redemption; that our reason and conscience may be let to bow\nto the authority which must therefore belong to all His utterances;\nthat our love for Him, which is tender and ardent, may be also\nreverent; and that our soul may feel itself free to give expression\nto the feelings of adoration that rise up within us when we\ncontemplate His perfections, His purposes, and the work which it is\ndeclared He has accomplished on our behalf.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] The following translations have been given by sceptical\n     scholars, but have all been conclusively rejected by sound\n     scholarship:--\n\n     \"Mighty Hero.\"--_Gresenius._\n\n     \"Counsellor of the Mighty God.\"--_Grotius._\n\n     \"Counsellor of God, Mighty.\"--_Carpenter._\n\n     \"And He who is Wonderful, the Counsellor, the Mighty God,\n     the everlasting Father, calls His name the Prince of\n     peace.\"--_Jarchi_ and _Kimchi._\n\n\n\nTHE EVERLASTING FATHER.\n\n     ix. 6. _The Everlasting Father._\n\nWe usually associate the name of father with the first \"Person\" of\nthe adorable Godhead. But there is no manner of doubt that the title\nhere belongs to our Lord Jesus Christ--to the very same Person who,\nin human nature was a Child born, and a Son given up for the\nsalvation of men. But there is this difference: the title given to\nthe Son born is not merely \"the Father,\" but \"the _everlasting_\nFather.\" The title is not \"Father,\" but the entire phrase. Read more\nexactly in accordance with the original words, the phrase is this:\n\"the father of perpetuity, the father of eternity, the father of for\never.\" \"Father\" means here simply possessor or author. To be the\n\"Father of eternity\" is to _have_ eternity, and to _rule_ in\neternity--to be the Lord of eternity. Christ Jesus, who hath the\ngovernment upon His shoulders, hath it on His shoulders for ever; He\nis King of kings and Lord of lords throughout eternity. The eternity\nhere spoken of is not the eternity that is bygone--if we may so speak\nof eternity; it is the ongoing and unending duration that lies before\nus, and Christ Jesus is Lord and Ruler of it all. No doubt He who can\nhold the future eternity in His hand, and who can rule all its\naffairs, must have been Himself the Unbeginning and Eternal One; and\nthe Scriptures leave no doubts about that being the attribute of our\nLord Jesus Christ (John viii. 58; Col. i. 17; John i. 3). But it is\nthat for ever which lies before us which Christ is here said to be\nthe Father of. He is so as its Possessor--He has it; as its\nOriginator--He makes it what it is; as its Controller--He rules in it.\n\nI. Jesus Christ is the father of the eternity that lies before us,\nthe father of the for ever, because He Himself lives for ever. He has\nit. Observe, this is true of the Second Person of the Godhead in\nhuman nature. The connection of the text will not permit us to forget\nthat. It is the Child born and the Son given who is said to live for\never. That is a great thought; the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ in\nhumanity is to live for ever is a stupendous expectation and belief.\nSometimes it has seemed to me as it were more wonderful even than the\nIncarnation. It seems as if it would have been less strange for the\nSon of God, for some great purpose, to have clothed Himself with a\ncreature's nature, and then, having accomplished that purpose, to\nhave laid down that nature as a thing too far down from the Infinite\nto be worn for ever. But now the wonder is, that having made Himself\nour kinsman, He is to be our Head for ever, and is never to cease to\nwear the human nature in which He died on Calvary. That this is an\nimportant thought appears from two considerations. 1. It is part of\nthe Divine promise of the Father to our Lord, and it is a thing for\nwhich our Lord prayed as part of His Father's promise (compare Isa.\nliii. 10, Ps. lxxii. 15; xxi. 4). 2. It implies that His work was\nfinished to His Father's satisfaction. It is clearly spoken of as a\nreward for work well done. Hence this title \"Father of\neternity\"--hath in germ within it the great facts of Christ's death,\nresurrection, ascension, and session in glory (comp. Rev. i. 18).\nFrom this fact two inferences can be drawn, both of a most\nconsolatory and joyful character. 1. To God's people. What a Saviour\nthey have! They need never fear that they will find a world in all\nthe universe where He is not with them, and they cannot live on to\nany age when He shall cease to be their light and King. 2. The same\nthing brings comfort to every sinner (Heb. vii. 25). Do not lose\nyourselves in a great general thought of Christ living for ever;\nrather narrow the broad and grand conception, and fasten it down upon\nthe present fleeting moment. Christ lives _now,_ and lives\n_here_--lives _here_ and _now_ to save the sinner and bless the\nsaint. Apply to Him, and rejoice in Him that liveth now and for ever\nand ever.\n\nII. He originated this age that is spoken of. As by His death He\nsecured His own immortality on the basis of the faithful covenant,\nand received life for ever because He had done the Father's will; so\nby the same completion of His mediatorial work on earth He purchased\nthis immortality for His people. All that is valuable in the prospect\nof unending existence to any human being he owes to our Lord Jesus\nChrist. He is the father of the eternal age; it could not have been\nwithout Him.\n\nIII. As Jesus Christ, personally and in humanity, lives through this\neternal age, and as He introduced it and gave it its great\ncharacteristics, so the administration of its whole affairs is in His\nhands. The Author of our Faith is the ruler of its progress, and that\nnot on earth alone, but in heaven (Matt. xxviii. 18). What follows\nfrom that? 1. What a terrible and what a hopeless thing it must be to\nresist Christ! To resist Him effectually, we would require to be able\nto do one or other of two things: We should need either to go beyond\ninfinite distance and get away from Him that way, or live longer than\nfor ever, which is equally impossible. The only question is this, \"Am\nI in Christ's hands to be slain by Him, or to be saved by Him?\" and\nthat turns on my submission to His will. \"Am I to sit on the throne\nbeside Him? or take the other alternative and be made His footstool?\"\n2. What a good thought it is for the Christian, that he can never go\naway from Christ's care, that He can never be for a moment without\nhis Friend watching over him, and never in any place in which he does\nnot hear the music of those precious words, \"Lo, I am with you\nalway!\" (Matt. xxviii. 20).--_J. Edmond, D.D.: Christian World\nPulpit,_ vol. ix. pp. 145-148.\n\n\n\nTHE PRINCE OF PEACE.\n\n     ix. 6. _The Prince of Peace._\n\nHow peaceful was the scene when the first Sabbath shone upon this\nworld! How reversed was the scene when sin entered to revolutionise\nit! Think of the widespread and woful war which sin has entailed on\nthis world, and see the need of such a Prince as our text reveals to\nrestore the primitive peace. See, too, the magnitude of the work to\nwhich the Redeemer stands appointed when He is presented in the\ncharacter of a pacificator who is to bring this strife to a happy\nconclusion for man.\n\nI. THE QUALIFICATIONS OF CHRIST FOR ACTING AS \"THE PRINCE OF PEACE.\"\nWe find these, 1. In His original personal excellence as the only\nbegotten of the Father. 2. In His Father's ordination of Him to the\noffice. 3. In the meritoriousness of the work He accomplished as the\nsubstitute for sinners. 4. In the station to which He has been\nexalted, and the executive power which has been lodged in His hands.\nFirst of all, He has been appointed Intercessor, to plead the cause\nof His people on the foundation of the work He has done for them;\nand, secondly, He has been anointed a King with all the influence and\nenergy of the Almighty Spirit placed at His disposal to carry into\nexecution all the favourable purposes of the Divine government on\nbehalf of those whose cause He has won by His intercession. 5. In the\nfervency with which His heart is dedicated to the attainment of His\nobject.\n\nII. THE PRINCIPAL ARTICLES OF THAT PEACE OF WHICH CHRIST IS, OR SHALL\nYET BE, THE MINISTERING PRINCE TO ALL WHO BELIEVE ON HIM. 1. He hath\neffected reconciliation between God and man. 2. In Christ we cease to\nwar against ourselves. 3. Our Prince hath reconciled us to the\nangels. 4. Reconciliation is effected between Jew and Gentile (Eph.\nii. 14-16). 5. The general reconciliation of man to man, the\ndestruction of selfishness, and the diffusion of benevolence Christ\ncame by His dying for all, to teach that all were as brethren, and\nought to regard one another with fraternal affection. How much the\nworld required this lesson! How imperfectly it has been learned\n(H. E. I., 884).--_William Anderson, L.L.D.; Christian World Pulpit,_\nvol. x. pp. 392-394.\n\n\n+I. The character of Christ:+ \"the Prince of Peace.\" How wonderful\nand glorious is this character when viewed in connection with this\ntitle! Infinite wisdom and almighty power employed not for purposes\nof war, but of peace! (Isa. lv. 8, 9). 1. He procures peace. 2. He\nproclaims peace. 3. He imparts peace. 4. He maintains peace. 5. He\nperfects peace. +II. The character of His religion.+ It is a religion\nof peace. True, at its first introduction, it leads to conflicts\n(Matt. x. 34); but in the end it secures a permanent peace (Jas.\niii. 17). It will give peace, but only on its terms. +III. Character\nof the followers of Christ.+ They are the sons of peace. 1. They seek\npeace with God through the mediation of Christ. 2. They exemplify a\nspirit like His own, and thus help to heal the wounds of a bleeding\nworld. 3. They extend through the world the gospel of peace. 4. They\nanticipate in heaven the reign of unbroken peace.--_Samuel Thodey._\n\n\n\nTHE EMPIRE OF CHRIST.\n\n     ix. 7. _Of the increase of His government, &c._\n\nIf any man asks, \"Concerning whom does the Prophet write these\nthings?\" the answer is, \"Concerning Christ.\" \"Of the increase of\n_His_ government and peace there shall be no end.\"[1] The world has\nseen many great empires, that bade fair to be everlasting, crumble\naway; and in view of the history of the past, it is unreasonable to\nbelieve that any modern empire, except so far as it is obedient to\nChrist, will be more durable. This is a world of change, and it is\nvain to hope that political revolutions are altogether things of the\npast. Two thousand years hence, should the present era so long\ncontinue, the map of this will be very different from what it is\nto-day. But the empire of Christ is to continue for ever. Unlike all\nother empires, it is to be continually progressing in extent and\ncohesion.\n\n_What are our grounds for believing this?_ +I. The distinct promises\nof Scripture+ (Ps. ii. 8, xxii. 27, lxxxii. 8-11; Dan. vii. 13, 14).\nFor a Christian this is sufficient. But even to those whose reverence\nfor God's Word is most profound and unquestioning, it is interesting\nto see--+II.+ That +the nature of things+[2] is all in favour of the\nfulfilment of this prediction. Under this division of our subject,\nlook at some of the differences between all human empires and the\nempire of Christ. 1. As to their _origin._ They have usually been\ncreated by the genius and energy of some great man. But even such men\nas David, Alexander, and C\u00e6sar are mortal, and because it is\nimpossible to secure a constant succession of men of genius, the\nempires they found crumble away. To David and Solomon succeeds a\nRehoboam, and Rehoboam means ruin. But Christ wields the enormous\n\"power of an endless life.\"[3] 2. As to their _progress._ (1.) Vast\nempires fall to pieces by reason of their very vastness. Time brings\nmany changes even to great empires, and among them at least a\ntemporary weakening of the central power; the heart is enfeebled, and\nthe whole body is enfeebled and begins to decay. (2.) Great empires\nafford multiplied opportunities for great corruption, and this\nultimately kills a state. (3.) Great empires include many conflicting\ninterests; there is a perpetual struggle to maintain the balance of\npower; mutinies and rebellions are inevitable, and in the end some of\nthese are successful, and the empire is broken. But none of these\nthings can happen in the empire of Christ; none of these causes will\ntend to check the increase of _His_ government. 3. As to their\n_aims._ This is a consideration even more important and vital than\nthe others. All empires have really had for their aim the\naggrandisement of some ambitious man or nation. The inspiring motive\nhas been supremely selfish. Hence fraud and force have been\nunhesitatingly employed for their advancement, and, because God\nreally rules on earth as well as in heaven, these things, though they\nsecure a temporary triumph, ultimately lead to inevitable ruin\n(H. E. I. 4612, P. D. 2544, 2995). By similar means the great empire\nhas to be maintained, and in every part of it there are millions\nwatching for an opportunity to subvert it by the same means; because\nits aims are selfish, it is hated, not loved, by those over whom it\ntriumphs. But the inspiring aims of Christ's empire are righteousness\nand peace; it is to extend these blessings that His limitless\nresources are employed; the manner in which these resources is\nemployed is in accordance with the ends sought; and hence (1) all the\nlaws of God's universe are on His side, and (2) He is loved most\nintensely precisely by those over whom His authority is most\ncompletely established.[4] +III.+ If any further confirmations of our\nfaith in Christ's ultimate triumph is needed, we have it in +the\nhistory of the world since His crucifixion.+ When He was crucified\nthey nailed over His head the inscription, \"THE KING OF THE JEWS.\" It\nwas intended to be an act of mockery; it was the declaration of a\ngreat truth. And since then He has become the King of the Gentiles\nalso. The mighty empire that tried to stop the progress of His\nkingdom was ground to powder in the conflict. And now by all the most\npowerful kingdoms of the earth He is, nominally at least,\nacknowledged as the supreme Authority. That which is nominal shall\nbecome real (Rev. xi. 15).\n\nConcerning the complete fulfilment of the prediction of our text, we\nneed therefore have no fear. And hence,--\n\n1. We can look without dismay at the mighty forces arrayed against\nChrist and His truth,--heathenism abroad and infidelity at home\n(H. E. I. 642). 2. We can look forward to the future of the world\nwith hope. A golden age is yet to dawn (H. E. I. 3421-3423). 3. We\ncan labour for the extension of Christ's kingdom with all the hopeful\nenergy of those who know that the end of all their efforts is not\nfailure, but a glorious success (H. E. I. 979, 1161, 1162, 1166-1168).\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] _Upon the throne of David._ This was in accordance with the\n     promise made to David (1 Kings viii. 25; 2 Sam. vii. 12,\n     13; Ps. cxxxii. 11). This promise was understood as\n     referring to the Messiah. The primary idea is, that He\n     should be descended in the line of David, and accordingly\n     the New Testament writers are often at pains to show that\n     the Lord Jesus was of that family (Luke ii. 4). When it is\n     said that He would sit upon the throne of David, it is not\n     to be taken literally. The peculiarity of the reign of\n     David was, that _he reigned over the people of God._ . . .\n     To sit upon the throne of David, therefore, means to reign\n     over the people of God; and in this sense the Messiah sits\n     on his throne.--_Barnes._\n\n     The angel who came to Mary affirmed these very things of\n     the Son then to be born (Luke i. 32, 33).--_Cowles._\n\n [2] According to my view of the Unity of the Divine nature, God\n     is one, as we meet Him in the Old Testament and the Oldest;\n     in the New and the Newest. There are four Testaments: an\n     Oldest and an Old, a New and a Newest. _The Oldest\n     Testament is the Nature of Things._ The Newest is Christ's\n     continued life in the present influences of the Holy\n     Spirit. The Oldest and the Newest are unwritten; the Old\n     and New are written; but the voices of the four are\n     one.--_Joseph Cook._\n\n [3] See Bushnell's sermon on \"The Power of an Endless Life,\" in\n     \"The New Life,\" pp. 287-307.\n\n [4] The remarkably emphatic repetition of the idea of His\n     ruling in righteousness, justice, and real benevolence,\n     suggests how fearfully the world has been _misgoverned,_\n     and how little the great body of human government in even\n     civilised nations have sought and practically secured the\n     welfare of the millions.--_Cowles._\n\n\n\nTHE SECURITY FOR THE FULFILMENT OF GOD'S PROMISES.\n\n     ix. 7. _The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this._\n\nIt may be affirmed with equal truth, that from what zeal is in man we\nmay know what it is in God; and that from what zeal is in man we\ncannot tell what it is in God (H. E. I. 2229-2240). We can tell what\nits nature is, but we cannot tell its power. 1. Zeal is in man an\nintense passionateness of desire for the accomplishment of some\npurpose; this leads to an energy and continuity of action that in\nmany cases triumphs over obstacles, and accomplishes what seemed\nimpossible. True zeal in man is intelligent, calm, persistent, and\nunweariable; and all this we know it must be in God. 2. But what its\npower is in God we cannot tell. Water in the mass, and fire in the\nmass, is an utterly different thing from water or fire on a small\nscale.[1] \"The zeal of the Lord of hosts\" is a tremendous conception\nwhich the mind cannot grasp.\n\nThis declaration is the consummation and crown of a great promise\nconcerning the Messiah. It is the guarantee that, great as that\npromise is, it shall not remain unfulfilled; the heart of God is set\nupon its accomplishment, and He is \"the Lord of hosts.\" We have here\na general and blessed principle, applicable to all God's promises.\nFor two reasons many human purposes remain unfulfilled: those who\nentertain them are not in earnest about them, or they lack power to\ncarry them into effect. But both these essential requisites meet in\nGod--earnestness and power. He makes no promise lightly; He attaches\nimportance to every pledge He has ever entered into; and He will\nfulfil His promises, according to the largest interpretation that can\nbe put upon them (Eph. iii. 20).\n\nLet us use this declaration for the comforting and strengthening of\nour hearts. There are many great and precious promises,\n+I. Concerning the extension of Christ's kingdom,+ _e.g.,_ in the\nwords preceding our text. It is declared that the influence and\nauthority of Christ shall be unceasingly exerted with constantly\naugmenting effect, until all the disorder and misery of the world\nshall be brought to an end. So glowing is the picture given by the\nprophets of the world's future that we are tempted to fear that it\nwill never be realised. But \"the zeal of the Lord of hosts will\nperform _this_\"; and those who by their prayers, efforts, and\nsacrifices are trying to contribute to the extension of Christ's\nkingdom, may rejoice in the assurance that they are not labouring in\nvain, nor spending their strength for nought (H. E. I. 979, 1161,\n1162, 1166-1168; P. D. 475, 517, 2465, 2466). +II. Concerning the\ntemporal well-being of Christ's people.+ 1. _Deliverance in time of\ndanger_ (Isa. liv. 17). Illustrate by the account of the deliverance\nof Hezekiah (Isa. xxxvii.), noting especially that the promise then\ngiven was enforced by the very same declaration: \"the zeal of the\nLord of hosts shall do _this_\" (ver. 32; H. E. I. 4058). 2. _Supply\nfor all temporal necessities_ (Matt. vi. 25-34; H. E. I. 4507).\n+III. Concerning the spiritual necessities and ultimate perfection of\nChrist's people.+ After each of them Faith sees written, though not\nwith ink, \"The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform _this_\"\n(H. E. I. 1063-1071, 1106, 1112-1119). By and by there is to be a\ngreat gathering of Christ's ransomed ones in the heavenly world, and\nthis will then be their grateful acknowledgement (Josh. xxiii. 14).\nMeanwhile, whensoever in our search of the Scriptures we find a\npromise specially adapted to our needs, let us lay hold of it, saying\nwith joyful confidence, \"The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform\n_this!_\"\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] The nature of water in a little pool left on the sea-shore\n     by the receding tide is the same as in the great sea\n     itself; but from the little pool we cannot form any\n     conjecture as to the power of water when moving in mighty\n     waves. So with fire,--its nature is the same in a lighted\n     match and in a great conflagration such as reduced Chicago\n     to ashes; but how different its power in the two cases!\n     Scientific observers have left it on record, that while\n     watching that conflagration it was revealed to them for the\n     first time what power there is latent in fire, when massed\n     in a great body; when at its height, solid granite\n     buildings were consumed and passed away as if they had been\n     made of thin pasteboard.\n\n\n\nTHE OUTSTRETCHED HAND OF GOD.\n\n     ix. 8-x. 4. _But His hand is stretched out still._\n\nMuch is said in the Bible concerning the hand of God.[1] Consider\nwhat the hand is to man: it is the chief instrument by which he\nexecutes his purposes,--farmer, builder, artist, author, &c.; and by\nthe hand of God is meant His executive force in all its varied forms.\nGod has the means of doing all His will, and He is not an unconcerned\nspectator of human affairs--these truths inspire God's people with\nhope, courage, and joy; and they ought to inspire with terror all who\nare in rebellion against Him. His hand is outstretched, not for, but\nagainst them; His irresistible executive forces are certain to be put\nforth for their overthrow. Alike for the warning of those whose lives\nare not governed according to the Divine will, and for the exciting\nof holy watchfulness in those who are trying to obey that will in all\nthings, let us study this prophecy for the purpose of discovering,\n+I. The reasons why God's hand is outstretched in anger.+ Remind you\nthat this is not an exhaustive statement of those reasons, and that\nno man is necessarily safe merely because his conduct is not here\nspecifically described, I point out that among the things that put\nman in the most extreme peril of destruction by their Creator\nare--1. _Oppression_ (x. 1, 2.)[2] 2. _Hypocrisy_ (ix. 17).[3]\n3. _Stubbornness under Divine chastisements_ (ix. 9, 10).[4] +II. The\neffects of the outstretching of God's hand in anger.+ These are\n_terrible, increasing, continuous._ +III. The mode of escape for\nthose against whom God's hand is stretched out in anger.+ Not\ndefiance, but submission and repentance (ix. 13). +IV.+ Let us note\nwith reverent and thankful wonder, that +against the wicked God's\nhand is long stretched out;+ that it does not, as it so easily might,\ncome down upon them instantly with destructive force. What a proof we\nhave here that, while He is inflexibly righteous, He is tenderly\npitiful! And what an encouragement we have here to return to Him with\npenitence of heart![5]\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] It is so vast that the mighty ocean lies in the hollow of\n     it (Isa. xl. 12). It is a hand of power and skill, for by\n     it the foundations of the earth were laid; and all the\n     wondrous hosts of heaven fashioned (Isa. xlviii. 13;\n     lxvi. 2). In it our life is (Dan. v. 23). When He opens it,\n     His creatures are filled with good, and all their desires\n     are satisfied (Ps. civ. 28; cxlv. 16). By it the Good\n     Shepherd feeds, guides, and protects His sheep (Ps.\n     xcv. 7). It is a good hand, helping all who are trying to\n     serve God (Ezra viii. 22; Neh. ii. 18). It is a mighty\n     hand, delivering His people (Exod. xiii. 3). It is a hand\n     that controls those who control others (Prov. xxi. 1). Even\n     the shadow of it is sufficient protection (Isa. li. 16). It\n     is a heavy hand when it rests upon His people in\n     chastisement (Job xix. 21), and still more so when it rests\n     upon the wicked in punishment (1 Sam. v. 11). It is\n     outstretched to fight against His enemies (Jer. xxi. 5).\n\n [2] See outlines on pages 94-96 (OPPRESSION OF THE POOR, THE\n     PLEADER AND THE JUDGE).\n\n [3] H. E. I. 3026, 3027; P. D. 1923.\n\n [4] H. E. I. 143, 158.\n\n [5] H. E. I. 2286.\n\n\n\nTHE DUTY OF THE AFFLICTED.\n\n     ix. 9-14. _And all the people shall know, &c._\n\nGod here complains of what Israel did when grievous and prolonged\nafflictions, sent by God, fell upon them:[1] then they left undone\nwhat they ought to have done, and did what they ought not to have\ndone; and this opens up the great subject of _the duty of the\nafflicted._\n\nAn entirely different interpretation has to be put upon affliction in\nthe case of men whose sincere desire is to govern their lives\naccording to the will of God, and in the case of men who are living\nwholly unto themselves. It is exclusively of afflictions that befall\nmen of the latter order that we intend now to speak, though many\nthings that will be said apply to _all_ the afflicted.\n\n+I.+ In the case of the ungodly, the DESIGN of the affliction is in\nthe first instance corrective, and then, in the event of its not\naccomplishing this end, punitive.\n\n+II.+ Their DUTY is--1. +To recognise that their afflictions come\nfrom God.+ This is a fact that wicked men are very slow to recognise;\nthey prefer to attribute their troubles to \"bad luck,\"\nmiscalculations on their part, superior ingenuity or force on the\npart of their human adversaries, &c. They prefer anything to a\nrecognition of the awful fact that it is God who is dealing with them\n(H. E. I. 143). 2. +Submission to the will of God.+ This is\nfrequently the result of recognition that the affliction comes from\nHim; men cease to use such language as is attributed to the\nIsraelites (ver. 10). Were it not that sin dethrones the reason, this\nwould always be the case; but it is not so,--men can be found so\nhardened in iniquity that they resolve to fight against God.\nStoutheartedness in affliction is an admirable thing; there is a\nplace for it; but it is utterly misplaced when it leads men to\nstruggle against the Almighty. The only and inevitable result is\nheavier affliction and ultimate ruin (vers. 11-14. H. E. I. 146,\n147).[2] 3. +Repentance toward God.+ (1.) Repentance is more than\nsubmission (H. E. I. 4206-4209). (2.) God will be satisfied with\nnothing less than change of heart towards Him. (3.) Here we reach one\nof the most terrible results of iniquity; by it men are incapacitated\nfor naturally doing that which is indispensable to their salvation.\nDid not God pity sinful men, they could never attain to that state of\nheart and mind without which it would be impossible for God to\nforgive them. But Christ has been \"exalted . . . for to _give_\nrepentance and forgiveness of sins.\" With the outward stroke of\naffliction there comes to the heart the inward grace of Christ: let\ntransgressors be prompt to submit to the one, and to avail themselves\nof the other (H. E. I. 145, 4210).\n\nThese, then, are the duties of sinful men upon whom affliction has\ncome. Let your compliance with them be--1. +Prompt.+ Not to comply\nwith them is to perish. Not to comply with them promptly is an\naggravation of all your former iniquity (H. E. I. 4247, 4248). By\ndelay you may exhaust the Divine patience (Prov. xxix. 1).\n2. +Thankful.+ Adore the benignity of God, in that He is willing to\nreceive you on your mere repentance; a repentance which He Himself\nenables you to exercise. Remember that where God sees it, He does not\nmerely turn away His chastisements from the penitent transgressor; He\nreceives him into His favour, and blesses him as a son in whom He\ndelights (Luke xv. 22, 23). Men do not act so. When their foes\nsubmit, they require from them an indemnity for the wrong that has\nbeen done; often an indemnity that is intended to be crushing,\n_e.g.,_ Germany and France. But God in all His dealings with penitent\nsinners shows Himself to be a God of grace (Micah vii. 18, 19).\n3. +Intelligent.+ Do not imagine that there is anything meritorious\nin your repentance (H. E. I. 4225-4228). Remember that God thus deals\nwith you solely for Christ's sake, through whose atonement it has\nbecome possible for Him to show mercy to penitent transgressors. Here\nis an additional argument for the exercise of repentance, that God\nHimself, at so great a cost, had laid the foundation on which He can\ndeal with you otherwise than in the way of justice. If you persist in\nyour iniquity, and by your stubbornness leave Him no alternative but\nto destroy you, He will be able with absolute truth to say to each of\nyou, \"Thou hast destroyed thyself!\" Even in pronouncing judgment upon\nyou, He will clear himself; as did our Lord when He left Jerusalem to\nits fate (Matt. xxiii. 37, 38).[3]\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] The Ten Tribes had already suffered many an affliction;\n     their political organisation had often been broken up by\n     civil wars and foreign invasions, as the house of unburnt\n     brick dissolves into mud before the rain, and the flower of\n     the people had been cut down as lavishly as men cut down\n     the cheap sycamores; but with that stoutness of heart, that\n     obstinate toughness which in all ages to the present has\n     marked this race, the men of Ephraim and Samaria seem to\n     rise superior to every calamity; like Solomon, they will\n     change the sycamores for cedars, and they will replace the\n     brick with hewn stones. The conversion of Damascus from an\n     ancient enemy into an ally encouraged them in their hopes;\n     but Jehovah will confound their policy by bringing the\n     conquerors of Damascus upon them.--_Strachey._\n\n [2] A man under God's affliction is like a bird in a net; the\n     more he strives, the more he is entangled.--_Bishop Hall._\n\n [3] When the monster-taming Hercules overcame all in the\n     Olympics, Jupiter at last, in an unknown shape, wrestled\n     with him: the victory was uncertain, till at length Jupiter\n     descried himself, and Hercules yielded. No striving with\n     supreme powers: we must submit ourselves unto the mighty\n     hand of God, acknowledge our offences, call to Him for\n     mercy. If He strike, as it is with them that are wounded\n     with the spear of Achilles, He alone must help.--_Burton._\n\n\n\nLEADERSHIP.[1]\n\n     (_An Ordination Sermon._)\n\n     ix. 15, 16. _The prophet that teacheth lies, he is the\n     tail, &c._\n\n+I. The world is so constituted that leaders of the people are at\npresent a necessity.+ It is no disparagement of oak trees to say that\nfew of them are sixty feet high; and it is no disparagement of our\nfellow-men to say that few of them are qualified to lead others. In\nboth cases we have to do with an ordinance of God. We are all\nincluded in it. We all need, in some respect or other, to be led.\nThis arises from the disparity between human needs and human powers.\nOur faculties and time are too limited to allow any man to dispense\nwith guidance. Even the accomplished statesman needs to be guided in\nthe matter of health by the physician; the skilled physician needs to\nbe guided in building by an architect, and so on through all the\ngrades of human life. Men need guidance in commerce, politics,\nliterature, art, philosophy, and in religion. There is to be a time\nwhen in this last respect guidance will not be needed (Jer. xxxi. 33,\n34), but that time is not yet. The people still need guidance in\nreligion, because, 1. While in some of its aspects it is so simple\nthat a child is capable of it, in others it is so profound that they\nneed the most thoughtful instruction concerning it. 2. There are many\nfalse forms of religion seeking to win acceptance (Matt. xxiv. 24;\n2 Pet. ii. 1; 1 John iv. 1). 3. The natural tendency of the human\nheart inclines it to the acceptance of those forms of faith which are\nmost unscriptural. This is the real secret to the power of Romanism.\nTo-day, therefore, the people still need religious leaders, and\nleaders of the highest order. Even with the Bible in their hands,\nmost men need guidance (Acts ix. 30, 31). Woe to them, if they take\nas their guides men who have not themselves been taught of the Holy\nGhost!\n\n+II. Leadership involves for the leaders the highest honour or the\ndeepest shame.+ Many aspire to lead: few think of the difficulties\nand responsibilities of leadership. 1. _The man who leads his\nfellow-men well is entitled to the highest honour._ He cannot do it\nwithout noble qualities of mind and heart. Those who are well-led\nare, as a rule, not slow to acknowledge and reward the service that\nhas been rendered them. 2. _But leadership does not necessarily\ninvolve any honour at all._ The post of prominence may only bring out\ninto view the leader's incompetency, mental and moral. \"The fierce\nlight that beats upon a throne,\" and upon a pulpit, reveals every\nspeck and flaw in its occupant. It is a perilous thing to exchange\nthe pew for the pulpit. 3. _Through leadership a man may reach the\nmost utter degradation and shame._ He may do this (1.) through his\n_incompetency._ Admiral Byng might have lived and died a respectable\nEnglish gentleman, if he had not been made an admiral. Many envied\nhim when he was so gazetted: none envied him when he was shot. Many a\n\"stickit minister\" would have made a highly respectable and useful\nchurch-member. (2.) Through his _dishonesty._ Many a leader, claiming\nto be the head of a community, has really been its \"tail,\" carried by\nit, not carrying it on in paths of truth and honesty. His aim has\nbeen, not the welfare of his followers, but his own aggrandisement\nand popularity; his concern has been, not to speak the truth, but to\nsay what would be pleasant. His was the sin of many who claimed to be\nprophets in Israel (Isaiah iii. 12, v. 20; Jer. v. 31). It is a\ncommon sin to-day, both in the political and religious world. Let\nthose who claim to be ministers of God shun it. Self-seeking,\neverywhere despicable, is in the pulpit most hateful and criminal\n(P. D. 2482). Let every preacher regard as warnings those base\nprophets of Israel; let him endeavour to realise that wonderful\npicture of a true leader drawn by Christ's enemies (Matt. xxii. 16).\n\n+III. Leadership involves for the led salvation or destruction.+ It\nis not a trivial matter to be well or ill led. How true this is\npolitically, commercially, legally; it is not less true religiously.\nThat community shows little wisdom that chooses its leaders\ncarelessly. That community is insane which demands that its prophets\nshall prophesy unto it only smooth things (Isa. xxx. 10). The\nfollowing of religious leaders who are themselves led by the Spirit\nof God will result in temporal and eternal well-being; but trust in\n\"religious\" demagogues, whose aim is not to speak the truth, but to\nflatter those who listen to them, results inevitably in social and\nspiritual ruin. In self-defence, then, demand of your minister that\nhe speak to you, not what is pleasant, but what is true; and count\nhim not your enemy, but your best friend when he utters what, just\nbecause it is the truth of God, shall smite and wound as if it were a\nsharp two-edged sword (Heb. iv. 12).\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] See outline: \"BLIND LEADERS,\" p. 92.\n\n\n\nTWO CONSTANT FEELINGS IN THE MIND OF GOD.\n\n     ix. 17. _Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their\n     young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and\n     widows._\n\nFrom one point of view, this is a terrible text! it shows us that a\npeople may arrive at such a condition of desperate and incorrigible\nwickedness, that God may feel constrained, as the upholder of truth\nand righteousness in the world, to destroy them. But, on the other\nhand, how worthy of thought and thanksgiving is this revelation of\nGod's _constant_ feelings towards two very opposite classes of\npersons--those who are most joyful, and those who are most sorrowful.\n\n+I. God's feelings toward young men.+ He has \"joy\" in them, a fact of\nwhich young men seldom think. Doubtless He has joy in them,\n1. because of what they are; and 2. because of what they may become.\nHe has this joy in them as their Creator. The great Artist has a\ndelight in all His works (Gen. i. 31; Prov. viii. 31). Young men are\na realisation, more or less perfect, of a thought, an ideal in the\nDivine mind. Strength and comeliness of body, courage and vivacity of\nmind, modesty and generosity of heart, are the ideal characteristics\nof a young man, and precisely as they are actually found in any young\nman, God has \"joy\" in him, just as He has joy in the strength of the\nhorse, the beauty of the swan, or the melody that is poured forth by\nthe lark or the nightingale. We frequently see a young man who is\nobviously a glorious work of God; and had not sin so terribly cursed\nand marred our race, all young men would have been such as the\nBritish youths whose beauty called forth the old pleasant jest, \"Not\nAngles but angels.\"\n\nAll this is, of course, equally true of young women. For the Bible is\nin this respect to be interpreted like our English laws, concerning\nwhich it is decreed that the word \"man\" shall mean \"woman\" also in\nall cases in which nature herself does not forbid such an\ninterpretation. A young woman is more than a pleasing mass of flesh\nand blood; she is a realisation of a thought of God, a work of the\nunseen Artist, to whom all that is beautiful in the universe owes its\nexistence.[1] Many a young woman is so beautiful that the human\nartist counts himself happy indeed if he can make on the canvas any\nfair transcript of her loveliness; and, what is better still, the\nbeautiful body is but a casket in which a more beautiful body is\nenshrined.\n\nYoung men and women, think of this--God delights in you! What effects\nwill a realisation of this thought have upon you? 1. _It will check\nthat vanity by which the strength of the young man and the beauty of\nthe young woman are often so pitifully marred_ (1 Cor. iv. 7). 2. _It\nwill cause you to reverence yourselves._ Those who think that no one\ncares for them, are apt not to care for themselves; but consciousness\nthat we are observed leads us to circumspection and self-control. If\nthe observation be friendly and approving, it is a stimulus to\nendeavour to merit it. Respect kindles self-respect. Remembering how\nGod looks upon you, you will shrink from doing anything that will\nlessen His \"joy\" in you; you will not voluntarily permit faults or\nvices to mar the nobleness and beauty that call it forth, any more\nthan the roses, if they had power of self-defence, would give a\nlodgment to those insects which blight the beauty that causes\nbeholders to joy in them. 3. _Kindly, loving feelings toward God will\nspring up in you._ Friendliness and love tend to call forth\nfriendship and love; just as the sunshine and rain that in early\nsummer descend from the natural heavens cause flowers to spring forth\nfrom the earth.\n\nConsider what joy God must have had in the young man Jesus of\nNazareth, and why He had it, and resolve that the same causes for\nthis Divine joy shall exist in you.\n\n+II. God's feelings towards orphans and widows.+ \"Mercy on their\nfatherless and widows.\" A more familiar thought, but let us not\ntherefore overlook its preciousness. How frequent and how emphatic\nare the declarations of God's pity for the orphans and widows (Exod.\nxxii. 22; Deut. x. 18; Ps. x. 14, 18; lxviii. 5; lxxxii. 3; cxlvi. 9;\nJer. xlix. 11, &c.) Yea, we are taught that at least one-half of\nreligion consists in being like God in this respect (Jas. i. 27).\nGod's pity is practical; let those to whom it is promised trust in it\nconfidently.[2] And let God's people make it their business--put\nthemselves to pain and trouble--to be like Him in this respect:\n_this_ is the way to secure His favour for themselves.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] The world is God's journal, wherein He writes His thoughts\n     and traces His tastes. The world overflows with beauty.\n     Beauty should no more be called trivial, since it is the\n     thought of God.--_Beecher._\n\n [2] There are no such promises to those who are free from\n     sorrow and trial as are full and abundant to the afflicted.\n     A good country physician in New England went to a\n     neighbour's house to tell a wife and mother of the sudden\n     death of her absent husband. She was more than ordinarily\n     frail and dependent. She had a large family. Her husband\n     had acquired no property. The fresh blow was indeed\n     terrible to her. When the first wild burst of sorrow was\n     over, she looked up through her tears to her sympathising\n     friend, and said in agony, \"But, Doctor, _what_ shall I\n     do?\" \"My dear woman, I don't know,\" said the kind-hearted\n     physician. \"All I can say is, I only wish I had as many\n     promises of God to take right home to myself as you have\n     just now. The Bible is full of promises to those who are in\n     your case.\" And the stricken woman lived to realise the\n     truth and preciousness of the richest of those\n     promises.--_Trumbull._\n\n\n\nDIVINE ANGER.\n\n     ix. 17. _For all this His anger is not turned away, but His\n     hand is stretched out still._\n\n\nI. Anger in God is a calm and just sense of displeasure against\nsin.[1] II. Has its expression in the judgments executed upon men in\nthis life. III. These under an administration of mercy are designed\nto be corrective. IV. Cannot in the case of failure satisfy the\npurposes of the Divine anger. V. Hence in all cases of impenitence\nGod's anger is not turned away, &c.--_J. Lyth, D.D.: Homiletical\nTreasury._ Part I. p. 15.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] The anger which God feels and displays is always against\n     _sin._ It is never against sinners as offenders against\n     Himself personally, but as violators of the eternal laws of\n     righteousness and love. It is not possible for the most\n     daring transgressor to injure God in the slightest degree,\n     and therefore He can never feel anything approaching to\n     that personal vindictiveness which we feel against those\n     who have wronged us. There are some passages which at first\n     sight convey a different impression, as when it is said,\n     \"Know therefore that the Lord thy God . . . repayeth them\n     that hate Him to their face, to destroy them; He will not\n     be slack to him that hateth Him; He will repay him to his\n     face\" (Deut. vii. 10); and again, \"God is jealous, and the\n     Lord revengeth, and is furious; the Lord will take\n     vengeance upon His adversaries\" (Nahum i. 2). But terrible\n     as such passages are, they admit of a ready explanation. In\n     them God manifestly speaks as \"the Judge of all the earth,\"\n     as the Representative and Administrator of righteousness.\n     Some years ago, proclamations denouncing the severest\n     penalties against Fenianism were issued in the name of our\n     beloved Queen; but no one imagined that she cherished any\n     personal hostility against those offenders against her\n     authority. Every month it is her melancholy duty to sign\n     documents that consign convicted murderers to the scaffold,\n     but no one regards these death-warrants as any proof that\n     she delights in the sufferings of those whose sentence she\n     confirms. Nor will any thoughtful person interpret such\n     passages as setting forth anything else than God's resolve\n     to be faithful to His duties as the supreme administrator\n     of justice, notwithstanding that in being so He must\n     perform many things that are revolting to His infinite\n     tenderness and compassion. His expostulations with sinners\n     to repent and turn from their transgressions are a\n     sufficient confirmation of this interpretation (Ezek.\n     xviii. 31, 32, &c.) His anger against sin and sinners is no\n     passion of personal vindictiveness, but is the natural\n     revulsion of purity from impurity, of honesty from fraud,\n     of truthfulness for falsehood; this instinctive abhorrence\n     of generosity for meanness, of benevolence for malice, of\n     kindness for cruelty.\n\n     If God did not feel and manifest this anger against sin, it\n     would be impossible to respect and love Him. If He could\n     look down on the mean and dastardly things that are done\n     every day, and yet remain cold and emotionless as an\n     iceberg, as indifferent to the sufferings of His creatures\n     as some Oriental despots have been to the miseries of their\n     wretched subjects, our whole soul would rise up in\n     righteous condemnation of Him.--_R. A. B._\n\n     See outlines: GOD OPPRESSED, pp. 28-32; A TERRIBLE RESOLVE,\n     pp. 61, 62; THE PURPOSE OF PUNISHMENT, pp. 63, 64.\n\n\n\nTHE DESTRUCTIVENESS OF SIN.\n\n     ix. 18-19. _For wickedness burneth as the fire, &c._\n\nOne of the grandest and most fearful scenes in nature is the forest\non fire. This is the figure Isaiah employs to describe the\ndestruction that was coming upon sinful and stubborn Israel.[1] That\ndestruction would not be spared and the wealthiest could not escape.\nAnd all this woe, at which it behoved the people to tremble, is\nattributed to the wickedness in which they delighted. \"Wickedness\nburneth as the fire\"--a comprehensive statement eternally true.\n\n+I. Consider how true it is in regard to individuals.+ The\nforest-fire--1. _what a trivial thing it may seem in its\ncommencement!_ It was but a little heap of dried leaves and sticks\nwhich a thoughtless traveller kindles, that by means of the little\nfire thus produced he might cook his evening meal. He had no\nconception how that fire would spread. So the wickedness that\nultimately consumes and utterly destroys, often commences in what\nseems a little transgression, _e.g.,_ the few glasses of wine taken\nat a wedding-breakfast by one who has been a total abstainer; the\nlittle act of dishonesty that is undetected, &c. (James iii. 5). Many\nof the passions by which millions are consumed--avarice, lust,\nintemperance, &c.--seem little things in their commencement (H. E. I.\n4497, 4498, 4513-4518). 2. _It makes progress according to its own\nlaws,_ utterly regardless of the desires of the onlookers. It will\nnot stop at any line which they may prescribe. No man can accomplish\na desire to burn down just one acre of a forest. If he kindles a fire\nin the forest at all, it will advance as far and as long as there is\nfuel for it. So no man can determine beforehand the measure of the\npower which permitted wickedness shall acquire over him; the fire\nwhich a man kindles in the forest of his own passions will go burning\non long after he may wish it to stop. 3. _Its power grows\ncontinually._ It acquires a marvellous intensity and fervour as it\nproceeds (H. E. I. 409, 4500, 4501, 4534-4537). 4. Consequently _it\nproceeds with ever-accelerating rapidity._ Here again the moral\nanalogy is frightfully accurate. 5. Consequently, too, _its range\ncontinually widens._ That which began as a little point becomes a\nvast circle constantly expanding. Things that seemed so far off as to\nbe absolutely safe are speedily included in the ring of flame. So the\nfire of ungodliness which was kindled in one passion hastens through\nthe whole nature, and destroys every vestige of virtue and nobility;\nit seizes every faculty of mind and heart.[2] 6. _It is remorselessly\nundistinguishing in its effects._ The fair flowers and the poisonous\nweeds, the stately cedars and the misshapen brambles, it consumes\nalike. So again with the sinner: the wickedness that consumes him\nspares nothing. In workhouses, lunatic asylums, prisons, how many\nmost terrible proofs there are of the truth of this declaration! Once\nthe owners of many choice possessions, and with prospects as fair as\nthose of any of us, they are now like the forest region _after_ the\nfire--blackened and desolate.\n\n+II. Consider how true this is of nations.+ Wickedness consumes the\nnation's prosperity, happiness, strength, and ultimately its\nexistence.[3]\n\nFrom all this there are many lessons to be learned. 1. _He is a fool\nwho makes a sport of sin_ (Prov. x. 23). He is infinitely more\nfoolish than the child who plays with fire. 2. _He is a fool who does\nnot stamp out the fires of unholy passion the instant that he\nperceives them beginning to kindle upon him._ In dealing with sin, or\nin dealing with fire, our only safety lies in the promptest and most\nenergetic action (H. E. I. 4733, 4734).[4] 3. _Those nations are\nguilty of suicidal folly who legalise vice in any form._ 4. _Those\nwho pander to a nation's vices are traitors of the worst\nkind_.[5]--_R. A. B._\n\n\nIn this message the prophet affirms that there are resemblances\nbetween a fire and sin. It is not a common fire to which he refers,\nsuch as is employed for domestic or public purposes. It is a great\nconflagration which burns the humble shrubbery, the gigantic forest,\nextends over the land, and sends a mighty column of smoke and flame\nup to heaven. By attending to this comparison some of the\ncharacteristics of sin will vividly appear.\n\n+I. The origin of a great fire.+ Recently we read an account of a\ngreat fire, and the paragraph closed with these words: \"The origin of\nthe fire is unknown.\" Suppositions were made, conjectures were\noffered, still a deep mystery which may never be unravelled. The same\nwith the origin of sin. We know it had a beginning, for God only is\nfrom everlasting. We know it had a beginning before Eve and Adam felt\nits power, since they were tempted. We know it began with him who is\ncalled Satan and the father of lies. Still, there are three questions\nabout it which we cannot answer. 1. _Where_ did it begin? 2. _When_\ndid it begin? 3. _How_ did it begin? These questions might have been\nanswered; they have not, because such information is not required by\nus in this stage of our unending history.\n\n+II. The progress of a great fire.+ Place one spark amid combustible\nmaterial in London. Let it alone. What will be the result? It will\nleap from point to point, house to house, street to street, until the\nwhole city is in flames. Sin has spread in an exactly similar way.\nOne sin, to the individual; one wrong action, to the family; one\nimmoral look, to thousands; one crime, to a kingdom. The sin of one\nwoman away in the East, some sixty centuries ago, has spread itself\namongst the whole race; and there is not one who has not felt, to\nsome extent, its scorching power.\n\n+III. The transforming power of a great fire.+ Wood, coal, &c., it\ntransforms into its own essence, because it makes fire of these. It\nis even so with sin. It turns everything, over which it gains the\nslightest control, into its own nature--that is, into a curse. The\ndesire to _possess,_ sin has turned it in a different direction, and\nmade it an autocratic passion. Take the principle of _ambition_ the\nsame way. Take _commerce_ in the same way. Thus the richest\nblessings, yea, all the blessings which God has given to us, sin can\nso transform that they shall become curses.\n\n+IV. The destructive energy of a great fire.+ Who can calculate the\namount of property in London alone which has been destroyed by fire?\nBut the destruction which sin has caused in London is infinitely\ngreater and more momentous. Some have bodies once beautiful, now\nbloated and withered by sin. Some have feelings, once tender, now\npetrified by sin. Some whole intellectual powers were once strong,\nnow feeble by sin. Some, who were once full of hope, now hopeless by\nsin. The destruction which sin has caused is awful. And this it must\never do to all who touch it. Avoid it, therefore, more than anything\nelse. Herein only is safety.\n\n+V. The termination of a great fire.+ It terminates when all the\nmaterial is consumed and reduced to ashes. Can the fire of sin ever\nbe put out in this way? The body in the grave is scorched by it no\nmore; but what of the soul? Look at the rich man. He is tormented, in\npain, not by a literal flame, but by the fire of sin. He will be so\nfor ever, because the soul is immortal.\n\nA great fire has been terminated by a superior quenching power. There\nis also an element which can completely remove sin from the soul.\nWhat is it? Nothing can be more important than the true answer to\nthis question. Health must depart, trade must be left, money not\nrequired. Our souls must live for ever. With sin, no heaven, but\nhell. How delivered? Ask those in heaven, and those on earth, who\nhave been saved. They all say that the fires of unholy passion have\nbeen quenched in them, and their guilt removed, by the blood of the\nLamb. Apply at once to the same source.--_A. McAuslane, D.D._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Civil war and foreign invasion shall rage through this\n     reprobate people like the fire with which the husbandman\n     clears the ground of briers and thorns. The wickedness of\n     the land becomes its own punishment, and burns with a fury\n     which is indeed the wrath of God, while its fuel is the\n     people themselves.--_Strachey._\n\n     Wickedness, _i.e.,_ the constant thirst of evil, is a fire\n     which a man kindles in himself. And when the grace of God\n     which daps and restrains this fire is all over, it is sure\n     to burst forth. . . . The fire, into which this wickedness\n     bursts forth, seizes individuals first of all; and then,\n     like a forest fire, it seizes upon the nation at large in\n     all its ranks and members, who roll up in the form of\n     ascending smoke. . . . In its historical manifestation,\n     this judgment consisted in the most inhuman\n     self-destruction during an anarchial civil\n     war.--_Delitzsch._\n\n     The picture of guilt grows darker still. It is like\n     destroying fire in the jungle of a forest. The confusion\n     and misery thus caused are like the volumes of smoke that\n     mount up in whirling eddies from such a\n     conflagration.--_Birks._\n\n [2] Oftentimes a ruling sin will have power little by little to\n     colour the whole life with its own tints; to assimilate\n     everything there to itself, as in ever-widening circles to\n     absorb all into its own vortex, being as it were a gulf, a\n     maelstrom, into which all that was better and nobler in the\n     man is irresistibly attracted and drawn, and is there\n     swallowed up, and for ever disappears.--_Trench._\n\n     See also the Outline: THE TOW AND THE SPARK, pp. 69-71.\n\n [3] See Outline: INIQUITY A BURDEN, p. 13.\n\n [4] When the heart begins once to be kindled, it is easy to\n     smother the smoke of passion, which else will fume up into\n     the head and gather into so thick a cloud that we shall\n     lose the very sight of ourselves, and what is best to be\n     done--_Sibbes._\n\n     When a fire is first broken out in a chimney, it may with\n     much less labour be quenched than when it has seized the\n     timber of the house. What small beginnings had those fires\n     which have conquered stately palaces, and turned famous\n     cities into ruinous heaps!--_Swinnock._\n\n [5] See Outline: INIQUITY A BURDEN, p. 13.\n\n\n\nLEGALISED INJUSTICE.\n\n     x. 1-4. _Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, &c._\n\nI. An indictment against wicked magistrates. II. A challenge. III. A\nsentence.\n\nI. Magistrates and rulers are answerable to God. II. Their decisions\nwill be revised. III. Will in many instances be reversed. IV. The\nconsequences of their injustice will return back upon\nthemselves.[1]--_J. Lyth, D.D.: Homiletic Treasury,_ Part I. p. 16.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] See Outlines: OPPRESSION OF THE POOR, pp. 94, 95; and THE\n     PLEADER AND THE JUDGE, pp. 95-97.\n\n\n\nTHE DAY OF VISITATION.\n\n     x. 3. _And what will ye do in the day of visitation, &c._\n\nThese questions were addressed to men who were living lives of\nungodliness, and who were rich and strong in the results of their\niniquity. To such men I put the same questions. Do not resent them;\nanswer them, at least to yourselves. All the warnings of the Bible\nare warnings of true and intelligent friendship, all its threatenings\n\"are but the hoarse voice of God's love, crying, Do thyself no harm!\"\n(H. E. I., 604, 605). Let self-love, which has been your governing\nmotive all through your life, move you to consider, before it is too\nlate, what you will do in \"the day of visitation.\" It will not always\nbe with you as it is to-day.\n\nI. There will probably come to you a \"day of visitation\" in the shape\nof AFFLICTION. You have known little of it, but, if life be\nprolonged, it will certainly come to you (Job v. 7; H. E. I., 47). In\nhow many forms it may come upon you! Broken health--blasted\nreputation--poverty--bereavement: these things may come upon you\nsingly, or in various combinations, or all together. Men quite as\nstrong as you have been overtaken and overthrown by them (H. E. I.,\n3991, 4403-4406, 4975-4989). What will you do in the day of\nvisitation and desolation? To whom will you flee for help? To man?\nYou will then find what worldly friendship is worth (H. E. I.,\n2016-2112, 2131-2137). To God? But will He then hear you? He does not\nnecessarily listen to men merely because they are in trouble (Judg.\nx. 14; Jer. vii. 16; Prov. i. 26-31). It is the penitent's suppliant\nonly that God will hear and answer, and your very pain and terror may\nincapacitate you for the exercise of genuine repentance; _that_\nconsists, not in dread of the consequences of sin, but in disgust of\nsin itself. As your friend I counsel you (Job xxii. 21-28). It is a\nmean and miserable thing to have recourse to God only when in trouble\n(H. E. I., 3877-3879).\n\nII. But if your lot is different from that of all other men, and no\nday of sorrow ever dawns upon you, there will come to you a \"day of\nvisitation\" in the shape of DEATH. _That_ is certain! What will you\ndo then? To whom and to what will you flee for help? Friends,\nwealth--what will be their power or value then? And \"to whom will you\nleave your glory?\" For you will have to leave it (Ps. xlix. 16, 17;\nEccles. v. 15; 1 Tim. vi. 7). And when you have left it, what will\nbecome of _you?_ Prepare for what which is at once so inevitable and\nso momentous (H. E. I., 1562-1566).\n\nIII. But that is not all. Beyond, there is a supreme \"day of\nvisitation,\" the DAY OF JUDGMENT (H. E. I. 3045, 3055, 3061; P. D.\n2100, 2103, 2106, 2107). _You_ will be in that countless multitude\nwhich will stand before the \"great white throne.\" And you will not be\noverlooked or forgotten then; _you_ will be judged according to the\nrecords in \"the books\" that will then be opened (Rom. xiv. 12).\nHelp--who can then render it to you? Your \"glory\"--it will have\ndisappeared, or it may reappear as your shame. None of the things\nwhich secure for your consideration now will have a shadow of\nimportance then. Do I speak to you as a foe or as a friend when I\nurge you to prepare for this inevitable meeting with God? (H. E. I.,\n3062-3066). The time to prepare is _now._ The way to prepare, you\nknow; put into practice that which you have been taught. Then all\nthese days of visitation will be transformed and stripped of their\nterrors. In the day of sorrow you will have a Friend who will know\nhow to comfort you; in the day of death that Friend will be with you,\nupholding you in all that may be involved in that profound mystery;\nin the day of judgment that Friend will be the occupant of the\nthrone, and He will speak to you, not words that will blast you for\never, but words that will fill you with eternal joy.\n\n\n\nTHE ASSYRIAN INVASION OF JUDAH.\n\n     x. 5-34. _O Assyrian, the rod of Mine anger, &c._\n\nThis prophecy may be used to illustrate the following truths of\nabiding interest. +I. The power of empires and the policy of\nstatesmen are all under the control of God.+ Free-will is one great\nfact of the universe; an all-controlling providence is another; and\nGod knows how to harmonise both. In investing man with free-will, God\ndid not abdicate the throne of the universe; He still rules, and\nwhether they do it voluntarily or involuntarily, all men further His\npurposes. 1. This is a truth to be ever remembered by those who rule.\nTheir desire should be to work along with God, and not merely in\nsubordination to Him. This is the one secret of true prosperity and\nabiding power. 2. It is full of consolation for good men when rulers\nare yielding to a mad and wicked ambition (Ps. lxxvi. 10). +II. God\nexercises His control of empires and statesmen for the promotion of\nthe welfare of His people.+ Every great empire has some underlying\npolicy that guides and controls all its actions; _e.g.,_ the\nunderlying policy of Russia is said to be the ultimate acquisition of\nConstantinople. God's \"great policy\" is the promotion of the welfare\nof His people. In raising up or casting down kingdoms He has this\nobject always in view. This again is a profoundly practical truth.\n1. The ruler who remembers it will at least abstain from every form\nof assault on the Church of God. He who undertakes to persecute the\nChurch, undertakes to make war upon Him from whom he received his\npower, and who can instantly resume it (Acts ix. 4 and Matt.\nxxviii. 18). 2. Remembering it, God's people will not be dismayed in\ntimes of calamity. They will look with assured confidence, not for\nthe destruction of the Church, but of her persecutors; and they will\nnot look in vain. When the \"whole work\" that God has in view shall be\naccomplished, the ungodly instrument by which it was effected shall\nbe utterly broken (vers. 12-20). [All this belongs to a realm of\ntruth, the importance and preciousness of which is not likely to be\nappreciated in these times of freedom from persecution, but by the\nmartyrs in all ages it has been well understood.] +III. In the view\nof God the welfare of His people is prompted precisely in proportion\nas their holiness is promoted.+ We see from verses 20, 21, that while\nGod intended by the Assyrian invasion to punish iniquity (ver. 6),\nHis ultimate design was to bring His people back to Himself in\npenitence and faith. Here we have, 1. A correction of our views. We\nare apt to suppose that by the welfare of the Church is meant peace\nand outward prosperity. We are satisfied if her revenues and social\ninfluence are increasing. God often thinks it better to take these\nthings away. The day of true welfare for Judah begins when the fierce\narmies of Assyria come up against her (H. E. I., 3666). 2. Light is\ncast upon God's estimate of holiness. So precious is it in His sight,\nthat He overrules even the policies of great empires for the\npromotion of it among His people. It is distinctly revealed that this\nis His aim in all the discipline of our personal life (Heb. xii. 10;\nH. E. I., 85-90, 2842, 2843). This should be to us, then, 3. An\ninstruction. We should estimate holiness as God does. We should\nconstantly \"follow\" it (Heb. xii. 14; H. E. I., 2845-2848). And\nbesides humbly submitting to His chastisements (Lam. iii. 22), we\nshould thankfully acquiesce in whatever calamities He is pleased to\nsend upon His church or on ourselves, even though they be relatively\nas terrible as an invasion by the Assyrians, remembering that His\npurpose therein is to bring us back to Himself, to make us like\nHimself, and so render us capable of a happiness that shall be\nperfect and eternal.\n\n\n\nTHE ASSYRIAN.\n\n     x. 5-34. _O Assyrian, the rod of Mine anger, &c._\n\nThe Assyrian. I. _His commission_--subordinate, a mere rod in God's\nhands--defined. II. _His pride_--he boasts of his schemes--his\nachievements--his strength and wisdom--of what he will do against\nGod. III. _His rebuke_--just--keen--humiliating. IV. _His\npunishment_--irresistible--sudden--signal--effected by Divine power.\n\nI. The mightiest nations are but instruments of the Divine will.\nII. Are employed to execute wrath upon the guilty. III. God appoints\ntheir special work. IV. Defines its limits. V. Controls their\nambitious purposes. VI. Rewards them accordingly.--_J. Lyth, D.D.:\nHomiletical Treasury,_ p. 16.\n\n\nWe know what the Assyrians were in the history of the world. They do\nnot stand alone; they belong to a class of men who have appeared\nagain and again, and are numerously represented in the world\nto-day--men of enormous force, of abounding energy, of vast ambition,\nof unscrupulous determination. Such men as Ghengis-Khan,\nNebuchadnezzar, Alexander the Great, C\u00e6sar, and Napoleon, are their\nconspicuous representatives, but their representatives only. They are\nto be found elsewhere than on thrones and at the head of armies. They\nhave been represented in the Church by ambitious and unscrupulous\npopes, cardinals, and bishops not a few. They are represented among\nour nobles by domineering landlords; in commerce by great\ncapitalists, who brook no competition, but will crush a rival at any\ncost. This chapter concerns men who live in England to-day, and it\nhas for us more than an historic interest.\n\n+I. The ambition of powerful men.+ Having power, they naturally and\nlawfully wish to use it. The astonishing and lamentable thing is the\nmanner in which they delight to use it. God intends all the power\nthat He gives to be used for the same purposes as He uses His\nown--for the upholding of weakness, the relief of the needy, the\ndispensing of blessing. But almost always those to whom God intrusts\nmuch power use it for self-aggrandisement. Their delight is to crush\nothers (vers. 13, 14; H. E. I. 243; P. D. 244). Instead of doing\ntheir best to resemble God, they do their utmost to resemble the\ndevil. What a pitiable mistake! How much the ambitious man thus\nloses! What a horrible perversion of the means of blessing!\n\n+II. The godlessness of powerful men.+ 1. Mistaking the use to which\ntheir strength should be put, they also forget its source. They are\nso besotted as to think that it is _theirs,_ something which they\nhave originated; as if the jets of a fountain should boast of the\nwater that leaps up through them, forgetful of the reservoir whence\nit comes (1 Cor. iv. 7). We see how foolish this is; let us not\nforget how common it is; let us be on our guard against an error so\ncommon and so absurd (Deut. viii. 10-18; Dan. iv. 29-31. P. D. 2861).\n2. Their godlessness appears, too, in their imagination that there is\nno limit to their power (vers. 8-11; chap xxxvii. 24). In their\nprojects there is no dependence on Divine guidance and support, no\nsubmission to the Divine will (Jas. iv. 13-15).\n\n+III. The real position of powerful men.+ They imagine that they are\nautocrats: they really are merely instruments in the hand of God. God\nwill be served by us, voluntarily or involuntarily. He knows how,\nwithout impairing the freedom of the will, to use powerful men for\nthe accomplishment of His purposes; in much the same way as the\nmiller deals with the stream that rushes past his mill--he does not\ntry to destroy it, or to stop it, he merely turns it in among his\nwheels, and then unconsciously it uses its mighty force in doing his\nwork (vers. 5, 6; P. D., 2899). So it was with Pharaoh: though\nresolved not to serve Jehovah (Exod. v. 2), he did serve Him most\neffectively (Exod. ix. 16). So, though we may not be able in all\ncases to trace it, we may be sure it is with all wicked men (Ps.\nlxxvi. 10). God absolutely controls the vast universe over which He\nrules: if we will not serve Him as sons, we must do it as slaves or\nas tools.\n\n+IV. The end of men who forget the source of their power, and use it\nin a godless spirit.+ They are but rods in God's hand, and when He\nhas accomplished by them what He intended to do, He breaks them, and\ncasts them aside. In their folly they imagine that they can never be\nbroken (Ps. x. 6); yet how easy it is for Him utterly to destroy\nthem! Far-stretching and mighty they seem as a forest, yet how easily\nis a forest destroyed by fire (vers. 16-19). God's judgments are as\naxes, by which even the monarchs of the forest are brought low (vers.\n33, 34). By Isaiah we are reminded of three historic instances in\nwhich all this has been verified: the Egyptians (vers. 24, 26); the\nMidianites (ver. 26); the Assyrians (vers. 17, 18, 32-34;\nxxxvii. 36). If we needed any proof that God and His government of\nthe world are still the same, surely we have it in the history of\nNapoleon I. Let the mighty nations of the earth lay these lessons to\nheart (P. D., 2787). Let all who are disposed to vaunt their wealth\nor power be mindful of them: the ruler or the merchant-prince of\nto-day may be a beggar tomorrow (1 Sam. ii. 3, 4, 7-10; H. E. I.,\n4404, 4976; P. D., 149, 1617).\n\n\n\nMAN PROPOSES, GOD DISPOSES.\n\n     x. 7-15. _Howbeit He meaneth not so, &c._\n\n\"Man appoints, but God disappoints,\" \"Man proposes, but God\ndisposes,\" are proverbs which sum up a good deal of human experience.\nWe are often reminded of their truth even when we are striving to be\non the side of God, and to be co-workers with Him. There will be\ngreat differences between what _we_ \"mean\" and \"think,\" and what _He_\nhas determined in reference to the same actions.[1] But more\nfrequently we see this in the case of men who, like the Assyrians,\nare constructing their plans in direct opposition to God, fully bent\non carrying out ambitious and rapacious schemes. All the while they\nare only agents in effecting Divine purposes; they do what they never\n\"meant\" to do.\n\n+I. Man's purposes are often godless.+ In the sense, 1. Of being\nformed _independently of God_ (vers. 11, 13, 14). Men forget that God\nis inseparably connected with us and all our movements (Ps.\ncxxxix. 1-12); they never ask whether God will approve of their\nplans, nor what will happen should He frown upon them; they assume\nthat they have only to plan and execute, forgetting the lessons of\nexperience. Their conduct is as foolish as it is irreligious;\nirrational because it is atheistic (Jas. iv. 13-15). 2. Of being\nformed _in defiance of God._ Men harden themselves against the\nappeals and warnings of conscience and Scripture, and deliberately\nengage in enterprises upon which they know they cannot ask God's\nblessing, upon which they know must rest God's curse. Amid all their\ndark designs there is the torturing thought, which they would fain\nbanish, but which clings to them still, that there _is_ a Sovereign\nLord whose counsel shall stand. +II. God knows how to use man's\ngodless purposes for the furtherance of His glorious designs.+ This\nis done, 1. _Sometimes by making an evil purpose the very means of\ncontinuing and spreading His good work._ How often is this seen in\nthe history of persecutions! (See Acts xviii. 1, 2. The Pilgrim\nFathers. Tyndale's Bible. Martyrdoms, &c.). The means which men take\nfor putting out the light are used by God for spreading it.\n2. _Sometimes by allowing the evil purposes to work on up to the\npoint when its success appears certain, and then bringing about a\ntotally different result._ The device of Joseph's brethren only\nneeded time to effect God's purpose. Haman; enemies of Daniel. There\nis no stage of a wicked design safe from the chance of utter\nconfusion, and even the last act that was intended to be a triumph\nmay turn out a tragedy. 3. _Sometimes the evil purpose is allowed to\ndo all that was intended, and yet God effects through it His highest\ndesigns, even when human wisdom would declare that the case was\nhopeless._ The crowning example of this is to be found in the\nsuffering and death of our Lord Himself. Every step of that malignant\ncrime, which was thought to be a step towards the utter destruction\nof the Saviour's mission, was but helping on the triumph intended in\nthe counsels of Eternal Love (John xii. 32).\n\nLearn, 1. _The folly of leaving God out of our plans._ To plan\nwithout Him is presumptuous arrogance (vers. 15). It is to invite\ndefeat, our knowledge being so limited and so certain to leave out\nsome disturbing influence that will frustrate all our anticipations.\nA godless plan always means defeat in proportion to its apparent\nsuccesses. The choice that really lies before us is to work _with_\nGod as His children, or _for_ Him as his slaves, His tools, His\ninstruments. Our choice will be left perfectly free; but if we choose\nto reject His paternal guidance, we shall find that all we have\nsecured for ourselves is merely the contemptible honour of figuring\nin our small way as reprobates (Exod. ix. 15). 2. _The dignity of\nhuman life generally,_ as being comprehended in the supreme plans of\nGod (Gen. xlv. 8).[2] 3. _How to regard the disappointments of life._\nWhen things turn out differently than we \"meant\" or \"thought,\" it is\nuseless to fret and fume against them. Instructed by God's Word, let\nus humbly and reverently acquiesce in our disappointments as forming\npart of a plan of God, conceived in paternal love, which is unfolding\nmoment by moment: each event, whether bright or dark, having its\nmission from Him, and clothed with the grandeur of an unerring\ncounsel. If our purpose has been a righteous or beneficent one,\nthough it may seem for a time to have been utterly set aside, yet in\nthe _end_ we shall find that God has used it to further results more\nimportant and glorious than it entered into our mind to ask or\nthink.[3]--_William Manning._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] P. D., 2899, 2906.\n\n     See the whole article PROVIDENCE in the H. E. I., and the\n     other references given under this heading in the \"Index of\n     Arrangement.\"\n\n [2] See Outline: EVERY MAN'S LIFE A PLAN OF GOD, chap. xlv. 5.\n\n [3] P. D., 863, 865, 867, 868, 2101, 3239.\n\n        \"God's help is always sure,\n         His mercies seldom guessed;\n         Delay will make our pleasure pure,\n         Surprise will give it zest;\n         His wisdom is sublime,\n         His heart profoundly kind;\n         God never is before His time,\n         And never is behind.\"--_Lynch._\n\n\n\nA HAPPY CONVERSION.\n\n     x. 20. _And it shall come to pass, &c._\n\nConsider, +I. What is said of their former error.+ When it is said\nthat they \"shall no more stay upon him that smote them,\" it surely\nimplies that they had done this before: this was their error. They\nhad stayed upon another--upon Assyria as a refuge and defence against\nthe confederacy that threatened Ahaz (chap. vii. 1-12, viii. 4-9),\njust as at other times they relied upon Egypt as a defence against\nAssyria,--and they were to be delivered for this tendency to trust in\nhuman help, and were to be taught to \"stay upon the Lord, the Holy\nOne of Israel, in truth.\" Three things are here implied and\nexpressed. 1. _They had exercised an improper dependence._ To this we\nare all naturally prone. We need help, and are apt to seek it in some\ncreature rather than in the Creator. The evil of this course is, that\nthus we are kept away from God (H. E. I., 169-177). 2. _Their\ndependence had been disappointed._ That on which they stayed, not\nonly failed them, it injured them (2 Chron. xxviii. 20; Jer. xvii. 5,\n6). Creature confidence brings a curse upon us in two ways. (1) By\ndisappointments (Prov. xxiii. 5; Ps lxii. 9, cxlvi. 3, 4; Isa.\nii. 22). (2) By Divine rebukes (Jer. ii. 17-19; Jonah iv. 6, 7).\n3. _Their folly was to be corrected by their sovereign._ They were to\nbe taught wisdom by the things they suffered. But, alas! men often\nharden themselves against even such instruction (Isa ix. 13; Jer.\nv. 3; Amos iv. 6-11). Here we see the depravity of human nature in\nrendering inefficacious all these Divine chastisements. When this is\nthe case, there is a danger of one of two things: either that God in\nanger will throw down the rod (Hos. iv. 17), or that He will fulfil\nHis own threatenings (Lev. xxvi. 21, 23, 24, 27, 28; H. E. I.,\n145-147). God has a merciful design in all your crosses, trials, and\nafflictions (H. E. I., 56-74). When this is accepted, and afflictions\nthus sanctified, the penitent sufferer will put his trust in God\nonly. Thus the prodigal was starved back \"He began to be in\nwant\"--and it was a blessed want that led him to think of his\nfather's house, and resolved him to return. You have no reason to\ncomplain when your earthly props are taken away, if thus you are\ninduced to take fresh hold of God.\n\n+II. What is said of their renewed experience.+ \"But shall stay upon\nthe Lord, the Holy One of Israel.\" Glance at three views of it.\n1. _It is an enlightened confidence._ Confidence is the offspring\nboth of ignorance and wisdom; ignorance leads some persons to entrust\nprecious deposits to strangers or to villains, but the wise man seeks\nfirst to know those in whom he is asked to trust. It is foolish to\ntrust without inquiry, and to refuse to trust the trustworthy. The\nChristian stays himself upon God, because he has ascertained what His\ncharacter is (Ps. cxix. 107; 2 Tim. i. 12). 2. _Their confidence is\nvery extensive._ It covers all times (Ps. lxii. 8; Isa. xxvi. 4); all\nevents that can awaken our anxiety; every condition in which we can\nbe found; all that appertains to life and godliness, not only grace,\nbut glory; not only our journey's end, but also the way. Thus it\nshould be with us, but it is not always so. Strange to say, while we\nreadily trust God for eternal life, we often find it difficult to\ntrust Him for what we need in this life. How foolish is this (Rom.\nviii. 32; Ps. lxxxiv. 11)! 3. _It is a blessed confidence_ (Prov.\nxxix. 25; Ps. cxxv. 1; Isa. xxvi. 3; Jer. xvii. 7, 8; H. E. I.,\n1191-1934; P. D., 1157, 1160).\n\n+III. The reality of their change.+ \"They shall stay upon the Lord,\nthe Holy One of Israel, _in truth._\" This confidence is\ndistinguishable, 1. _from mere pretensions._ There are those who\nprofess to know God, but in works deny Him. It seems strange that\npersons should act the hypocrite here, for what do they gain (Job\nxx. 5, xxvii. 8)? 2. _From imaginary confidence._ Persons may not\nendeavour to deceive others, yet they may deceive themselves (Prov.\nxxx. 12). How unreal may be the confidence that seems most assured.\n(Comp. Mark xiv. 27-31, with verse 50.) Therefore--\n\n        \"Beware of Peter's word,\n            Nor confidently say,\n         I will never deny Thee, Lord,\n            But grant, I never may.\"\n\n_William Jay: Sunday Evening Sermons and Thursday Evening Lectures,_\npp. 290-296.\n\n\n\nTHE REMNANTS OF SOCIETY.\n\n     x. 20-23. _And it shall come to pass in that day, that the\n     remnant of Israel, &c._\n\nWe can hardly understand such language as this, because in our\nnational life and personal history we have never been subject to\nthese strange mutations which befell the kingdom of Israel. We can\nhardly understand what it means where a whole nation is torn up by\nthe roots, and carried away into a foreign land; and where, by and\nby, in the capricious mood of some despot, a portion of them are\nallowed to go back again,--a mere fragment. For in the carrying away\nof a million people, how many perish! And when a few are gathered\ntogether, and they turn to go back, how much is this remnant to be\npitied! Wandering from place to place in the promised land, crossing\nthe Jordan, finding a heap where once there was a flourishing city,\ndrawing near to the home of their ancestry and finding it in the\nhands of foreigners, themselves regarded as intruders and outcasts,\nwhat a harrowing experience theirs must be!\n\nIt was under such circumstances as these that the prophets did their\nchief work. It was one of their principal functions to encourage a\nnation plunged into profound despondency. In this chapter, the\nprophet, with words of cheer, and with an inexpressible richness of\nimagery, comforts the poor, despoiled band of people, and makes them\nfeel that the hand of power shall not for ever be so strong against\nthem.\n\nLooked at in its interior spirit, as God meant that it should be\nviewed, is it not calculated to encourage and comfort people who are\nin desolateness and distress? Think what is meant by _\"a remnant.\"_\nIt does not mean simply a few; neither does it mean merely the last\nthings; though it includes both these ideas. There are \"remnants\" in\nthe tailor's shop, in the carpenter's shop, in the household after a\nmeal, in the harvest field--the waste and refuse that is left after\nthe main and best parts have been taken away and used. So, in all the\nphases of society there is a remnant constantly coming up; it is the\nportion which is left after the better or more favoured have been\nculled out and used; the unsuccessful man, and the men who have\nbroken down; and it is in respect to the remnants of society that I\nam going to speak this morning.\n\nConsider God's great tenderness towards the remnant of His\npeople. . . . Did you ever think of the remnants of society--how\nnumerous they are, and how much they are to be pitied? We are\nobservant of the prosperous and successful, but who cares for the\nremnants of society? God does!\n\nLet us look at some of these remnants. I. _Those who are broken in\nhealth, and are utterly turned away by that reason from all that they\nsought._ How many they are! How full of sorrow is their lot! By\naccident or disease suddenly rendered useless! Like a ship cast upon\nthe land, where the sun beats upon it, and the heat shrinks and\ncracks it, and opens the seams wider and wider, till by and by it\ndrops to pieces. So it is their pitiful lot to be able to do nothing\nbut wait for the end. II. _Those who have misapplied their powers,\nand consequently have failed._ How many give themselves to\nprofessions for which they are utterly unfit! Every day men are\nruined because they do not know what they are, nor what they are set\nto do, and are not willing to do the things which they could do, but\nare aspiring to do the things they are not fitted for. III. _Men who\nwere adapted to their work, but were overtaxed, and who had not the\nendurance which their circumstances required._ Hundreds of men, under\nthe intense strain of modern society, break down; and then all is\ngone so far as they are concerned. IV. _A great many more break down\nfrom a secret mismanagement of themselves._ They live in neglect or\nviolation of the simplest and most fundamental laws of health, or\nthey indulge in vices that are destructive. V. _They who have\nviolated the laws of society, and have been detected, convicted, and\nbranded with shame._ It is scarcely possible for such men, however\nearnestly and honestly they may desire it, to be anything else than\nmere \"remnants\" in society.\n\n1. In regard to all those who are in this great struggling mass--the\nremnants of society--I have to say: Take pity on them; have\ncompassion on them; do something to rescue, to strengthen, to cheer\nsome of them. 2. To all who are cast down and suffering, I say, There\nis a God who is sorry for you. If men disown you, God thinks of you,\nand will succour you. Beware, then, of desperation. Do not throw\nyourselves away. Though all else should be against you, God is for\nyou. There is immortality--seek for that. There is bright and blessed\nmanhood just beyond. If you have failed for this life, do not fail\nfor the other too. There is very much that may yet be done, even in\nthe afternoon and twilight of men's lives, if they are hopeful and\nactive. Do not give yourselves over to complaining and mourning. Be\npatient. However low you may have got, you have not got so low as\nChrist was when He died a death of shame and contumely for us. Shall\nthe servant be greater than his Lord? Be patient. It cannot be long\nbefore God's angel shall come, and then your troubles shall be over.\nPluck up your courage. Wait. And if need be, suffer, and suffer\npatiently to the end. Let everything go but this: \"God loves me;\nheaven waits for me;\" and in that hope stand. Though the world perish\naround you, _stand,_ comforted and cheered by the confidence that God\ncares for you as the remnants of His Israel (H. E. I., 958-961, 2310,\n2311, 4015-4018).--_Henry Ward Beecher: Christian World Pulpit_ (vol.\niii. p. 43).\n\n\n\nISAIAH'S VISION OF THE KING AND OF HIS KINGDOM.\n\n     CHAPTERS XI. AND XII.\n\nThis is one of the visions that Isaiah _saw_ (chap. i. 1, ii. 1,\n&c.). He was a dreamer of dreams. With a keen perception, not\nsurpassed, of the men and things actually surrounding him, much of\nhis life was passed in an ideal and future world. There he found\ncomfort and strength to endure the sorrows that otherwise would have\ncrushed him. At the outset of his ministry, when the great king who\nhad done so much to restore the prosperity of the nation was about to\nbe removed, there was vouchsafed to him a vision of the King\nimmortal, eternal, invisible, throned in the temple, and surrounded\nby the exalted intelligences who do His will (chap. vi. 1-4); and\nnow, at the close of the wicked and disastrous reign of Ahaz, when\nhis hopes concerning his race would naturally have failed, there was\ngranted him a vision of a King of righteousness and peace, who on\nearth would rule over a kingdom such as the world had never seen. His\nsoul had been stirred and appalled by a vision of disaster and woe.\nHe was the king of Assyria, then the terror of the earth, utterly\nbroken, his vast armies hewn down as forests fall before the axes of\nthe woodmen (chap. x. 33, 34); a vision of blood and terror which may\nwell have filled him with trembling. But just as sometimes the\nsweetest daylight follows a night of storm, this vision of terror\nfades away, and he sees--\n\nI. A KING (chap. xi. 1-5). 1. _Royally descended,_ \"a rod out of the\nstem of _Jesse._\" A simple farmer on the hills of Bethlehem, and yet\na father of kings. Not an accident. We are here confronted with the\nmystery of blood, of race. No common man was he from whom sprang\nDavid, Solomon, Hezekiah, Josiah, and a long line of kings. In his\nordinary hours, Isaiah may well have derived assurance that the\nvision that gladdened him was given him from above, from the fact\nthat it was in harmony with God's promise (2 Sam. vii. 12-16).\nWithout dismay he could view the royal house lapsing into the\nobscurity from which it sprang--becoming merely a house of _Jesse_\nonce more--assured that in His own time God would again raise it up\nto glory.[1] It is always well when our hopes rest upon the Word of\nGod. 2. _Royally endowed;_ a King by truest \"right divine,\" because\npossessed of royal qualities of heart and mind (chap. xi. 2, 3). Of\nthe thousands who have sat on thrones, how few have possessed them!\nHow many have ruled over the miserable wretches subject to their sway\nmerely by the craft of the serpent or the cruelty of the tiger! Of\nthose who have been popular, how many have owed their popularity to\nmere physical prowess and politic good-nature (Richard I.,\nCharles II.)! How few have endeavoured to approach the Biblical\nconception of what a ruler ought to be (Deut. xvii. 14-20; 2 Sam.\nxxiii. 3; Ps. lxxii. 4; Prov. xx. 28)! In the marvellous superiority\nof that conception to anything that has prevailed among men, have we\nnot another proof that the sacred writers were indeed inspired by the\nSpirit of God? 3. _Ruling in righteousness;_ using His marvellous\nendowments for the welfare of those subjected to His authority (chap.\nxi. 3-5); not judging of things or men by their mere appearance, nor\nby common report; caring for the poor, befriending the shrinking and\nhelpless, fearless in His dispensation of justice; His very words\nbeing swords that smote and overthrew the arrogant oppressor; made\nstrong by the very righteousness which merely politic men would have\nfeared to display in view of the might of iniquity in this disordered\nworld; a Hero of the truest and divinest kind, in actual life setting\nforth the ideal to which the noblest knights in the purest days of\nchivalry strove to conform. Such was the King whom the prophet \"saw\"\nin an age when \"ruler\" was merely another word for tyrant and\noppressor. Surely the vision so fair and wondrous was given him from\nabove!\n\nII. He also saw THE KINGDOM. 1. _A kingdom of righteousness_ (chap.\nxi. 9). The kingdom necessarily resembles the king. Appalling is the\ninfluence of a court upon a nation. Correspondingly great is the\nresponsibility of those who sit in high places. 2. _A kingdom of\npeace._ Set forth by the most beautiful symbolism (chap. xi. 6-10,\n13). 3. _A kingdom of prosperity._ Those included in it are no longer\nmiserable exiles and bond slaves; rather they rule over those by whom\nthey were spoiled and oppressed (chap. xi. 14). This is the true\ninterpretation of a symbol that is in itself harsh and repulsive. The\ncoarseness of the symbol is due to the coarseness of the minds it was\nfirst intended to touch. 4. _A kingdom of gladness and joy._ There\npervades it the gladness of exiles who have been restored to their\nown land (chap. xi. 15, 16); the true and religious joy of men who\nrecognise that the deliverances which inspire their songs have been\nwrought for them by God (chap. xii. 1-5); the joy of men who are\nabsolutely assured of continual safety (chap. xii. 2, 6).\n\nWas all this merely a bright vision? 1. It has been already fulfilled\nin part. 2. In our own day it is being fulfilled more completely than\never before. 3. It shall yet be fulfilled triumphantly.[2] Let us\nthen, 1. Recognise and rejoice in the fact that we are living under\nthe rule of this righteous King. This is at least the dawning of the\n\"day\" which Isaiah saw (Matt. xiii. 16). 2. Exult in view of the\ncertain future of our race. The kingdom of God shall come generation\nafter generation with mightier power (H. E. I., 3421-3423). 3. Labour\nas well as pray that future may be hastened.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] The image is now transferred to the state and king of\n     Israel, which is also to be cut down to the stump, like the\n     tree in Nebuchadnezzar's dream. But out of that stump, and\n     from its living roots, shall grow up a scion--one of those\n     slender shoots which we see springing up from, and\n     immediately around, the stock of a truncated tree. A king\n     of the race of Jesse shall sit on the throne of his\n     fathers, in accordance with the covenant made with David\n     (Ps. lxxxix. 3, 4).--_Strachey._\n\n     When the axe is laid to the imperial power of the world, it\n     falls without hope (chap. x. 33, 34). But in Israel spring\n     is returning (chap. xi. 1). The world-power resembles the\n     cedar-forest of Lebanon; the house of David, on the other\n     hand, because of its apostasy, is like the stump of a\n     felled tree, like a root without stem, branches, or crown.\n     The world-kingdom, at the height of its power, presents the\n     most striking contrast to Israel and the house of David in\n     the uttermost depth announced in chapter vi., _fin.,_\n     mutilated and reduced to the lowliness of its\n     Bethlehemitish origin. But whereas the Lebanon of the\n     imperial power is thrown down, to remain prostrate, the\n     house of David renews its youth. . . . Out of the stump of\n     Jesse--_i.e.,_ out of the remnant of the chosen royal\n     family, which has sunk down to the insignificance of the\n     house from which it sprang--there comes forth a twig\n     (_choter_), which promises to supply the place of the trunk\n     and crown; and down below, in the roots covered with earth,\n     and only rising a little above it there shows itself a\n     _n\u0113tzer, i.e.,_ a fresh, green shoot. In the historical\n     account of the fulfilment, even the ring of the words of\n     the prophecy is noticed: the _n\u0113tzer,_ at first so humble\n     and insignificant, was a poor despised _Nazarene_ (Matt.\n     ii. 23).--_Delitzsch._\n\n [2] For additional suggestions on this part of the subject, see\n     outlines on pages 71-73 (ISAIAH'S VISION OF THE LAST DAYS,\n     THE LATTER-DAY GLORY, THE FUTURE TRIUMPHS OF THE GOSPEL),\n     101 (THE DIVINE IDEAL OF ISRAEL REALISED), 182 (THE REMEDY\n     OF THE WORLD'S MISERY), 186 (THE GOVERNMENT OF CHRIST),\n     191-194 (THE PRINCE OF PEACE, THE EMPIRE OF CHRIST, THE\n     SECURITY FOR THE FULFILMENT OF GOD'S PROMISES, THE\n     OUTSTRETCHED HAND OF GOD).\n\n\n\nTHE SPIRIT OF THE LORD.\n\n     xi. 2. _The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him._\n\nThis is declared concerning the Messiah. Short as this declaration\nis, some of the profoundest of all truths are involved in it. It is\nimplied that God is a person, that from Him there goes forth an\ninfluence by which the character of other persons is affected, and\nthat all that qualified Jesus of Nazareth to be the Messiah came from\nGod. Let us think of these things. Do not be deterred from doing so\nby the idea that they are transcendental, far away from our daily\nlife. They need not be so; we shall be very blameworthy if we make\nthem so.\n\n+I. God is a person.+ There are those who would have us put away this\nfaith. In their view, God is merely the great controlling Force\nbehind all other forces, the life of the universe, diffused\nthroughout it, manifesting itself in innumerable forms. As it is the\nsame life in the tree that manifests itself in root, trunk, branch,\nspray, twig, leaf, blossom, fruit, so all things that exist are not\nthe creations of a personal will, but the manifestations of an\nimpersonal and all-pervading life; all forces, convertible the one\ninto the other, are but varying forms of the one underlying force.\nEvery individual life is but a wave that seems for a moment to be\nseparated from the one universal ocean of life; it leaps up from it,\nfalls back into it, is absorbed by it. True, these waves are often\nstrangely diverse--Nero and St. Paul, John Howard and Napoleon, the\nVirgin Mary and Lucrezia Borgia; but in that great Unity of which\nthey are all manifestations, there is an all-comprehensive\nreconciliation, though it may elude our grasp. For Pantheism, many\nwould have us put away the doctrine of a personal God. But this\nexchange, if it could be forced upon us by some logical necessity\n(which it is not), would not be a gain, but a tremendous loss. For,\n1. _There would be a tremendous loss to the heart._ A force may be\nfeared, but not loved. To gravitation we owe much, but no one ever\nprofessed to love it. A force cannot be loved, because it does not\nlove. Strike out of our life all that comes to us from the confidence\nthat God loves us, and from the responsive love that springs up in\nour hearts towards Him, and how much is lost! Then there is no longer\nany assurance amid the mysteries of life, nor consolation in its\nsorrows. In a word, we are orphaned: we can no longer say, \"Our\nFather, who art in heaven.\" There is no longer a Father, knowing us,\nloving us, causing all good things to work together for our good;\nthere is only a Force, to which it is useless to appeal, against\nwhich it is impossible to contend. 2. _We should also lose one of the\ngreatest of all helps to a noble life._ Not to dwell on the fact that\nto speak of virtue or vice would then be absurd,--then we should no\nlonger sin, we should merely make mistakes,--consider how much the\nworld owes to the aspiration to be like God which has stirred so many\nnoble souls. Through them the average morality of the world has been\nmarvellously raised; but this would have been impossible but for the\nstimulus these inspiring souls found in the character of God. That is\nthe first fact of which this text reminds us, that God is a person\nfrom whom a spirit--an influence--can go forth affecting the\ncharacter of other persons.\n\n+II. From God such an influence does go forth.+ The possibility is a\nglorious fact. That from God a \"spirit\" should go forth, and that it\nshould do so invisibly, is in accordance with all that we know of the\nuniverse which God has made, and which is in some sort a revelation\nof Him. 1. Nothing in the universe is unrelated. From orb to orb\ninfluences go forth by which they are mutually affected. 2. The\nmightiest influences are invisible. In all this, the material is a\ncounter-fact and revelation of the spiritual. It would be altogether\nabnormal, if from God there did not go forth an influence operating\nupon and affecting other persons. It is invisible, but its effects\nare recognisable. One of them is the activity of conscience, rightly\nunderstood. Another is the moral growth and refinement which those in\nwhom it is most conspicuous, most invariably and distinctly attribute\nto influences exerted upon them by God. Even Socrates did so. This\nalso is a doctrine full of hope and comfort. If we need moral\ntransformation, there streams from God an influence capable of\neffecting it: to that influence let us submit ourselves, and the\ntransformation shall come to pass; the Spirit of the Lord will rest\nupon us, and we shall become like Him.\n\n+III. To the influence exerted upon Him by the Spirit of the Lord,\nJesus of Nazareth owed all that qualified Him to be the Messiah+\n(vers. 2-5). That which was born of the Virgin Mary was a true human\nchild. A sinless child, yet sinless not as the result of the\nsinlessness of the mother (as Rome teaches), but of the influence of\nthe Spirit of the Lord resting upon Him from the beginning of his\nearthly life. His was a real humanity--_our_ humanity sanctified. All\nthat was pure, noble, Godlike in Him was \"born not of the flesh, nor\nof the will of man, but of God.\" How full of comfort and hope is this\ntruth also! To us also is offered the same Spirit. Nothing can be\nmore express than the declarations that we may have it if we will,\nand that, if we have it, the ultimate result will be that we shall be\nfound partakers of the holiness of God. Let us not be unwisely cast\ndown by the frailty and pollution of our nature; if the Spirit of the\nLord rest upon us, the purity and the strength of God will become\nours, and at length the Father will say to each of us, as He did of\nJesus of Nazareth, \"This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well\npleased.\"\n\n\n\nTHE RIGHTEOUS JUDGE.\n\n     xi. 3. _And He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes,\n     neither reprove after the hearing of His ears._\n\nA glorious difference between our Lord and ourselves. \"He knew what\nwas in man,\" and needed not the evidence of external signs, which\noften mislead _us._ He should deal with the motives of the heart\n(H. E. I., 3332, 4147). Not by human sight, but by Divine _insight,_\nHe judged the conduct and character of men. 1. Our judgment is\nenfeebled by _ignorance._ We do not see and hear all, and from our\nimperfect knowledge of facts we draw wrong and often disastrous\nconclusions (H. E. I., 2997-3005). But Our Lord could go behind the\nvisible works, and detect what often deceived men--_e.g.,_ His\ntreatment of pharisaism. 2. Our judgment is enfeebled by _prejudice._\nThis is often the result of ignorance. Seeing only certain sides of\nmen, we dislike them, and frame our judgments accordingly--_e.g.,_\nNathanael (John i. 46). With no better reason than Nathanael had, we\nregard many a man as an enemy, or otherwise place him in a false\nlight. But our Lord dealt with none in this way. Seeing men as they\nreally were, no preconceived opinions led Him to unworthy\nconclusions. 3. _Partiality_ enfeebles and perverts our judgment.\nJudging by sight and hearing, we approve of one man more than\nanother, because he has certain artful or pleasing methods for\nwinning our favour: flattery, offers of gain, &c. (P. D., 1275, 1281,\n1283). But our Lord could not be won in this way (Mark xii. 14; John\nvi. 15). He was infinitely compassionate, tender, forgiving, but no\nfeeble partiality interfered to prevent most righteous judgment.\n4. Our judgment is often perverted by _passion._ In the pursuit of\nsome unlawful and all-absorbing aim, we become too disturbed to weigh\ncalmly even the evidences we can see and hear. We look at everything\nin the light of our false affection, and are thereby rendered\nabsolutely incapable of beholding others in their true light,\nespecially if they stand in our way and oppose our progress (P. D.,\n2060). But the one absorbing and unremittent purpose of Jesus of\nNazareth was to do the will of His Heavenly Father, and to finish the\nwork He had given Him to do. Hence He dwelt always on a pure\naltitude, in whose clear atmosphere He saw men and things as they\nare. 5. _Our natural depravity_ is also a serious hindrance to our\nright judging. Our very organs of knowledge, our affections, our\nconscience, have been perverted. Let a man be ever so disposed to\ntake correct views of men and things, there will be some flaw in his\nvision, some defect in his hearing. Hence there are times when we\ncannot accept as final the judgment of the best and holiest of men.\nBut Christ has no secret evil to lead Him wrong.\n\nIn view of all this, how fitting it is that Christ should be our\njudge! How well, too, He is qualified to be the merciful High Priest\nwho we need (Heb. iv. 15, 16). He who tenderly sympathises with us is\nHe who perfectly knows us (H. E. I., 956; P. D., 462).--_William\nManning._\n\n\n\nTHE UNIVERSAL DIFFUSION AND REDEMPTIVE POWER OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.\n\n     (_Missionary Sermon._)\n\n     xi. 9. _They shall not hurt nor destroy, &c._\n\nWe have here a picture of the golden age. I. The whole earth shall be\nas Mount Zion. II. Shall be freed from injustice and violence.\nIII. Shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord. 1. Wherein this\nknowledge consists. 2. To what extent it shall prevail--universal,\ndeep. 3. By what means it is to be diffused.--_J. Lyth, D.D.:\nHomiletical Treasury_ (p. 18).\n\n\n\"They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy _mountain,_ for the\n_earth_ shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord.\" It seems clear\nthat in these words the prophet intended to be understood of speaking\nof the whole earth. He would scarcely, in the same sentence, have\nused the expressions in question--the _holy mountain_ in the first\nclause, and the _earth_ in the other--if by these expressions he had\nnot meant the same thing, namely, the whole globe of the earth, when\nthe dwellers thereon should come to be true worshippers, like those\nwho first worshipped at Mount Zion, and who were a type of the\ngreater assembly of worshippers, the holy and universal Church, which\nin the fulness of time would be established.\n\nI. _The prophet grounds the hope of that reformed and purified state\nof the moral_ _world, described in the beautiful words of the text,\nupon the increase of religious knowledge_ which he saw to be coming.\n\"They shall not hurt . . . for the earth shall be full of the\n_knowledge of the Lord._\" II. These words may be taken as\n_descriptive of the legitimate effect of Christian knowledge._ The\ngeneral scope, aim, and tendency of Gospel principles is such as\nwould produce the change described, were it not counteracted by the\ntendency within us to what is wrong. III. They are more than this:\nthey are _prophetic of the actual results of Christian knowledge._\nThe Gospel will render war impossible. True, so-called \"Christian\"\nnations have not yet ceased to wage war with one another, nor\nso-called \"Christian\" men to rob and circumvent and ruin each other.\nNevertheless, this prophecy shall yet be fulfilled. We see it in the\nprocess of fulfilment. The condition of the moral world has been\nmeliorated by Christianity. Wars have not ceased, but their conduct\nhas been mitigated. In their private dealings with each other, men\nhave become more just and trustworthy. Already there are millions of\nmen who would shrink from doing harm of any kind to their fellow-men.\nCompare Christendom with heathendom, and you will see what mighty\nchanges the Gospel has already wrought. The practice even of\nChristian men falls short of their knowledge. Nevertheless, the\npractice and the morals of men are, generally speaking, the best\nwhere their knowledge is the most. The prophet's words are justified\nby fact, and men forbear one another most, and hurt and destroy\nleast, where knowledge is the greatest. It is a fact that life and\nproperty are more safe and secure in the Christian portion of the\nearth, than in any other portions. And the knowledge of the Lord\ngrows year by year; partly through the labours of missionaries in\nmany places; still more by the rapid growth of the nations that are\nChristian. The violent and lawless races of the earth are dwindling\naway. The only races that are increasing are those that fear God, and\nare willing to respect the rights, the properties, and the lives of\ntheir neighbours. Through the medium of this natural increase of\npeace-loving races, and through the conversion of many among the\nbenighted nations, this prophecy is receiving a gradual, but very\nappreciable, fulfilment. The world is advancing, with\never-accelerating speed towards knowledge and peace, and this\ndeclaration shall yet be literally fulfilled (H. E. I., 979,\n1161-1168; P. D., 2465, 2466).\n\n_Application._--1. We are permitted to rejoice in the hope of a\nperiod when justice and benevolence shall prevail in the world. 2. We\nare required to contribute towards the realisation of this hope. This\nwe are to do (1) by the purification of our own hearts; by the\nconquest of every passion and desire that would make us hurtful to\nour neighbours. (2) By prayer (Matt. vi. 9, 10). (3) By helping to\ndiffuse that \"knowledge of the Lord\" which is the great peace-maker\nin the earth.--_A. Gibson, M.A.: Sermons on Various Subjects; Second\nSeries_ (pp. 246-265).\n\n\nIn this and the preceding verses we have a beautiful picture of a\nstate of human society entirely different from anything that has been\nwitnessed since the Fall. The prophet beholds changes in human\ncharacter so great that he feels he can only symbolise them by\ntransformations in the members of the animal kingdom of the most\nastonishing kind. Verses 6-8 _are_ symbolical, and are intended to\nexcite within us the liveliest anticipations of the glorious effects\nthat would follow the universal proclamation and acceptation of the\ngospel. Thus we are led to speak of the nature, the diffusion, and\nthe effect of the knowledge of the Lord.\n\nI. ITS EXALTED NATURE. By \"the knowledge of the Lord\" may be meant\nthat of which He is the revealer (2 Chron. xxx. 22), or that of which\nHe is the theme (2 Pet. ii. 20). God can only be revealed by Himself;\nand He has given us a threefold revelation of Himself--in nature, in\nprovidence, and in Holy Scripture. In the latter we have the record\nof the fullest revelation which He has vouchsafed, that given us in\nHis Son. God is never truly known by man until He is known in Christ.\n\"The knowledge of the Lord\" and \"the Gospel\" are terms of the same\nmeaning.\n\nII. ITS DESTINED DIFFUSION. The figure employed by the prophet brings\nbefore us impressively the universality of its diffusion. The\nimagination is called in to instruct our faith.[1] The world-wide\ndiffusion of the gospel is a matter--1. Of _prophetic certainty._\nNothing could be more plain than the prophetic declarations\nconcerning this matter. But if any man asks _when_ the promise will\nbe fulfilled, only one answer can be given him (Acts i. 7).\n2. Involving _Divine agency._ Utterly false is the notion that, after\ncreating the universe, God withdrew from it, and left it to go on by\nits own momentum (John v. 17); and utterly false is the notion that,\nafter giving the gospel to the world, God has left it to make its own\nway therein. By Divine agency men are raised up to proclaim it (Eph.\niv. 11). While they are so engaged Christ Himself is with them (Matt.\nxxviii. 20); and while they preach, the Holy Spirit strives in the\nhearts of men to prepare and dispose them to receive the glad tidings\n(1 Thess. i. 5). When, therefore, we look at the glorious promise of\nour text, we must not forget that God Himself is working for its\naccomplishment. This will save us from unbelief and despair\nconcerning it. 3. Involving _human instrumentality._ Not that this is\nabsolutely necessary. Without human husbandry God could have caused\nthe earth to bring forth food for man and beast, and without human\ninstrumentality He could have saved the world. But it has pleased Him\nto commit to us the Word of reconciliation. The consequent duty of\npreaching it must be taken in connection with, and regarded as the\ncondition of, the promise; just as the promise that there shall be a\nharvest till the end of the world is conditioned by man's sowing the\nseed in the appointed season. The promise must not be used as an\nexcuse for indolence, but as a stimulus to industry.\n\nIII. ITS BLESSED EFFECT. The Gospel is a harmonising power. It has a\ntransforming efficacy equal to any that would be needed to bring\nabout a literal fulfilment of verses 6-8. Wherever it comes in its\nsaving power it new creates human hearts, and thus dries up the\ncauses of hatred and discord at their fountain. For it is a\nprinciple, 1. of _righteousness,_ and 2. of _love._ Hence it brings\npeace. For all discord is due to injustice that is prompted by\nselfishness (James iv. 1). Where righteousness and love combine and\nrule, there must be peace and security; for the very desire to injure\nis taken away. The universal prevalence of the gospel necessarily\nmeans universal peace (H. E. I., 1120, 1127, 1129).\n\n1. This suggests the answer to the questions, Why Christian nations\nmake war against each other, and why even in Christian churches there\nare fierce contentions? The answer is, either that those nations or\nchurches are Christian only in name, or that they have only very\npartially attained to \"the knowledge of the Lord.\" They are only in\ninfant-class in Christ's great school; as they learn of Him, their\nrivalries and hatreds will pass away. 2. The Gospel being so blessed\nin its effects, it is plain that it is the duty of all good men to\nextend the knowledge of it.--_John Rawlinson._\n\n\nA remarkable declaration this, especially if the Hebrew prophets\nwere, as some learned sceptics tell us, men of narrow mind,\nworshipping a merely local god, and hating all men not descended from\nJacob. By the noble simile employed by Isaiah two ideas are\nsuggested--1. _Universality._ mankind is the area to be covered.\n2. _Ease._ All the creeks, bays, channels, and broad highways of the\nvast ocean are filled in their appointed time. The mighty tide rises,\nsweeps onward, and the work is done. There was one great flood-tide\nof gospel-truth in the days of the apostles, and there is a greater\nstill to come. Meanwhile, many difficulties attend the efforts of\nGod's people to extend the knowledge of His truth; but, in the\nworld's fulness, great ease will characterise the progress and\ntriumphs of the gospel (Ps. cx. 3; Heb. viii. 11). This declaration\nsuggests two great subjects:--\n\n1. THE HOPE OF THE WORLD. Shut the Bible, and our outlook on the\nworld and its future is dark and sad. Open it, and let its light\nshine into our minds, and with the light will come encouragement and\nhope. 1. If it is true that \"the earth . . . the sea,\" then God takes\nan interest in the affairs of the world, and takes an interest in\nthem _now._ This mighty world is not left to drift into an unknown\nand perilous future without a steersman to guide it. 2. If God makes\nsuch abundant provision for the instruction of men in the knowledge\nof Himself, then He will be accessible to them when, by that\nknowledge, they are led to approach Him; and He is accessible to us.\n3. Himself opening for men a way of access to Him, we may be sure\nthat when they avail themselves of it He will deal with them in the\nway of mercy and love; and so He will deal with us. Who can doubt\nthis who looks on the fact of Christ, through whom God has given us\nthe truest knowledge of Himself (2 Cor. iv. 6)? 4. He means to be\nknown to the _world,_ and therefore His gracious offers extend to\n_all,_ to us.\n\nII. THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH. In view of this declaration, 1. _Take\nenlarged views of your work._ Think how much remains to be done. Even\nif you could suppose that your family, your street, your town, your\ncountry were filled with the blessed tide of the knowledge of the\nLord, yet think of the _earth,_ and all its myriad claims resting\nupon the servants of God. 2. _Spare no efforts in promoting the cause\nof Christian missions._ In advancing these, you are working in\nharmony with the great purposes of God, and for an object which is\ndear to Him--that object for which He has already given His Son! Will\nyou withhold from it the money with which He has entrusted you, and\nfor which you will have to give account at the last day? 3. There are\nmany present difficulties in the prosecution of mission-work, but\nmeanwhile _take comfort from the large purposes of God._ \"Have faith\nin God.\" His plans are vast, but His glorious promises are great as\nHis counsels, and His resources as glorious as His promises. The\nprocess of filling the earth with \"the knowledge of the Lord\" may\nseem to us to be tedious, the obstacles may be many, the time may be\nlong; if the work were left to us, it would be hopeless; but GOD will\nhasten it all in His time.--_William Manning._\n\n\nIt is here declared that there is yet to dawn upon the world an era\nof perfect light, and that that shall be also and therefore an era of\nperfect love. \"They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy\nmountain, FOR the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord.\"\n\nIt is a mystery, but it is a fact, that knowledge is not necessarily\na blessing. The devils believe--and therefore know--yet remain devils\nstill (Jas. ii. 19). Many men of unholy life have been men of eminent\nknowledge (Rom. i. 21). But this is a moral monstrosity, a result of\nthe unnatural condition into which we have been brought by sin; just\nas in certain forms of disease food becomes poison. Knowledge is one\nof those forces which naturally tend to elevate and sanctify\n(H. E. I., 3106); to know God truly is eternal life (John xvii. 3);\nand the declaration is, that knowledge shall be world-wide, and that\nby it the world shall be morally revolutionised. Remembrance of two\nfacts will give intelligence and strength to our faith in these\nglorious predictions. 1. _As man's knowledge of God has grown, the\nhuman race has risen._ Except in those abnormal cases already\nreferred to, it may be declared that man cannot learn to know God and\nremain as they were--_e.g.,_ wherever the knowledge of the unity of\nGod is restored to man, idolatry becomes impossible; as soon as the\nknowledge of the spirituality of God really enters the mind,\nformalism in worship becomes an impossibility. So every truth\nconcerning God, as soon as it is really known, becomes a correcting\nand converting force. The tendency of this knowledge, as of light, is\nto quicken and beautify. The way to grow in grace is to grow in the\nknowledge of Christ (2 Pet. iii. 18). 2. _The knowledge of God is a\nthing that grows, and grows slowly, in the human soul._ This is true\nof all knowledge.[2] But in proportion as it grows, sanctification\ntakes place in the individual life, reformation in the national\nlife.[3] It is the most radical and successful of all revolutionists.\nIt is impossible for us to dream of the changes it will accomplish\nupon the earth. But this we know, that by it war and every form of\nviolence shall be abolished (text; Isa. ii. 4, &c.)\n\nIn this subject there is, 1. _A complete justification of all\nmissionary enterprises._ They are not visionary schemes foredoomed to\nfailure; they are intensely practical, and shall be triumphantly\nsuccessful. The time may be far off, but it is advancing, when every\nman shall know God.[4] The effect of that knowledge will be the\ndestruction of the desire to destroy or injure. 2. _An argument for\npatience._ In view of the wrongs that prevail upon the earth, many\nnoble souls find it difficult to exercise it. Of finer taste, of\nclearer vision, of truer sympathy with God than is common amongst\nmen, the wickedness that triumphs in the world fills them with\ncontinual agony. It drives them almost into atheism. They ask, \"Can\nGod see these things, and not use His power to bring them to an end?\nIf there were a God, would He not instantly smite the oppressors with\ndestruction?\" Let them be patient. God does see; God does feel; God\nis hastening on the better day by the only means by which it can\nreally be brought in. Another deluge would not cleanse the world from\ncrime; if but eight souls were spared, sin would once more begin to\nprevail. The era of purity and peace can be ushered in only by the\nrevelation of God to man, and thus it is advancing towards us; thus\nit is already begun; between Christian and heathen lands there is a\nreal contrast; and ere long there shall be as great a contrast\nbetween Christian lands uplifted by a fuller knowledge of God and\nthese lands as they now are. The millennium is not merely a prophetic\ndream, it shall be a glorious fact. Patience! (H. E. I., 1134, 1135,\n1166-1168, 3421-3423; P. D., 2465, 2466). 3. _An argument for hopeful\nChristian effort._ We must not merely dream of the millennium, we\nmust labour to hasten its dawn. Work is needful: Sunday-school work,\n&c. Every one who prays, \"Thy kingdom come,\" thereby unless he means\nto mock God, pledges himself to work to hasten its coming, and thus\nto be a \"fellow-labourer with God.\" There is need for individual\neffort, and for united effort. Such effort should always be hopeful.\nWe are not attempting what is impossible; we are working in the line\nof God's promises, and with God! Remembering that the sense of our\nown weakness will not unduly depress us. It does not require a\ngiant's strength to row with the tide; and a mightier force than that\nof ocean is bearing us on to a victory that shall fill earth with\nblessing and heaven with gladness.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] \"The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, _as\n     the waters cover the sea._\" The expression is remarkable\n     for its force. In looking over the face of the ocean, no\n     differences are to be perceived: one part is not fuller\n     than the other; one part is not covered, and another left\n     dry; but all is one unbroken stream, filling and covering\n     the whole. So shall it be with the Word of God among men.\n     It shall not be known to some, and hidden from others. It\n     shall not be fully declared in one place, and only\n     partially set forth in another. Whatever knowledge it\n     pleased Him to give at all, shall be given to all men\n     equally and without distinction. Such is clearly the\n     purpose of God in His own appointed time.--_W. H. Sulivan._\n\n     _\"As the waters cover the sea.\"_ The idea of universality\n     could scarcely have been better expressed than by this\n     magnificent simile. You have looked forth on the\n     illimitable expanse of waters with wonder and awe. Your\n     imagination has followed the depths far beyond the lowest\n     tide-line to the unfathomed valleys and caverns that form\n     the ocean bed; and you have endeavoured to take fully into\n     your mind the thought that the lowest depths and the most\n     distant shores were filled and covered by the all-diffusive\n     and all-searching element.--_Rawlinson._\n\n [2] The knowledge of God comes into the soul as a king is born\n     into a country over which he is ultimately to rule; at the\n     beginning it is but a babe; for a long time it is weak, and\n     needs to be defended and nurtured; many years elapse before\n     it rules; rarely in this life does it exercise full power\n     and undisputed sway.\n\n [3] Many evils continue to exist and flourish even in Christian\n     lands, because their contrariety to the character of God\n     has not yet been apprehended and felt. Many godly men were\n     slave-holders and slave-dealers, because they did not fully\n     know God. But now the knowledge of God has so grown among\n     men, that it is no longer possible in a Christian land for\n     a godly man to be a slave-holder. So with polygamy, which\n     was once practised without scruple by some of the noblest\n     and most devout men who ever lived. This practice has been\n     killed, not by any express prohibition, but by growth among\n     men of the knowledge of God. That knowledge is predestined\n     still further to grow, and to kill many things more.\n\n [4] The text for this footnote was omitted. Transcriber.\n\n\n\nTHE ENSIGN OF THE NATIONS.\n\n     xi. 10. _And in that day there shall be, &c._\n\nI. In the two parts of this verse we have a twofold metaphorical\nrepresentation of the Redeemer: one expressed, one implied. 1. +An\nensign of the people+ = banner or standard, such as is set up as a\nrallying-point around which, (1) the subjects of a king assemble to\ndo him homage; and (2) the soldiers of an army gather to receive the\ncommands and exhortations of their general. 2. This second use of a\nstandard leads to the second metaphorical representation of the\nRedeemer, that of a +victorious general:+ \"His rest shall be\nglorious.\" We are thus directed to the final result of the uplifting\nof Christ as an ensign: the great campaign brought to a successful\nconclusion, the Victor in it rests gloriously, surrounded by the\nsoldiers whom He has led on to triumph, and the people to whom He has\ngiven liberty and peace.\n\nII. Consider how these predictions have been fulfilled. 1. By the\npreaching of the gospel Christ has been lifted up, and as the result\nmen of all nations have sought unto Him, and will seek Him more and\nmore. 2. Having done and suffered all that was necessary ultimately\nto secure the final victory, He has taken His place at the right hand\nof the Majesty on high, and rests there gloriously; the glory of His\nrest arising from the number of the subjects who do Him homage, and\nof the soldiers who delight to fight His battles, from the triumphs\nwhich He has already enabled them to achieve, and from the prosperity\nand peace of all His people.\n\nWe shall make a great mistake if we end by thus admiringly noting how\nthe ancient prophecy has been, and is being, fulfilled in the history\nof the world. _We_ are among the Gentiles of whom our text speaks:\nHave we sought unto the glorious Person of whom it speaks? You desire\nto do so. Do so, then, 1. _For right purposes;_ not merely that you\nmay be delivered from suffering, but that you may be delivered from\nsin; not merely that you may ultimately gain admission to heaven, but\nthat you may have and now render to Him the homage and the service to\nwhich He is entitled. 2. _In a right spirit;_ not vainly dreaming\nthat you have, or can win, any claim upon His regard, but recognising\nthat you can appeal only to His mercy, and that without it you are\nlost; and making this appeal penitently and believingly. So coming to\nHim, He will be found of you. He will cause you to share in His rest,\nby causing you to share in His triumphs; inspired and upheld by Him,\nyou shall trample under foot the world, the flesh, the devil, and the\nfear of death. Your whole being will be at rest; your understanding\nno longer harassed by perplexing doubts; your conscience stilled and\ngladdened by a righteous peace; your affections centred at last\naround Him who alone is worthy of their supreme love; and this\nthreefold rest, so sweet and blessed now, shall be perfected and\nperpetuated in heaven.--_George Smith, D.D._\n\n\nThe prophet here foresees that the Saviour's mission and work will so\nexalt Him in the eyes of the nations, that they will turn to Him as\nthe one object and desire of their souls. (Compare John xii. 32.)\nThis prediction declares that Christ would be a banner to attract\nmen, that He would be the object of universal search, and that men in\nfinding Him would attain to true rest and glory.\n\nI. THE BANNER. 1. A banner is naturally \"lifted up;\" only thus can\nits purpose be accomplished (chap. xiii. 2; xviii. 3). Apt image this\nof Christ. Not merely in His death on Calvary. That exaltation was\nfollowed by His being lifted higher still by the preaching of the\ngospel, by the ministry of the Holy Spirit (John xvi. 14), by the\ndevout lives of all His true followers. 2. A banner has usually some\nemblem or device representative of some great cause, or expressive of\nsome great truth. (Give instances.) So when \"Christ and Him\ncrucified\" are uplifted clearly in the view of men, they see God's\nhatred of sin, His love of man, and His provision for man's future\nhappiness and glory.\n\nII. THE OBJECT OF UNIVERSAL SEARCH. \"To it shall the Gentiles seek.\"\nSearch for Christ characterises all races of men (Hag. ii. 7) and all\nperiods of time (Luke x. 24). The search is often prosecuted in\nignorance. Men know not for what and for whom their souls yearn; but\nit _is_ Christ of whom unconsciously they are in quest; and it is\ntowards Him, that by the else insatiable desires of their spiritual\nnature, they are being led.\n\nIII. THE FINDING OF TRUE REST. \"His rest shall be glorious.\" 1. The\nrest we find in Christ is connected with a vital change effected in\nthe heart and life. He does not simply do something _for_ us; He also\ndoes a work _within_ us. Every intelligent seeker knows that there\ncan be no rest until the evil that is lodged within us is resisted\nand cast out (H. E. I., 1324). It is as we enter into the spirit of\nChrist and share His life, that we enter into rest (Matt. xi. 28-30).\n2. Our new relations to God, entered into by faith in Christ Jesus,\nmakes our rest very glorious. God is then known to us by the most\nprecious and endearing names; He is our rock, our shield, &c. Each of\nthese names represents to us some tender aspects of His love, some\nsweet ministry of His grace.\n\nAre you in search of the highest peace, joy, holiness, rest? Here you\nmay end your quest (1 Cor. i. 30; P. D., 481).--_William Manning._\n\n\n\nTHE RECONCILER OF MEN.\n\n     xi. 10-16. _And in that day there shall be, &c._\n\nSeveral eminent commentators are of opinion that this prophecy will\nnot be fulfilled until the Jews are restored as a nation to their own\nland. Others believe that the prophet used (it may be unconsciously)\ntransient geographical phrases as symbols of eternal truths. Without\nentering upon this controversy, which can be settled only by the\nactual unfolding and accomplishment of God's plans as to the history\nof this world, let us think of the fundamental fact of the vision,\nthat in it \"the Root of David\" was revealed to the prophet as _the\nreconciler of men._ His appearing in the world would be the setting\nup of a standard unto which all men, Gentiles (ver. 10) and Jews\n(vers. 11, 12), would seek; and before the influence then exerted\nupon them by Him rivalries and enmities, even though they were as\ninveterate and malignant as those of Judah and Ephraim (ver. 13),\nwould disappear. No obstacles, even though they should be as immense\nas the geographical ones which are specified, would hinder their\ncoming together and forming one united and triumphant people under\nHis benignant sway. This is only saying what the prophet has said\nalready (chap. ii. 4; ix. 7), that the kingdom of Christ would be a\nkingdom of peace. Consider--\n\n+I. How marvellously and gloriously this prediction has been\nfulfilled.+ To appreciate this, we must recall the condition of the\nworld at the time when \"the day\" of which our text speaks dawned upon\nit. Nations were everywhere divided from each other by jealousies and\nhatreds as virulent as those that divided Ephraim from Judah; there\nwas peace only because they were restrained from active hostility by\nthe strong hand of Roman power. Hatred of other nations was regarded\nnot as a crime, but as a duty.[1] But Christ inaugurated the empire\nof universal brotherhood and love. Wars have not yet ceased even\namong nations professing Christianity, but they are no longer openly\ngloried in by those who wage them; they are apologised for as sad\nnecessities. The apology is often insincere, but the fact that it is\nmade at all is a marvellous tribute to the influence and authority of\nChrist. Wherever His true followers meet, national distinctions are\nforgotten, and they feel drawn to each other by a mightier and\nsweeter bond. As the centuries pass away, the love of Christ becomes\nmore and more the uniting power of the world.\n\n+II. How sadly imperfect the fulfilment of this prediction still is!+\nThe era of universal peace has not yet dawned. The world is still\ncursed by wars and rumours of wars. Millions of men are maintained in\nconstant readiness for war. There are bitter contentions among the\nsections of the Christian Church, these tribes of the modern Israel.\nClass is divided from class. So-called Christian families are\nsaddened by bitter feuds.\n\n+III. The blessedness of the era that shall yet dawn upon the world.+\nThe Christian often dreams of it; his dreams are sweet as those which\nhungry men have of banquets, and shipwrecked sailors drifting\nhelplessly on rafts in the wide ocean have of their native village\nand of meeting with their loved ones there; and in their waking hours\nthey, too, are apt to be saddened by the fear that their dreams too\nare as utterly incapable of realisation. But it is not so. They shall\nall be realised, for the authority of Christ shall yet be universal,\nreal, absolute; and all the listening angels shall not be able to\ndetect one sound of discord rising from the round world, for the\nwhole world shall be full of the peace of Christ (P. D., 2465, 2466,\n2676).\n\n+IV. Our duty in regard to this prediction.+ We are not merely to\ndream dreams of the blessedness of the era that shall yet be ushered\nin. We are to _do_ something to hasten its dawning. 1. We are to pray\nfor it with yearning hearts. 2. We are to do our utmost, in every\npossible way, to extend the knowledge of the Gospel throughout the\nworld. The Gospel, not commerce, is the true civiliser and uniter of\nnations: commerce will prosper on the Gospel triumphs. True, many\nconverts are only nominally Christians, but in many cases that _is_\nthe first step towards their becoming real Christians, _i.e.,_ men\nwho will pray and labour for universal peace. 3. Minor and\ncontributory duties. (1.) The diffusion of knowledge that will tend\nto bring home to the understandings and hearts of men the hurtfulness\nof war, and the preparation for war. (2.) The discouragement and\noverthrow of those statesmen, to whichever party they may belong,\nwhose policy tends to foster national animosities. (3.) The\ndiscouragement of all pursuits and things that tend to familiarise\nmen with war and keep alive in them a passion for it, _e.g.,_ the\nvolunteer movement; pictures, poems, and newspapers that glorify\nsuccessful soldiers, as if in them the noblest ideal of manhood were\nrealised. (4.) Careful education of our children in Christian\nsentiments concerning foreign nations and war. By constant\nheedfulness of these duties, we shall do something to hasten the\ndawning of the era of universal peace and blessedness, and we shall\nnot have lived in vain.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n [1] \"Ancient morality was essentially national and exclusive.\n     Its creed was that a man is born not for himself, but for\n     his parents, his family, and the state. The state was\n     surrounded by others with which, unless some treaty had\n     been concluded, it was at war. To do as much good as\n     possible to one's own state, and as much harm as possible\n     to all other states, was therefore the whole duty of a\n     man.\"--_Ecce Homo,_ p. 125, small edition. (The student\n     will do well to read the whole chapter in which these\n     sentences occur.)\n\n\n\nA NEW SONG FOR NEW HEARTS.\n\n     xii. 1. _And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, &c._\n\nThis prophecy is said by some to relate to the invasion by\nSennacherib, and the marvellous deliverance therefrom. If so, it is\nan instance of sanctified affliction, and a lesson to us that\nwhenever we smart under the rod we may look forward to the time when\nit shall be withdrawn; it is also an admonition to us, that when we\nescape from trial we should take care to celebrate the event with\ngrateful praise. It is thought by others that the text mainly relates\nto the latter days, and I think it would be impossible to read the\neleventh chapter without feeling such a reference is clear. Both\nthese interpretations are true and instructive; but we shall find out\nthe very soul of the passage, if we consider it as an illustration of\nwhat occurs to every one of God's people when he is brought out of\ndarkness into God's marvellous light, when he is delivered from the\nspirit of bondage beneath Divine wrath, and led by the Spirit of\nadoption into the liberty wherewith Christ makes him free. In\nregarding the text from this point of view, we shall first observe\nthe prelude of this delightful song, and then listen to the song\nitself.\n\nI. THE PRELUDE OF THIS CHARMING SONG--\"In that day thou shalt say.\"\nHere we have the tuning of the harps, the notes of the music follow\nafter in the succeeding sentences. Note, 1. There is a _time_ for the\njoyous song here recorded, \"In that day\"--the day of the\nmanifestation of the Divine power. 2. One word indicates the\n_singer._ \"_Thou_ shalt say.\" One by one we receive eternal life and\npeace. Religion is an individual matter. The word \"thou\" is spoken to\nthose brought down into the last degree of despair. Thou\nbroken-hearted sinner, ready to destroy thyself because of the\nanguish of conscience, in the day of God's abounding mercy, _thou_\nshalt rejoice! 3. The _Teacher_ of the song. \"In that day thou\n_shalt_ say.\" Who but the Lord can thus command man's heart and\nspeech? 4. The _tone_ of the song. \"Thou shalt _say._\" The song is to\nbe an open one, vocally uttered, heard of men. It is not to be a\nsilent feeling, a kind of soft music whose sweetness is spent within\nthe spirit; but in that day thou shalt testify and bear witness what\nthe Lord has done for thee (H. E. I., 3903-3921).\n\nII. THE SONG ITSELF.--1. All of it is concerning the Lord; it is all\naddressed to Him. \"O Lord, I will praise _Thee:_ though _Thou_ wast\nangry with me, _Thine_ anger is turned away.\" When a soul is escaped\nfrom the bondage of sin, it resembles the apostles on Mount Tabor--it\nsees no man but Jesus only. 2. It includes repentant memories. The\nHebrew would run something like this, \"O Lord, I will praise Thee;\nThou wast angry with me.\" We do this day praise God because He made\nus feel His anger. \"What, is a sense of anger a cause for praise?\"\nNo, not if it stood alone, but because it has driven us to Christ.\nThe song in its deep bass includes plaintive recollections of sin\npressing heavily on the spirit. 3. It contains blessed certainties.\n\"Thine anger _is_ turned away.\" \"Can a man know that? Can he be quite\nsure he is forgiven?\" He can be as sure of pardon as he is of his\nexistence, as infallibly certain as he is of a mathematical\nproposition. The Scriptures teach that to the sinner who trusts in\nJesus there is no condemnation, and every one may know whether he is\ntrusting in Jesus or not (H. E. I., 309, 310, 324-334, 986, 989).\n4. It includes holy resolutions. \"I will praise Thee\"--in secret, in\npublic. For this purpose I will unite with Thy people. I will not be\ncontent unless all that I am and all that I have shall praise Thee.\n5. It is a song which is peculiar in its characteristics, and\nappropriate only to the people of God. It is a song of strong faith,\nand yet of humility. Its spirit is a precious incense made up of many\ncostly ingredients. Humility confesses, \"Thou wast angry with me;\"\ngratitude sings, \"Thine anger is turned away;\" patience cries, \"Thou\ncomfortest me,\" and holy joy springs up, and saith, \"I will praise\nThee.\" Faith, hope, love--all have their notes here, from the bass of\nhumility up to the highest alto of glorious communion.\n\nBy way of practical results from this subject, let me speak, 1. A\nword of _consolation_ to those who are under God's anger. God never\nshut up a soul in the prison of conviction, but sooner or later He\nreleased the captive. The worst thing in the world is to go\nunchastised; to be allowed to sin and eat honey with it, this is the\nprecursor of damnation; but to sin, and to have the wormwood of\nrepentance with it, this is the prelude of being saved. If the Lord\nhas embittered thy sin, He has designs of love towards thee; His\nanger shall yet be turned away. 2. A word of _admonition._ Some of\nyou have been forgiven, but are you praising God as you should?\n(H. E. I., 3903-3911).--_C. H. Spurgeon: Metropolitan Tabernacle\nPulpit_ (vol. xvi. pp. 241-250).\n\n\nThe preceding chapter relates to the reign of the Messiah; the end of\nit especially to the ingathering of the Jews--a period which will be\nthe spiritual jubilee to the tribes of Israel, and the beginning of\nthe millennium to the world itself. _That_ is the day in which Israel\nshall say, \"O Lord, I will praise thee,\" &c. This passage may be\napplied to every spiritual child of Abraham. Consider--\n\n+I. The previous state referred to.+ \"Thou wast angry with me.\" Anger\nin God is not, as it often is in us, a blind, furious passion; but a\nholy disapprobation of wrong, and a righteous determination to punish\nit (H. E. I., 2288-2294). 1. _Man's character and conduct, while in\nhis natural state, are such as justly expose him to the Divine\nanger._ What does God survey in the sinner? Ignorance, unbelief,\nenvy, malevolence, impurity, &c. In his conduct, likewise, how much\nthere is that must necessarily be displeasing to God!--ingratitude,\ndisobedience, selfishness, abuse of long-suffering, the rejection of\nChrist. 2. _No intelligent being need be in any doubt as to whether\nhe is, or is not, an object of the Divine anger._ The teaching of\nScripture is clear (Ps. vii. 11; xxxiv. 16, &c.) This is ratified by\nthe workings of conscience. Let any one do good secretly, and\ncontrast his state of mind with the feelings arising after the\ncommission of secret evil. 3. _The Divine anger is of all things to\nbe deprecated._ Remember what its effects have been upon impenitent\nsinners. Think of the old world; of Pharaoh and the Egyptians; of\nSodom, &c. View the written in indelible and awful characters in the\nhistory of the Israelites. Nothing can resist it, alleviate it, or\ndeliver from it.\n\n+II. The delightful change experienced.+ 1. _The Divine displeasure\nis removed._ \"Anger turned away.\" The cloud blotted out; no longer\nunder condemnation, &c. This necessarily supposes a change in the\ncreature. His enmity and opposition to God have ceased; he has seen\nthe evil of sin; confessed and forsaken it; and believed in the Lord\nJesus Christ. A state of unbelief exposes us to the Divine wrath; a\nstate of faith brings upon us His favour. God abhors the high and\nproud spirit; but He looks in pity on the lowly and contrite. 2. _The\nDivine favour is enjoyed._ \"Thou comfortest me.\" We cannot stand in a\nneutral state with respect to God. The instant His anger is removed,\nHis favour is enjoyed. Guilt, remorse, the burden of sin, are gone;\nand in their stead there is a sweet assurance of acceptance with God.\nThis comfort is real, not visionary; suitable, abiding, and\ninexpressibly precious; it is associated with all good, both in this\nlife and that which is to come; it is the precursor of everlasting\nfelicity.\n\n+III. The grateful return presented.+ \"I will praise Thee.\"\nAcceptable praise, 1. _Includes the offering of a thankful heart._ It\nmust arise from within; it must be the expression of the affections\nof the soul. Heart gratitude is alone real, and that which God will\nreceive. 2. It must be _free and spontaneous._ \"I will.\" Not I ought,\nor should, but \"I will.\" 3. It must be _constant_ (Eph. v. 20;\n1 Thess. v. 18; Ps. xxxiv. 1).\n\nAPPLICATION.--Let the text be 1. _The test of our state._ Can we use\nit? Is it so with us? Is God our reconciled friend? 2. _The test of\nour spirit and conduct._ Do we love and bless God? Is it our delight\nto do so? 3. _Let it be attractive to the convicted, mourning\nsinner._ There is a way to Divine peace, and to real and heavenly\ncomfort. Christ is that way. Come now to God through Him.--_Jabez\nBurns, D.D.: Pulpit Cyclop\u00e6dia_ (iii. 221-224).\n\n\nIn this verse we have a representation--+I. Of the natural condition\nof sinful men.+ An object of Divine anger. 1. The nature of the\nemotion described; 2. The cause of this anger; 3. How much it is to\nbe feared. Unlike the anger of man it is changeless, and behind it is\nboundless wisdom and irresistible power. +II. Of the change effected\nin the state of believers by Divine grace.+ They are blessed, 1. By\nthe removal of the Divine displeasure, effected by the work\naccomplished _for_ them by the Son of God, and _in_ them by the Holy\nSpirit. 2. In the enjoyment of Divine consolation. +III. Of the\nadoring thankfulness which the change demands and calls forth.+\n1. The individual character of the declaration: \"_Thou_ shalt say.\"\n2. The vocal proclamation: Thou \"shalt _say._\" True gratitude is\nnever silent (Ps. lxvi. 16, &c.) 3. The delightful burden of the\nsong.--_George Smith, D.D._\n\n\nIn this verse we have three pictures. I. God angry with the sinner.\nII. God reconciled to the sinner. III. God comforting the\nsinner.--_H. F. Walker._\n\n\n\nWELLS OF SALVATION.\n\n     xii. 3. _Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the\n     wells of salvation._\n\nSalvation is the great theme of the Bible, and thus it meets man's\ngreat need. Think, I. Of THE WELLS, the sources of salvation. Clearly\nthese are not found in man himself. Salvation originated in the\neternal love of God for man; it flows to sinners through the work of\nJesus; it is by the influence of the Holy Spirit that the sinner is\nmade willing to partake of it. These truly are _wells_ of salvation;\nnot rills that may dry up; not even rivers, which may fail because\nthe streams from the mountains have failed; but wells, fountains\nover-flowing, inexhaustible as the nature of God. II. Of THE WATER. A\nbeautiful symbol of a great reality. Excepting the air we breathe,\nthere is no element so widely diffused, nor so essential to life, as\nwater. Imagine a great city, a whole district, a ship's crew without\nwater.[1] 1. Water _revives._ How the traveller dying from thirst\nbegins to revive the instant water touches his lips; so the salvation\nof the gospel imparts new life to the soul; an invigoration,\nmoreover, that shall not pass away (John iv. 14). 2. Water\n_cleanses._ So does the salvation of the gospel (Rev. i. 5; Heb.\nix. 14; Ezek. xxxvi. 25; Zech. xiii. 1). 3. Water _fertilises._ The\nwater of salvation enriches and fertilises the spiritual soil, so\nthat the blossoms of hope in the early spring-time of piety, and the\nmatured fruits of holiness in the autumn of life, adorn the garden of\nthe Lord (Isa. lviii. 11; Jer. xxxi. 12; Ps. i. 3; Num. xxiv. 6).\nIII. Of THE JOY. 1. This can only be experienced by such as draw\nwater out of the wells of salvation. Necessarily it _is_ a matter of\nexperience. There are many things that must be felt to be known, and\nthis is one of them. 2. This joy may be expected in the very act of\ndrawing the water of salvation. If you were to overtake a traveller\nin a sandy desert dying from thirst, he would begin to enjoy the very\nmoment he became conscious of the touch of the precious fluid. So\nwith the Christian (Rom. xv. 13). And as he may and ought to be\nconstantly drawing from the wells of salvation, his life should\nalways be a happy life (H. E. I. 3037-3051; P. D. 2085).\n\nOur text may be regarded--1. As giving full permission to do that of\nwhich it speaks. However unworthy we may be, we may come to the wells\nof salvation, and draw as much as we need (Rev. xxii. 17; H. E. I.,\n2331, 2361, 2362, 4086). 2. Nay, as a command. When a sovereign\nprepares a banquet, and issues his invitations, those invitations\nhave the force of commands. God has graciously provided salvation for\nyour souls in Christ: will you turn away and despise His love?--_John\nRawlinson._\n\n\nSalvation--let us not think of it meanly. It has past, present,\nfuture aspects. Too often we content ourselves with the _past_ view\nof it, and that in a selfish way. Twenty or thirty years ago, we\n\"believed\" and were \"saved,\" _i.e.,_ got out of harm's way. What is\nGod's grace _doing_ for us? Is it making us purer, nobler? And what\nare our _aspirations_ and _prospects?_ Are we imitators of the great\nApostle? (Phil. iii. 13, 14).\n\nThis comprehensive and glorious salvation, what is its source? Whence\nis it to be drawn? From GOD. \"Behold, _God_ is my salvation. . . .\nTherefore,\" &c. The third verse must never be separated in thought\nfrom the second, \"With Thee is the fountain of life\"--with God as\nrevealed to us in Christ. This is the claim of Christ Himself (John\nvii. 37, 38).[2] He stands over against all the ignorance, the guilt,\nthe pollution, and the deathfulness of man, as the infinite Fulness\n(1 Cor. i. 30; Col. i. 19; John i. 16; H. E. I., 934-941). As the\nwells of salvation are in Him; and from Him His people draw the\npriceless \"water\" with joy. This is a duty, but it is performed by\nthem as freely and spontaneously as on a summer morning the birds\nfill the air with music. They do so--1. _Because the wells of\nsalvation are free to all, and easily accessible by all._ Were it not\nso, we might fear that we or our friends were excluded therefrom. But\nGod's salvation, like all His best gifts--air, light, water--is free\nto all alike (H. E. I., 942, 943, 2331, 2361, 2362). And it is easily\naccessible; not harder terms are imposed upon us than it is possible\nand right for us to comply with. (All this is summed up in chap.\nlv. 1.) 2. _Because \"the wells of salvation\" are inexhaustible._\nPicture the fainting and despairing condition of a traveller who, in\na time of scorching heat, comes to a well, and finds it empty. No\nsuch fate awaits the true seeker after God. Other sources of help\nwill deceive and fail us (Jer. ii. 13). 3. _Because of the deep\nsatisfaction which is derived therefrom_ (John iv. 14; H. E. I.,\n968-971, 1658, 1659, 2738-2837, 4627-4630, 4790). 4. _Because the\nfulness that thus becomes ours is a source of blessing to others_\n(Gen. xii. 2; xxxix. 5; Prov. xviii. 4; Isa. lviii. 11; Ezek.\nxlvii. 12; Zech. xiv. 8; H. E. I., 1740-1743).[3]\n\nCome to the Well-spring of life. It is open to you all. Whosoever\nwill may come. Jesus stands ready to satisfy your deepest\nlongings.--_William Manning._\n\n\nThis chapter should be read in connection with the preceding, which\ndetermines its application to the times of Messiah. The peaceful\nstate of the Church in Hezekiah's time is made the emblem of the\npeaceful era of the Gospel; as the Israelites who had been carried\naway in various invasions thus returned to their own country, so the\nnations should be gathered to the standard of Christ (Isa. xi. 10-16).\n\n+I. The sources of consolation which God has opened up to the Church\nin the revelation of His Son.+ In a dry and thirsty land like\nthis--in a world where there are so many sorrows arising from sin,\nand so many difficulties in our way to heaven--we need sources of\nsupply, fountains of consolation. And in the Word of God we have\nthem; \"_wells_ of salvation,\" not running streams, not brooks, full\nin spring and dry in summer, but wells! 1. Christ is the great\nfountain (John vii. 37, 38). When He was lifted up upon the cross,\nthe fountain of grace that is in Him was opened, and healing streams\nshall never cease to flow from it, till the last weary pilgrim has\nreached the abodes of blessedness. Do we thirst for the pardon of\nsin? (Matt. xii. 31). For the favour and friendship of God? (Matt.\nv. 6). For solid and spiritual happiness? (Isa lv. 1; Rev. xxii. 17).\n2. The religion of Christ is a system of consolation and joy; it is\nthe only one that deserves the name; all others work as with\nunmeaning ceremonies or unfounded expectations. All the parts of\nChrist's religion, properly understood and personally enjoyed,\npromote solid comfort and true joy. Its doctrine (Rom. v. 11). Its\npromises (Ps. xcvii. 11). Its precepts (Ps. cxix. 54). Its prospects\n(Rom. v. 2; H. E. I., 4161-4163). 3. God is \"the God of comfort.\"\nChrist is \"the consolation of Israel.\" The Holy Spirit is \"the\nComforter.\" How ample are the sources of comfort and joy mentioned in\nthis chapter! (1.) The removal of a sense of Divine displeasure (ver.\n1). (2.) Hope of interest in God's special favour as our covenant God\n(ver. 2).\n\n+II. What is necessary to our personal appropriation of these\ncomforts and joys.+[4] Many persons, who appear to be disciples of\nChrist, are without the satisfaction which the text promises. They\nmay be safe, but they are not happy (H. E. I., 306-314). The fault is\nnot in the Gospel: the promise is express, the provision is free, the\ninvitation is open. If the Christian would know the joy of which the\ntext speaks, 1. _He must learn to set a higher value upon spiritual\nblessings._ It is the order of divine procedure to awaken a high\nsense of the value of His gifts before He communicates them. Many\nseem indifferent whether they enjoy the higher blessings of religion\nor no. The saints in former times were more earnest (Ps. xlii. 1).\n2. _He must cultivate those graces of religion which are immediately\nconnected with its enjoyments:_ humility of mind, a teachable spirit,\na more spiritual order of affections (Ps. xxv. 9, 14; Col. iii. 2;\nPhil. iv. 5-7). 3. _Especially he must cultivate a prayerful spirit\nand expectant dependence upon divine illumination._ Prayer is the key\nthat opens the treasury of heaven (Ps. xxxiv. 5; cxix. 18). Neglect\nof the Spirit's influences is a frequent cause of degeneracy and\ndistress. 4. _He must avoid whatever would hinder the life and power\nof religion:_ the secret love of sin, undue attachment to the world,\nprevalence of unholy tempers. It is a matter of perfect impossibility\nthat the comforts of religion can be enjoyed where sin and\ninconsistency prevail. Is there no sin indulged, no self-dependence,\nno conformity to the world, no neglect of private duties? (Jer.\nii. 17, 18). Heaven is a realm of perfect happiness, because it is\nthe realm of perfect holiness. 5. _He must diligently use all the\nappointed means of grace._\n\n+III. Particular seasons when the prophetic promise is fulfilled.+\nPrivate meditation, public ordinance, trouble, death, entrance into\nheaven.--_Samuel Thodey._\n\n\nBy \"the wells of salvation\" we may understand \"the means of grace.\"[5]\n\nI. _These wells of salvation have been opened for the supply of human\nneeds;_ not for God's benefit, but for ours. What wells are to\ntravellers through a desert, these are to us in our pilgrimage to\nZion. II. _Men should come to these wells for the purpose of having\ntheir needs supplied;_ not from habit, not that we may set a good\nexample, &c., but that we ourselves may be refreshed and\nstrengthened. III. _No frequency in coming to these wells can be in\nany sense meritorious._ Expose the mistake of the Pharisee and the\nRitualist. The oftener we avail ourselves of them, the more we\nincrease, not our claims upon God, but our obligations to Him; and\nthe more should increase, not our pride and self-righteousness, but\nour thankfulness to God for His goodness in providing them. IV. _The\nwells are nothing: the water in them is everything._ A dry well,\nhowever deep it may be, or whatever historic associations may cluster\naround it, is worthless; and so are all religious ordinances apart\nfrom the Spirit of God. We must ever remember that they are _means_\nof grace--channels through which the God of all grace will satisfy\nthe soul's thirst of those who seek Him in sincerity and truth.\nV. _Nevertheless we are not to stay away from the wells, nor despise\nthem._ That is a false spirituality that disparages divine\nordinances. We are not to trust in the wells, yet neither are we to\nrefuse to draw water out of them:--1. Because GOD opened them, and to\nneglect them it to charge Him with foolishly providing what we do not\nneed. 2. Because it pleases Him to give us water through them; and we\nare to accept the blessing in whatever way He chooses to impart it to\nus. Naaman (2 Kings v. 11-13); the blind man (John ix. 6, 7).\n3. Because we need refreshment and reinvigoration day by day (Isa.\nxl. 31; Ps. lxxxiv. 7; H. E. I., 555, 556, 3866-3876). 4. Because our\nMaster in the days of His flesh used the means of grace; no true\nChristian will seek in this respect to be above his Lord. VI. _God\nhas opened_ WELLS _of salvation;_ not one, but many; none needlessly.\nWe must use them all. Their benefit lies in their conjunction. For\nthe production of a harvest, the sun and the rain are both needed;\nthe sun alone would make a desert, the rain alone a swamp. No bird\ncan fly with _one_ wing, &c. We must read as well as pray, &c.\n\nCONCLUDING LESSONS.--1. _Why God sometimes leaves the wells dry._ His\npeople sometimes come so to delight in the means of grace, that they\nforget they are only _means,_ and then He withholds His blessings,\nthat they may be taught that He alone can satisfy their souls (Ps.\nlxxxiv. 2, lxii. 5). 2. _Why, when there is water in the wells, some\nare not quickened and refreshed._ (1.) Water revives the living, not\nthe dead. (2.) Some forget to bring their buckets. They have no real\ndesires after God, not true faith in His power and willingness to\nbless them, and to each of them we may say, \"Sir, thou hast nothing\nto draw with, and the wells are deep\" (John iv. 11).\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1]    Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down\n        'Twas sad as sad could be;\n        And we did speak only to break\n        The silence of the sea!\n\n        All in a hot and copper sky,\n        The bloody sun at noon\n        Right up above the mast did stand,\n        No bigger than the moon.\n\n        Day after day, day after day,\n        We stuck, nor breath, nor motion;\n        As idle as a painted ship\n        Upon a painted ocean.\n\n        Water, water everywhere,\n        And all the boards did shrink;\n        Water, water everywhere,\n        Nor any drop to drink.--_Coleridge: \"Ancient Mariner.\"_\n\n [2] The Talmudists refer the words, \"With joy shall ye draw\n     water out of the wells of salvation,\" to the custom of\n     making an oblation of water on the last day of the Feast of\n     Tabernacles, when a priest fetched water in a golden\n     pitcher from the fountain of Siloah, and poured it mixed\n     with wine on the morning sacrifice as it lay on the altar;\n     while at the evening offering the same was done amidst\n     shouts of joy from the assembled people. It was in obvious\n     allusion to this rite that, \"in the last day, that great\n     day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man\n     thirst, let him come unto Me and drink;\" but as it is not\n     prescribed in the law of Moses, it has been doubted whether\n     it dates back earlier than the times of the Maccabees. It\n     is, however, at least as probable that the Asmonean princes\n     should have restored an ancient as ordained a new rite:\n     such a rite, to acknowledge God's gift of water without\n     which harvest and vintage must have failed, would always\n     have been a likely accompaniment of the feast in which\n     these were celebrated; and the like acts of Samuel and\n     Elijah, though for different purposes, perhaps go in\n     confirmation of the ancient existence of such a practice\n     (1 Sam vii. 6; 1 Kings xviii. 33-35). Be this as it may,\n     the idea conveyed by the image of the living water will be\n     the same:--\"Such as is the refreshment of water from the\n     spring, and from the clouds of heaven, to the parched lips\n     and the thirsty land, in this our sultry climate, such\n     shall be the refreshment of your spirit in that day from\n     the salvation of Jehovah He shall dwell among you, and His\n     Spirit shall be a well of life to the whole\n     nation.\"--_Strachey._\n\n     The last day of the feast, known as \"the Hosanna Rabba\" and\n     the \"Great Day,\" found Him, as each day before, doubtless,\n     had done, in the Temple arcades. He had gone thither early,\n     to meet the crowds assembled for morning prayer. It was a\n     day of special rejoicing. A great procession of pilgrims\n     marched seven times round the city, with their lulats\n     [branches of palm woven round with willow and myrtle],\n     music, and loud-voiced choirs preceding, and the air was\n     rent with shouts of Hosanna, in commemoration of the taking\n     of Jericho, the first city in the Holy Land that fell into\n     the hands of their fathers. Other multitudes streamed to\n     the brook of Shiloah, after the priests and Levites,\n     bearing the golden vessels, with which to draw some of the\n     water. As many as could get near the stream drank of it,\n     amidst loud chanting of the words of Isaiah--\"Ho, every one\n     that thirsteth, come ye to the waters,\" \"With joy shall we\n     draw water from the wells of salvation,\"--rising in\n     jubilant chants on every side. The water drawn by the\n     priests was meanwhile borne up to the Temple, amid the\n     boundless excitement of a vast throng. Such a crowd was,\n     apparently, passing at this moment.\n\n     Rising, as the throng went by, His Spirit was moved at such\n     honest enthusiasm, yet saddened at the moral decay which\n     mistook a mere ceremony for religion. It was burning autumn\n     weather, when the sun had for months shone in a cloudless\n     sky, and the early rains were longed for as the monsoons in\n     India after the summer heat. Water at all times is a magic\n     word in a sultry climate like Palestine, but at this moment\n     it had a double power. Standing, therefore, to give His\n     words more solemnity, His voice now sounded far and near\n     over the throng, with soft clearness, which arrested all--\n\n     \"If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink, for I\n     will give him the living waters of God's heavenly grace, of\n     which the water you have now drawn from Shiloah is only, as\n     your Rabbis tell you, a type. He that believes in Me drinks\n     into his soul of My fulness, as from a fountain, the riches\n     of Divine grace and truth. Nor do they bring life to him\n     alone who thus drinks. They become in his own heart, as the\n     whole burden of Scripture tells, a living spring, which\n     shall flow from his lips and life in holy words and deeds,\n     quickening the thirsty around him.\"--_Geikie._\n\n [3] John vii. 38, \"In the Book Sohar we find the same metaphor,\n     fol. 40, col. 4, 'When a man turns to God, he becomes like\n     a spring of fresh living water, and streams flow out from\n     him to all men.'\"--_Geikie._\n\n [4] See H. E. I., 315-352, 1252-1285.\n\n [5] See H. E. I., 3309-3311, 3424-3465, 5075-5081.\n\n\n\nTHE DUTY OF GLADNESS.\n\n     xii. 6. _Cry out and shout, &c._\n\nTwo things are here observable:--1. _The person addressed,_ \"thou\ninhabitant of Zion,\"[1] _i.e.,_ one who is no longer a stranger and\nforeigner, but a fellow-citizen with the saints (Eph. ii. 12, 19)\n2. _The admonition given,_ \"Cry out and shout.\" Consider--\n\nI. THE TRUTH ON WHICH THE ADMONITION IS FOUNDED. \"Great is the Holy\nOne of Israel in the midst of thee.\" This includes--1. _His\ncharacter,_ \"the Holy One of Israel.\" The holiness of God has shown\nforth in all that He has done in heaven and on earth (Ps. cxlv. 17);\nin heaven it is the theme of the songs of the most exalted\nintelligences (Isa. vi. 3); on earth it inspires bad men with dread\nand dislike (Isa. xxx. 11), and good men with thankfulness and hope\n(Ps. xxx. 4; Heb. xii. 10; H. E. I., 2275, 2843). 2. _His greatness._\n\"Great\"--in duration, wisdom, power, dominion, and resources. All\nthese render Him terrible as an enemy, desirable as a friend.[2]\n3. _His residence._ \"In the midst of thee.\" But is not God\neverywhere? Yes, but not everywhere in the same character; not in\nheaven as in earth, &c. Wherever His presence is spoken of in a way\nof promise or privilege, it is to be distinguished from His attribute\nof omnipresence, for it has then in it something peculiarly\nbeneficial and saving (Deut. iv. 7; Ps. xxxiv. 18). God's presence in\nthe midst of His people is the guarantee of their safety and the\nsource of their joy. Let them adore the condescension He shows in\ndwelling in their midst.\n\nII. THE STIRRING EXHORTATION. 1. _Religion is animated._ \"Cry out and\nshout,\" &c. What is here required cannot be merely the exclamation,\nseparate from suitable dispositions and sentiments, as is the case\nwith some. Noise is in itself worth nothing. On the other hand, where\nthere are these feelings, it is permissible, yea, praiseworthy, to\ngive free and exultant expression to them (Rev. v. 12). Some\ndisparage such expressions as enthusiasm, but there is nothing that\nshould call forth enthusiasm like the Gospel. Religion calls for not\nonly feeling and sentiment, but for the highest degree of feeling and\nsentiment.[3] 2. _Religion, rational as well as animated._ Why is the\ninhabitant of Zion to cry aloud and shout? _\"For_ great is the Holy\nOne of Israel in the midst of thee.\" This more than justified him,\nfor from hence the Church can infer _safety, assistance, consolation,\nhonour._ Thus God is with His people, and this is _grace:_ soon they\nshall be with Him, and that is _glory._--_William Jay: Sunday Evening\nSermons and Thursday Evening Lectures,_ pp. 297-305.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Zion was the name of a high mound situated upon a bed of\n     rock enclosed within the walls of Jerusalem, and making the\n     finest and strongest part thereof. Here was first the\n     Tabernacle, and then the Temple, and concerning it great\n     things are declared (Ps. cxxxii. 13-18). If we look through\n     the literal description to the spiritual glory discernible,\n     we shall soon see that it was typical of a higher state,\n     and a shadow of good things to come. I need hardly remind\n     you that, by a figure of speech, Zion is used in the New\n     Testament as significant of the Church of the Living God\n     (Heb. xii. 22).--_Jay._\n\n     Such are the encouragements that consoled the ancient city\n     of God in the day of her trouble. Harassed, her garrisons\n     stormed, her armies scattered, her very sanctuary\n     threatened with violation, she was bade remember her\n     Eternal King, and take comfort in the thought of that\n     watchful Guardian who sooner or later would assuredly\n     avenge her wrongs. Often was she taught the same lesson;\n     and often, in despite of her own froward and unbelieving\n     heart, was the prediction realised. The Lord still \"loved\n     the gates of Zion;\" the streams of His holy \"river still\n     made glad the city of God;\" and He was \"known in her palace\n     for a refuge.\" But a gloomier hour at length arrived; even\n     Divine patience has its limits; and the last dread crime of\n     Zion could only be expiated in her ruin. Blood had flowed\n     beneath her hands, every drop of which was worth a\n     universe, and she had invoked its curse upon her own head\n     and the head of her children. And now, behold, in the\n     fearful words of her own prophets, \"the lion is come up\n     from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on\n     his way,\"--Jerusalem is ruined and Judah is fallen, because\n     their tongues and their doings are against the Lord to\n     provoke the eyes of His glory. \"But what?--is this the city\n     of which such glorious things are spoken--that the Highest\n     Himself should establish her, that she should not be\n     moved?\" Where are His mighty promises of perpetuity? Where\n     is that foundation which no power should ever shake--that\n     Zion, in which the poor of His people were to trust?\n\n     Brethren, look around you, and you behold the evidences of\n     its existence, and of the eternal faithfulness of Him who\n     is pledged to its immortality. A greater than Zion inherits\n     her name; a greater than Zion bore it in the far-reaching\n     scope of the prophetic vision. That \"city of the great\n     King\" was but a perishable emblem of a \"city whose builder\n     and maker is God.\" It is true she was honoured by His\n     symbolic presence and sanctified by His sacred worship; it\n     is true that for ages she alone, in a world of darkness,\n     held the precious lamp of His truth; but what are these\n     characters of honour to hers, whose every living stone is\n     quickened by His indwelling energy, whose worship is no\n     more in type and shadow, but in spirit and in substance;\n     whose preaching and teaching, no longer shrouded in\n     obscurity and limited to a corner of the earth, spreads\n     over all lands, embraces the whole family of mankind, and\n     makes even the course of that sun whose \"going forth is\n     from the end of the heaven and his circuit unto the ends of\n     it, and from whose light nothing is hid,\" a faint image of\n     the power with which she diffuses through all nations \"the\n     light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of\n     Jesus Christ\"? (See also 2 Cor. iii. 10, 11.)--_Archer\n     Butler._\n\n [2] How well may the Church on Zion rejoice to have such a God\n     dwelling in the midst of it! He is great as the Giver of\n     promises, and great in fulfilling them; great in all His\n     saving acts which spread from Israel to all\n     mankind.--_Delitzsch._\n\n [3] Take the Gospel. What is it? Not a decision of Parliament,\n     or the termination of a debate which may have no effect on\n     our welfare. It brings us glad tidings of great joy. It is\n     infinitely important, it is eternally interesting to us. It\n     is our life. It is all our salvation, and it should be all\n     our desire. Therefore we should receive it as a faithful\n     saying, and worthy of all acceptation. We should receive it\n     as a dying man would a remedy, or as a condemned criminal\n     would hail a reprieve. We should receive it with feelings\n     superior to those with which we receive anything else. It\n     is a subject which rises infinitely above all others in\n     interest and importance, and demands all the energies of\n     the soul, and renders Dr. Young's words the words of truth\n     and soberness:--\n\n        \"On such a theme 'twere impious to be calm:\n         Passion is reason; transport, temper here.\"--_Jay._\n\n\n\nTHE DAY OF THE LORD.\n\n     xiii. 6. _Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is at hand._\n\nSad and unnatural is the condition of those to whom the coming of\n\"the day of the Lord\" is a cause for dismay. But this is the\ncondition of the wicked. They can think of God prevailing and\nasserting Himself only with dread. Dread must take possession of them\nwhenever they think of the future, for the profoundest and most\nineradicable instincts of their nature assure them that the \"day of\nthe Lord\"--a day of judgment and retribution--must come.\n\nThus far all is plain. But when we read and think about what is to\ntake place on \"the day of the Lord\" (vers. 7, 8, 15, 16, 18),\nastonishment takes possession of us, and we feel disposed to call it\n\"the day of the devil.\" How _can_ a day like this be called \"the day\nof the Lord\"? Note--1. That all the cruelties here described were\ninflicted by men. 2. That these men were moved to inflict these\ncruelties by their own passions; that they acted as free agents, and\nwithout any thought of fulfilling a Divine purpose. 3. That the\nsupreme passion by which they were moved was the passion of\nrevenge--of revenge for cruelties equally frightful inflicted by the\nsufferers of that day. Nothing can exceed in horror the picture which\nthe Babylonians themselves drew of the enormities perpetrated by them\non conquered nations. 4. That, consequently, the Babylonians were\nreaping as they had sown. The day that was coming upon them was a day\nof retribution, and in this sense emphatically \"a day of the Lord.\"\nAs a matter of fact, retribution is one of the laws under which we\nlive (H. E. I., 4609, 4611, 4612), and it is a Divine law, a law\nworthy of God. It is an ordinance of mercy, for the tendency of it is\nto restrain men from sin. By their knowledge of its existence and the\ncertainty of its operation (P. D., 2995), wicked men are undoubtedly\ngreatly restrained from wickedness. Were it not for the days when it\nis manifestly seen in operation, when great transgressors are\noverwhelmed with great sufferings, atheism would prevail; a reign of\nterror and of restrained cruelty would begin, and every day would be\na day of the devil. 5. This day, with all its horrors, was an\nessential preliminary to the accomplishment of God's purposes of\nmercy in regard to His people. For _them_ it was emphatically \"a day\nof the Lord,\" for it was the day of their deliverance from bondage, a\nday of exultant thanksgiving that the power of their relentless\noppressors was for ever broken (chap. xiv. 1-6). In the history of\nour race there have been many such days, _e.g.,_ the French\nRevolution of 1789, the American Civil War; days when the worst\npassions of humanity were manifested without restraint; but days when\nthe wisdom of God was displayed in bringing good out of evil, in\npunishing the iniquities of the past, in ushering in a brighter and\nbetter era of freedom and justice.\n\nThe record of such \"days of the Lord\" should be eminently instructive\nto us. 1. They should teach us the true characters of those statesmen\nwho use national power for purposes of unrighteous national\naggrandisement. They are patriots but traitors, rendering inevitable\na bitter harvest of national shame and sorrow. 2. They show the folly\nof supposing that the great power of any nation justifies it in the\nhope that it may safely deal unjustly with other and weaker nations.\nGuilty nations set in operation forces mightier and surer in their\noperation than any they can command--those forming the\ninstrumentality by which God governs the earth, and in spite of human\npassions, maintains the existence and carrying forward the\ndevelopment of the human race; these, combining, bring on a \"day of\nthe Lord,\" in which, by the overthrow of the haughtiest wrongdoers,\nHis existence and authority, and the folly of the practical atheism\nto which great nations are prone, are demonstrated (P. D., 2544).\n\n\n\nTHE DOOM OF THE CHILDREN OF BABYLON.\n\n     xiii. 16. _Their children also shall be dashed to pieces\n     before their eyes._\n\nConsider this terrible declaration--\n\n+I. As it regards man.+ 1. As a revelation of the degradation of\nwhich he is capable. History may be said to be a manifold revelation\nto this effect; the Bible alone gives hope for man, by disclosing his\ncapabilities of development and exaltation. 2. As a remindal that no\nearthly empire is in and of itself secure against utter overthrow.\n3. As a remindal that what are called national disasters, are made up\nof sufferings endured by a vast number of individuals.\n\n+II. As it regards God.+ So considered, it should be\nremembered--1. That His permission of such things is, when viewed\ncomprehensively, only part of the great mystery of the permission of\nevil. 2. That this is an instance of the working of one of the great\nnatural laws by which God governs the universe--the law of\nretribution. 3. That in the heart of this terrible prediction there\nis a bright ray of hope. When you see a surgeon performing a terrible\noperation on a patient, you are sure that he is confident that the\npatient will be restored to health. So when we look at the world as\nit _is,_ we are certified that there is a better world _to be._ God\nwould never have permitted the world to be, if He did not see how out\nof this present misery He could educe eternal and triumphant\nblessedness. Towards that better future God is leading on the world\n(H. E. I., 3421-3423). The revulsion of feeling with which we read\nthis prediction is one proof of it; there was a time when such\nincidents in the prosecution of a war would have been regarded as a\nmatter of course. That it should not be so now marks an advance, and\nis a prophecy of further advances.\n\n\n\nTHE LOVE OF MONEY.\n\n     xiii. 17. _The Medes . . . shall not regard silver; and as\n     for gold, they shall not delight in it._\n\nI. One of the most universal and powerful of all passions is the love\nof money. Consider--1. How _wide-spread_ is this passion. The instant\nmen rise above utter barbarism, it manifests itself. Paradoxical as\nit may sound, it is one of the first signs that civilisation has\nbegun. In every civilised land, and among all classes, it constantly\nmanifests itself.[1] It is one of the inspiring and moulding forces\nthat are always at work. 2. How _powerful_ it is in its operation! It\nleads them to face appalling dangers. It persuades them to endure\ndistressing privations. It betrays them into the basest crimes. Up to\na certain point, it may be said to be a useful servant; it works to\npromote our welfare, by overbalancing other tendencies that would\ndegrade and ruin us; but when once that limit is overpassed, it\ntransforms itself into a tyrannical master. Like many an Eastern\ntyrant, it destroys all other lawful passions that might dispute with\nit the throne (H. E. I., 400, 402).\n\nII. But this passion, powerful as it is, may be controlled and\nconquered. \"The Medes . . . shall not regard silver; and as for gold,\nthey shall not delight in it.\" This means, not that they should be\nexempt from the influence of this worldwide passion, but that in thee\nit would be temporarily overborne by another more powerful\npassion--the passion for revenge. For years the dominion of Babylon\nover them had been maintained by the most relentless rigour and\nfrightful cruelties; and when the hour for successful revolt came,\nthe one thought of the Medes would be--_Revenge!_ That one intense\nlonging would consume all others; the men on whom it had laid hold\nwould forget their thirst for riches.\n\nThis really is only an instance and illustration of what Dr. Chalmers\nused to call \"the explosive power of a new affection.\" Many other\naffections come up to the human heart, and expel avarice; _e.g.,_\nlove of wife or children, ambition, vanity, &c. We see, therefore,\nthat the love of money can be conquered, and as reasonable men always\nin danger of being overcome by it, we should ask by what passion or\nprinciple it can be conquered most nobly. That principle and that\npassion is the love of Christ. Of those who are truly possessed by\nit, it may be truly said that they do not regard silver; and as for\ngold, they do not delight in it. They may have much money, and by\ntheir splendid genius for business may be constantly gaining much\nmore; but they possess it, it does not possess them; they are _its_\nmasters. By the use of it they are ennobled. Let us pray that our\nhearts may be garrisoned by this more powerful and noble passion;\nthen all the assaults of avarice upon them shall be made in vain. We\nshall meet them as Christ Himself met the offer of all the wealth and\nglory of the world; and the result will be, that we shall possess the\ntrue riches which will be valuable in the eternal world (Matt.\niv. 8-10, vi. 19-21).\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] In many of those who seem utterly free from the love of\n     money, it is only dormant; like the thirst for blood in\n     that tiger which, captured when a cub, was brought up as a\n     household pet, but showed itself to be a tiger indeed when,\n     licking a slight wound in its master's hand, it first\n     tasted blood. So, many who appear to be utterly free from\n     the love of money are so simply because they have never\n     possessed more than sufficed for their bare necessities.\n     Let them possess more, and avarice will show itself. This\n     is the explanation of the familiar fact, that many who\n     become prosperous become niggardly; they may continue to\n     give, but it is always in a steadily diminishing proportion\n     to their income (H. E. I., 4013; P. D., 3068, 3488).\n\n\n\nSPARE THE CHILDREN.\n\n     (_Sunday-School Anniversary Sermon._)\n\n     xiii. 18. _Their eye shall not spare children._\n\nThis declaration is made concerning the Medes, by whom the power of\nBabylon was destined to be broken. So thoroughly bent will they be\nupon their mission of revenge, that they will not be turned away from\nit by any appeals to their avarice (ver. 17) or to their pity (text).\nThe helplessness of infancy and the innocence of youth, which are\nnaturally so impressive and persuasive, will not avail to stay them\nin their devastating career.\n\nWe should display a singular ignorance of the world in which we live,\nif we were therefore to pronounce the Medes exceptional monsters of\niniquity. Alas! there are many imitators of their relentless cruelty.\nIn our own land children are not spared in relation to evils even\nmore terrible than war. Youth is always beset by dangers, even when\nit is most carefully guarded; but when it is specially under the\ninfluence of wicked men, it is often ruthlessly sacrificed.\nWide-spread is the spirit of evil which knows not how to pity it.\nExamples of its existence and operations are to be found--1. In\nhouses where the most hurtful principles and vicious practices are\ncontinually set before children. From their youth up they are not\nspared from the most disastrous influences (H. E. I., 775-779). 2. In\nbusiness, where often the most sacred interests of childhood are\nsacrificed for the sake of gain. Their health, by inflicting upon\nthem excessive labour. Even their morality, by fiends who tempt them\ninto haunts of vice. Compared with these incarnations of diabolical\ncruelty, the Medes were merciful.\n\nThe season of childhood appeals to our concern and should awake our\ncompassion--1. By its _helplessness._ It has to lean upon others.\n2. By its _ignorance._ It has had no time to learn (H. E. I., 780).\n3. By its _inexperience._ Unless it is aided by the guidance of\nmature wisdom, it must almost necessarily go astray. 4. By its\n_peculiar susceptibility to every kind of moral influence._ To these\nappeals let us give reverent, cheerful, and thoughtful heed. Let us\nnot be content to shudder at this prediction concerning the Medes, or\nat such historical records as that of the slaughter of the children\nof Bethlehem (Matt. ii.); let us make the children the objects of our\ncare. 1. Let us spare _our own children,_ from all unreasonable\ndemands upon them, from the mischiefs that will inevitably come upon\nthem if we do not carefully train them in the way they should go.\n2. Let us spare _the children of the poor_ from the evils of\nignorance. These evils are terrible and far-reaching. Not to rescue\nthem from these evils when we have the power to do so, is to doom\nthem to them. In the Sunday-school we have a means to rescue which we\ncannot neglect without sin.--_William Manning._\n\n\n\nSODOM AND GOMORRAH.\n\n     xiii. 19. _And Babylon, the glory of the kingdoms, &c._\n\nThe anticipated destruction of Babylon is here compared to that of\nSodom and Gomorrah, because of its completeness, and because of the\nhopelessness of any return to that city to its former glory (vers.\n20-22). The fate of Sodom and Gomorrah should be pondered, not merely\nbecause it is here used as a symbol of the fate of Babylon, but also\nbecause of the solemn lessons it affords in relation to sin. That\nmemorable overthrow occurred--I. _As a Divine vengeance upon\nlong-continued and unmitigated wickedness_ (Gen. xviii. 20, 21).\nII. _Notwithstanding the influence of a good man in their midst_\n(2 Pet. ii. 7, 8). A man like Lot, even though he perhaps suffered\ninjury to his own character, could not live among people like the\nSodomites without being a witness for better things and a testimony\nagainst their crimes. III. _Notwithstanding the fervent intercessions\non their behalf of an eminently godly man_ (Gen. xviii. 23, &c.).\nIV. _The overthrow came at last without any suspicion on the part of\ntheir guilty inhabitants that their doom was so near_ (Prov. xxix. 1).\n\nBut why dwell upon a fate so awful, and that occurred so long ago?\nBecause it is a solemn warning to men to-day. Listen to our Saviour's\nteaching on this point (Matt. xi. 20-24). From this we learn that the\nfate of those who reject Christ will be more severe even than that\nwhich befell those guilty cities--1. Because of clearer light against\nwhich they sinned. It cannot be in any way a trivial thing to possess\nthe Gospel (2 Cor. ii. 16). 2. Because of the more abundant\nopportunities of salvation which were afforded them. 3. Because of\nthe more abundant and excellent examples set before them. 4. Because\nof the multiplied examples of warning to which they should have given\nheed.--_William Manning._\n\n\n\nTHE JOY OF SALVATION.\n\n     xiv. 3, 4. _And it shall come to pass in the day, &c._\n\nIn these verses is described the feeling of relief and joy of Israel\nin view of release from the Babylonish captivity. So profound will be\ntheir sense of God's deliverance and favour, that they will look with\ncontempt even upon the imperious and exacting Babylon, whose glory\nwill be smitten, whose strength will be destroyed.\n\nThis is an experience known to men in their spiritual seekings and\nfindings of God. Blessed is that \"rest\" which follows many a season\nof sorrow, and fear, and hard bondage wherein men are made to serve.\nConsider--\n\nI. SOME JOYFUL DELIVERANCES, of which we may be said to have here a\ntype. Every soul engaged in a true search after God can recall such\nexperiences: first there was the \"sorrow,\" then the \"joy;\" first the\n\"fear,\" then the confidence; first the \"bondage,\" and then the rescue\nand the liberty. _E.g.,_ 1. _The time of spiritual conversion._ That\nis often preceded by deep conviction, anguish, and gloom. Alarming\nare those awakenings whose first mission is to show us our guilt and\ndanger. Then we feel the grievousness of the bondage of sin. It is a\ntime of exile, want, servitude. What a glorious day is that in which\nthe Lord gives us rest for our sorrow and fear, by removing from us\nthe terrors of the law, and leading us into the liberty of the\nGospel! This is the deliverance to which our Saviour calls us (Matt.\nxi. 28). 2. _The light which comes after a period of great mental\nconflict and doubt respecting Divine things_ also illustrates our\nsubject. Honest and reverent doubt, which intercepts a true seeker\nafter God, is no sin. To creatures who have everything to learn,\ndoubt is but a part of the process of learning; all original\nresearch, all independent inquiry, has more or less of it. But doubt\nmay become a hard master, a ruthless tyrant; that which comes from\nmere prying curiosity, idle speculation, empty cavilling, is certain\nto do so; in this case doubt, instead of being a pathway, becomes a\nprison (H. E. I., 4867, 4868). But doubt in any case is a source of\nunhappiness; it should lead, not to scepticism (H. E. I., 4867, 4868;\nP. D., 910), but to prayer (P. D., 915, 916). Those whose prayers for\ndeliverance from it have been answered, know how blessed is that day\nwhen the Lord gives them \"rest.\" 3. _The period of victory which\nfollows a season of severe temptation_ is another illustration. In\nmost virtues weak, there are sides of our character specially exposed\nto assault. The sin which most easily besets us proves our oppressor,\nour tyrant (H. E. I., 4482-4484, 4497-4499). Recall the conflicts you\nhave often had, how often sin has wellnigh proved fatal to you. What\na gracious day was that when the Lord came to your help, and gave you\nrest from your enemy! 4. _The heavenly life hereafter_ will be a\nstill better realisation of the thought before us. To many of God's\npeople the general character of their earthly life is so mysterious,\nburdensome, and sad, that it _all_ seems a bondage to them. To such,\ndeath will come as the day of the Lord to give them \"rest\" (H. E. I.,\n220, 1623-1628).\n\nII. THE REAL INSIGNIFICANCE OF OUR FOES, which in the day of our\ndeliverance will be made plain to us, and which should be apprehended\nby our faith even now (ver. 4). 1. Greater is He that is in than all\nthat can be against us, and therefore, if we be faithful, our victory\nis sure (1 John iv. 4; Rom. viii. 37; H. E. I., 934, 2368, 2791).\n2. By Him even our very foes and oppressors shall be made to help us.\nIn the case of Israel, their masters were to become their servants,\ntheir oppressors their subjects (ver. 2). It is so in the spiritual\nlife; our very sorrows, fears, nay, our sins, may be made to serve\ngreat ends; a vanquished fear, a defeated sin, will leave us stronger\nto meet the next. Let us so live and strive, by the grace of God,\nthat, having triumphed over every evil habit, every ignoble doubt,\nevery besetting sin, we may be able to say at last, \"How hath the\noppressor ceased!\"--_William Manning._\n\n\n\nTHE GRAVE AND ITS MYSTERIES.\n\n     xiv. 9-12. _Hell from beneath is moved for thee, &c._\n\nI. There is an invisible world (H. E. I., 2173-2175). II. Its\ninhabitants stand in a mysterious relation to this. III. Are\nconscious of passing events. IV. Despise all earthly distinctions.\nV. Await the coming of their fellows. VI. Receive them according to\ntheir moral character.--_J. Lyth, D.D.: Homiletical Treasury,_ part\ni. p. 20.\n\n\n\nTHE CONTRASTS OF DEATH.\n\n     xiv. 11. _Thy pomp is brought down to the grave._\n\nWe are perpetually reminded of the shortness and uncertainty of life\n(H. E. I., 1561). But these truths, so elementary, so familiar, so\nimportant, and so much forgotten, are most vividly brought before our\nminds when a prince is laid low. Then we see that only one thing is\nimportant, because only one thing is permanent, and that is\n_character,_ by which our whole future is determined. Happy is he,\nwhether peasant or prince, whose is the character of the regenerate,\nwho possesses a good hope through grace; wretched is he, whether\nslave or monarch, who lives and dies without it. Reflect--\n\nI. ON THE DEATH OF THE WICKED. Always solemn, but especially so when\nit is that of a wicked man who was prosperous. Everything succeeded\nwith him; he had everything his heart wished for. But death came;\nbroke up a whole system of being and comforts, without furnishing any\nequivalent for it; and introduced him to eternal perdition. Death\nobscures the glory of the prosperous transgressors, robs them of that\nin which they delighted, reduces their wealth to poverty, their\nhonours to eternal shame, their happiness to eternal misery. What a\ntransition--from the vanities of earth to the realities and\nretributions of the eternal world! from the flattery of their\ndependants to the presence of the Judge of all! You who are living\nonly for earthly things, think of these things. (H. E. I., 1567-1569;\nP. D., 684, 741).\n\nII. THE DEATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS. 1. The hour of terror, of consummate\nterror, to the wicked, is to the Christian the hour of peace, of\nhope, of joy. This arises from his union with Christ, the Conqueror\nof death. What will make a deathbed easy?--a broken league with sin,\na good hope through grace, a lively faith in Christ (H. E. I.,\n1590-1593). 2. The hour that terminates the prosperous worldling's\nglory, introduces the Christian to an eternal weight of glory (P. D.,\n669, 694, 757). 3. The hour that brings the sinner to the second\ndeath commences the perfectness of the Christian's life (H. E. I.,\n1595-1600; P. D., 711).--_Samuel Thodey._\n\n\n\nTHE CONQUEROR CONQUERED.\n\n     xiv. 11. _Thy pomp is brought down to the grave._\n\nOne of the most effectual means of comforting the Church in times of\noppression, is by predicting the downfall of her enemies. Here\nBabylon is doomed; her monarch, whose conquests had been so\nfar-reaching, whose power had proved so irresistible, is represented\nas having met with a mightier than himself; as descending to the\nabode of the dead; as leaving behind him a body which, instead of\nbeing honoured with a royal funeral, has no other covering than the\ndust and the worms; and as being himself insulted by the astonished\nmockery of the meanest of those who had preceded him into the\ninvisible world. His removal from the world has been as the cessation\nof a devastating hurricane, and the whole earth rejoices thereat; it\nre-echoes with songs of gladness that the dreaded victor has himself\nbeen vanquished. Well may the world rejoice that its crowned scourges\nare not immortal!\n\n+I. Let us recall some familiar truths concerning this conqueror of\nconquerors.+ 1. _He assaults all ranks and all ages_ (H. E. I., 1536,\n1557; P. D., 677, 700, 707, 751, 752). The world is an unwalled\ncemetery. Much of the dust we tread on once lived. What is the\nhistory of the world but the history of the reign of death? From Abel\nto the infant who died a moment ago, death has executed his\ncommission without a single pause; sometimes in quiet forms, dust\nmingling with its native dust; sometimes on a grander scale, by\nbattles, earthquakes, &c. There are a thousand doors out of life;\nthey all stand open; and through some of them death will lead us all;\nfor, like the great Being whose servant he is, with him there is \"no\nrespect of persons.\"[1] 2. _He is not arrested in his career from any\nrespect for the places of men,_ however heroic and useful they may\nbe. How powerful man often appears in his collective grandeur,\nbinding the ocean in chains, controlling the elements, numbering the\nstars, building great cities which look like temples erected to Time\nand destined to outlast his reign, founding empires, and spreading\nhimself out by commerce and enterprise to distant islands and\ncontinents; and he has always still greater projects behind. But\nwhile man plants, death receives his commission; the ground sinks\nbeneath him, his power suddenly collapses. Few histories would be\nmore instructive or impressive than that of the unfinished projects\nof men of might and genius, _e.g.,_ C\u00e6sar and his proposed digest of\nlaw, Cuvier and his proposed compendium of science (Ps. cxlvi. 4;\nH. E. I., 3266, 3273). 3. _He determines all character._ Passing to\nand fro, he finds character everywhere in the course of formation;\nsuddenly he brings the process to an end, and with their character\nprecisely in the state in which he found it, those whom he strikes\ndown go into the eternal world. A certain fact, a solemn\nconsideration this!\n\n+II. Let me remind you of the strange insensibility of mankind to the\nexistence and operations of this power, from which none of us can\nescape, and which may so unexpectedly bring all our plans and\npurposes to an end.+ Few men give any practical heed to the fact that\nthey are mortal (H. E. I., 1557-1565; P. D., 69). The conduct of\nmankind in neglecting the concerns of immortality reverses all the\nelements of wisdom. Men bury themselves in the concerns of time, and\nforget that their consciences will have an awful resurrection in\nanother world. This insensibility is the more unpardonable since God\nuses so many means to arouse and to instruct us. Reflect on the\nmomentous character of life, its shortness, its grand purpose, its\nsolemn issues; look to the grand vision beyond the shades of death.\n\n+III. In order that we may be delivered from this prevalent\ninsensibility, let us recall some of the advantages arising from a\nfrequent contemplation of, and a Scriptural preparation for, the\napproach of death.+ 1. _Preparation for death quite changes its\naspect._ To a Christian it would be a dreadful thing not to die; his\nwould be the case of a child who was never to come of age, of an\nexile who was never to go home (H. E. I., 1571-1578; P. D. 667, 669,\n747). 2. _Preparation for death exalts the character of life._ It\ndispels much of the gloom of life; the bright prospect at the end\nirradiates all the intervening way. 3. _In preparing for death we\nbecome imbued with the temper and the tastes of heaven_ (H. E. I.,\n1566, 2731-2737).--_Samuel Thodey._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] When I look upon the tombs of the great, every emotion of\n     envy dies in me; when I read the epitaphs of the beautiful,\n     every inordinate desire goes out; when I meet with the\n     grief of parents on a tombstone, my heart melts with\n     compassion; when I see the tombs of the parents themselves,\n     I consider the vanity of grieving for those we must so\n     quickly follow; when I see kings lying by those who deposed\n     them, when I consider rival wits placed side by side, or\n     the holy men who divided the world with their contests and\n     disputes, I reflect with sorrow and astonishment on the\n     little competitions, factions, and debates of mankind; when\n     I read the several dates of some that died as yesterday,\n     and some of six hundred years ago, I consider that great\n     day when we shall all be contemporaries and make our\n     appearance together.--_Addison._\n\n\n\nTHE SEED OF EVILDOERS.\n\n     xiv. 20. _The seed of evildoers shall never be renowned._\n\nI. _This is the verdict of the Scriptures._ They abound in evidence\nthat confirms it. Whatever may be the resources of wicked men, true\nglory does not lie in their path, and nought that they can do will\navail to secure honourable memory for their wickedness. On the\ncontrary, their name and deeds will be attended with disaster and\ncovered with shame. And this in spite--1. Of the _wealth_ which may\nbe connected with evil-doing (Job xxi. 7-21; Ps. iii. 5-7, &c.); or,\n2. The _power_ it may have (Ps. lxxiii. 3-8, 18-20), even if it be a\nconfederated power (Prov. xi. 21); or, 3. The _ingenuity_ with which\nit may conduct its work (Ps xxxvi. 2-4; Micah ii. 1-3). These are but\na few of the declarations of the Bible on this subject.\n\nII. _This is also the verdict of human experience._ As a matter of\nfact, we see that a wicked course of life is regarded as a shame. It\nis held up as a beacon to be avoided, whilst the career of the good\nis held up as a model to be followed. History is full of examples of\nmen whose names are held in universal detestation, notwithstanding\ntheir connection with ingenuity, wealth, and power. Each of us knows\nhow well the fact is proved by myriads of examples in social life. A\npersistently wicked course is known to be a blighted one, and any\nattempt to invest it with glory or renown is felt to be wrong. We\nrecoil even from the thought that it should be possible for such a\ncourse to command the homage of men.\n\nIII. _This truth gives us great hope for the future of our world._ If\nit were possible for wrongdoing to gain for itself imperishable\nrenown, we might tremble for the safety of those principles of\nrighteousness and truth which have always been regarded as the main\nsupport and stay of good men. Reckless folly and wild presumption\nwould become exalted and enthroned, and we might well shudder at the\npossibility that, under the attractions of successful wickedness, men\nwould rush in masses and bow down to Evil, declaring it to be their\nGood. This abandoned idolatry, this deep depravity, is now reached\nonly in isolated cases, and such are regarded even by godless men as\ndeplorable and hopeless. It is a hopeful fact that evildoers have to\ncarry on much of their work in the dark, for it is a sure token that,\nas the light widens and deepens, the works of darkness must fall;\ntheir covering will be removed, and their shelter will be gone.\n\nIV. _This truth is also one of encouragement to every individual\nChristian in his efforts after a Christ-like life._ Evil-doing does\nnot fail for want of effort; its attempts are bold, its struggles are\ndetermined. Yet it is doomed always to wear the name of dishonour and\nshame; a wicked man will never get glory for his wickedness. But\nChristian life is in itself true and real honour; its glory is as a\nshining light, shining more and more unto the perfect day. The\nChristian is a son of God, and no higher dignity than this is\nconceivable (H. E. I., 1073-1076); he is traversing a path which will\nfor ever lead him on to scenes of new splendour and blessedness.\nSeeing that this is our high calling and destiny, let us neither fear\nnor envy the seed of evildoers, however strong or secure they may be,\nbut with greater persistency than ever let us \"hold fast the\nconfidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the\nend.\"--_William Manning._\n\n\nThis is--1. Matter of observation; 2. The natural effects of bad\ntraining and example (H. E. I., 777-779); 3. The judicial appointment\nof God (H. E. I., 824).--_J. Lyth, D.D.: Homiletical Treasury,_ part\ni. p. 21.\n\n\n\nA MEMORABLE ANSWER.\n\n     xiv. 32. _What shall one answer? &c._\n\nTranslators and interpreters differ as to whether the answer in this\nverse was intended to be given _by_ or _to_ the messengers of the\nnations; as to the nations whose messengers are here spoken of; and\nas to the time when they came on their errand. Adopting the view\nwhich represents them as coming to Jerusalem to congratulate Hezekiah\nafter the marvellous deliverance of that city from the Assyrians\n(chap. xxxvii. 36-38), we remind you--\n\n+I. That the wonders of God's love to His Church often surprise\nstrangers as well as friends.+ For the deliverances wrought for her\nare often--1. _Surprisingly seasonable, e.g.,_ the overthrow of the\nEgyptian host in the Red Sea, when everything seemed to favour\nPharaoh and to be against Israel (Exod. xv. 13-15); the deliverance\nof Jerusalem from Sennacherib. 2. _Astonishing because brought about\nby unlikely means._ Who could have anticipated the manner of the\ndeliverance of Jerusalem on this occasion? [Give other examples.]\n3. _Astonishing because vouchsafed in spite of great provocations and\nunworthiness._ Every such deliverance is a work of grace as well as\nof power.\n\n+II. In such times of deliverance friends and enemies alike wonder at\nthe secure foundations on which the Church is built.+ The literal\nZion was a marvel of architecture (Ps. xlviii. 13), and in this\nrespect it was a worthy symbol of the Church.[1] 1. The strength and\nstability of the spiritual Zion is guaranteed by the character and\nresources of the Builder: _\"The Lord hath founded Zion.\"_\n2. Therefore we should not fear the might of any of the adversaries\nthat come up against her (H. E. I., 1246-1251).\n\n+III. The stability and security of Zion are sources of delighted\nsatisfaction to the humblest of her inhabitants:+ _\"The poor of His\npeople shall trust in it.\"_ They know they are under the guardianship\nof One who is \"mighty to save,\" and who encircles the least as well\nas the greatest in arms of His love. Their consciousness of poverty\nand weakness leads them to rest in Him with an undivided trust, and\nthey thus attain unconsciously to the blessedness of those who trust\nis in God only, the peace which rests on the only foundation that\ncannot be moved.--_Samuel Thodey._\n\n\nMark what the text affirms, _\"The Lord hath founded Zion;\"_ this is\nthe guarantee of His love and of her stability: _\"the poor of His\npeople shall trust in it,\"_ or, as the margin has it, _\"shall betake\nthemselves unto it:\"_ this is the one purpose of Her Divine mission\nupon earth--the care, the teaching, the education, the guidance of\nthe poor.\n\nI. THE SECURITY OF THE CHURCH. 1. The strongest, most fundamental\ntitle to protection is creation. Even among ourselves no one frames\nan object in order to destroy it; he who makes, makes that he may\npreserve. Thus is creation in itself a presumptive title to\nprotection; and it is abundantly plain that the strength of such a\nbond will ever increase with the cost of the object produced. In one\nsense the whole material universe cost its Creator nothing, for its\nproduction was to Him a thing of infinite ease; but this cannot be\nsaid of the Church. He spoke to bid the one, He died to make the\nother exist. When He beholds His Church, He sees in it the monument\nof His own inexpressible sorrow; He feels this offspring of His\nDivine agonies drawn closer to His eternal heart by the thought of\nall it cost to give her being. 2. In this Church of His is His own\n_honour_ pledged. He hath not covenanted with the world that now is\nto immortalise it; but He has passed His own word for the perpetuity\nof His Church (Matt. xvi. 18; Isa. lx. 20, 21). 3. The Church, in its\nultimate perfection, is set forth as the very _reward_ of all the\nsorrows of its Lord. To \"see of the travail of His soul and be\nsatisfied\" is His destined crown; this \"joy set before Him\" was that\nwhich enabled Him to \"endure the cross, despising the shame.\" (See\nalso Eph. v. 25-27.) Shall He be defrauded of His recompense?\n4. There is more than creation to bind the Church to Christ, more\nthan promise, more than reward; there is communion, oneness,\nidentification. A man may desert his child; he cannot desert himself.\nEven though the Redeemer could forget His espoused bride; even though\nHe could deny His plighted promise; yea, though He could abandon His\nown reward, He cannot abandon His own body (1 Cor. xii. 27; Eph.\ni. 23, v. 30). With such a union there can be no separation; if\nChrist be immortal, the Church is so; when He dies she shall perish,\nbut not till then.\n\nII. THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. _\"The poor of His people shall trust\nin it.\"_ The Church of Christ is one vast institute for the benefit\nof the poor. The poor were the special objects of Christ's solicitude\nand tenderness, and they have been, and should be, the special\nobjects of the Church's care. Even in her worst days she has had an\nopen hand for the poor. She should ever follow the example of her\nLord in caring for their temporal needs. But it is in the doctrine\nshe preaches, and the way she preaches it, that the Church is indeed\nthe poor man's consoler.[2]--_William Archer Butler, M.A.,: Sermons,\nDoctrinal and Practical, Second Series,_ pp. 227-237.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] See notes to outline: THE DUTY OF GLADNESS, chap. xii. 6.\n\n [2] It is in meeting his sorrow with tidings of glory to come,\n     in brightening the gloom of his humble home with the\n     hallowed light of eternity, in soothing his days of hard\n     and heavy toil with her peaceful Sabbaths, in watching over\n     his bed of sickness with a patience as unwearied as if his\n     poor chambers were gorgeous with gilded ceilings and silken\n     tapestry; it is in these things that the Church carries on\n     that loveliest attribute of Her Lord, \"Thou hast been a\n     strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his\n     distress.\"--_Archer Butler._\n\n\n\nGOD'S OUTCASTS.\n\n     xvi. 4. _Let Mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab._\n\n+I. In the most deserted condition of His people, God acknowledges\nthem as His own.+ _\"Mine outcasts.\"_ Sennacherib thought them his;\nbut though forsaken by all the world, God claims them as His own, and\navows His interest in them. Men pursue an opposite course; when\nindividuals sink in the social scale, the kindly warmth of friendship\nis chilled, and the bond of intercourse broken (H. E. I., 23, 24,\n2152-2157; P. D., 1422). But God is a friend who sticketh closer than\nany brother.[1] True, they sometimes esteem themselves outcasts even\nfrom Him (Ps. xlii. 2), and still more frequently are thought to be\nso by the ungodly (Ps. xlii. 3); but in this the ungodly make a\nmistake, which in their case is natural, and God's people should\nnever wrong Him by suspecting Him of fickleness (chap. xlix. 15).\n\n+II. God provides a refuge for His people when and where it might be\nleast expected.+ _\"With thee, Moab.\"_ Moab was not a neutral, but a\nhostile state, one of Israel's most inveterate foes, always on the\noutlook for opportunities to display its hostility. Strange,\ntherefore, that Moab should be selected as a protector for Jehovah's\noutcasts; strange, but not unexampled. God often raises up friends\nfor His people in unexpected quarters, supplies their needs by\nunexpected means, or turns their foes into friends (Prov. xvi. 7).\nEsau's heart was suddenly changed; Joseph found favour in the eyes of\nthe keeper of the prison; Elijah was fed by ravens; the hungry lions\nforbore to touch Daniel, &c.[2]\n\n+III. God would have His people to be only sojourners in Moab.+ His\noutcasts were merely to _dwell_ there; they were not to be\nincorporated with the Moabitish nation; they were not to adopt either\nthe social customs or the religious beliefs of that people. In like\nmanner He would have His people remember always that in this world\nthey are only sojourners (1 Pet. ii. 11; H. E. I., 5026-5065).\n\n+IV. God is preparing to bring His outcast and scattered people\nhome.+ He hath prepared for them a city, and He will bring them to\nthe city He hath prepared for them (John xiv. 1-3). Let them\nrecognise, rejoice in, and live in harmony with this gracious purpose\n(Phil. iii. 17-21).--_Samuel Thodey._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Philip Henry says, \"God's people may be an outcast\n     people--cast out from men's love, their synagogue, their\n     country; but God will own His people when men cast them\n     out. They are outcasts, but they are His; and somehow or\n     other He will provide a dwelling for them.\" He adds, that\n     though many of the rejected ministers were brought very\n     low, had many children, were greatly harassed by\n     persecutors, and their friends were unable to support them,\n     yet in all his acquaintance he never knew, nor had heard\n     of, any Nonconformist minister being in prison for debt.\n\n [2] \"I have long looked for you,\" said a persecuting magistrate\n     to a poor woman, \"and now I commit you to prison; and then\n     what will you do?\" \"If it please my Heavenly Father,\" she\n     replied, \"I shall be fed at your table;\" and so she was,\n     for his own wife, who sat by, sent her daily food (Ps.\n     lxxxiv. 11, 12).\n\n\n\nFRUITLESS SUPPLICATIONS.[1]\n\n     xvi. 12. _He shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he\n     shall not prevail._\n\n\nIn the profoundly affecting picture which the prophet draws of the\ncalamities coming on the Moabites, he represents them as at length,\nevery other means of relief being exhausted, coming with sad and\nweary hearts to their sanctuary to call upon their god for\ndeliverance. Their supplications were destined to fail, for they were\npresented to that which had no power to hear or save (Ps. cxv. 4-8).\nThis line in this dark picture reminds us of two facts in the life of\nthe men of our own time, who see clearly the folly of idolatry.\n\n+I. In times of sorrow they are often seen in the sanctuary.+ Many\nwho at other times lead openly irreligious lives are then seen using\nthe forms of devotion. This is natural (H. E. I., 3718); it is not\nwrong; that which is wrong is the infrequency with which the\nsanctuary is visited and prayer offered by them (H. E. I., 3878,\n3879). It is natural and fitting that in time of trouble man should\nseek God in the sanctuary, for the sanctuary is the place--1. Of\n_special promise_ (Exod. xx. 24; Deut. xii. 5; 1 Kings ix. 3; Matt.\nxviii. 20). 2. Of _special means._ Everything there tends to the\nproduction and increase of a devotional spirit (H. E. I., 5078).\n3. Of _special memory_--of memories of help obtained, of sorrows\nsolaced in former times.\n\nII. But all this makes more remarkable the other fact of which these\nwords may well remind us, that +many of the supplications that are\noffered in the sanctuary are offered in vain.+ We know that this is a\nfact: how is it to be explained? In such ways as these--1. _Many of\nthe suppliants have little or no faith,_ and faith is the essential\ncondition of blessing (H. E. I., 3827-3830). 2. _Many of the\nsuppliants are not really in earnest,_ and lukewarmness is an offence\nto the Divine Being (H. E. I., 3814, 3815, 3831-3838). 3. _Many of\nthe suppliants are not really penitent._ Their prayers are mere calls\nfor help in time of distress, and God has nowhere promised to help\nthe impenitent and rebellious (H. E. I., 3846, 3858; P. D., 3595).\n\nTo point out the causes of the weakness and failure of such prayers\nis also to point out the remedies that must be applied if the\nsuppliants would have their prayers \"prevail.\"--_William Manning._\n\n\nIn times of trouble, men--1. Feel their need of help. 2. Generally\nhave recourse to fallacious sources (H. E. I., 172-175). 3. Meet with\ndisappointment, because God is forgotten or unknown.--_J. Lyth, D.D.:\nHomiletical Treasury,_ part i. p. 23.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] See Outlines: WORTHLESS HUSKS, and REASONS FOR THE\n     REJECTION OF PRAYER, chap. i. 15.\n\n\n\nDIMINUTIONS AND CHANGES OF LIFE.\n\n     xvii. 5-7. _And it shall be as when the harvestman, &c._\n\nGod's visitations of judgment are the subject of the prophet's\nburdens (ver. 1). So the text. Adversities and sorrows set in.\nBlessings gone, except a few. \"Two or three berries,\" &c.\n\n+I. The various illustrations of the text.+ 1. _In the adverse\nchanges of life._ Many who were rich and prosperous are now poor. All\ngone, except two or three berries. Some so through their own folly,\n&c.; others by the allotment of Providence, sickness, &c. (H. E. I.,\n4403-4406, 4975-4986). 2. _In the failure of bodily health and\nvigour._ Once strong and robust, &c.; now left but a few berries, &c.\n3. _In the bereavements of kindred and friends._ Once a crowd of\nthem--parents, brothers, sisters, children--but they have gone, one\nafter another. 4. _In the powers and capacities for useful activity._\nOnce active, useful, but now frailty and weakness have superseded.\nThis is distressing to the sensitive, &c. Pushed aside by another\ngeneration. 5. It will apply to _times and seasons of probation._ How\nwise was old Barzillai! (2 Sam. xix. 31). The indications of age, &c.\n(Eccl. xii. 1). Few years left, &c., or even days.\n\n+II. The uses we should make of the subject.+ 1. _It should impress\nus with the vanity of earthly things._ All fleeting, all retiring;\nlike the seasons, like streams. 2. _The folly of earthly-mindedness._\nHow extreme! Grasping shadows, resting on the moving wave, building\ncastles in the air, &c. 3. _The necessity of wisely using our\nopportunities._ For the best ends. Working while it is day--now,\nwhile we have light and life. 4. _Seeking a fitness for the world of\nthe future_ (Heb. x. 34; xi. 13-16). 5. _Believing and devotional\nconfidence in God._\n\n_Application:_--Christ is ever the same. In all His offices, work,\nand graciousness, He is without a shadow of turning.--_Jabez Burns,\nD.D.: 150 Sketches of Sermons,_ pp. 296, 297.\n\n\nThis striking passage depicts the process of God's judgments upon\nIsrael. We may take it as suggestive--\n\n+I. Of the sweeping destructiveness of calamities in human life+\n(ver. 5). How often has the picture been realised!--1. _In the\nhistory of nations._ The process of the depopulation and misery with\nwhich Israel was threatened, may be imagined from the view given in\nchap. iii. 1-8. Modern parallels may easily be found, the wars of the\nRoses, the plague of London, &c. 2. _In the social calamities of\nfamilies._ One after another is broken up, one relationship after\nanother is severed, until only an \"outmost\" branch is left as a\nremnant. Widow, orphans, friendless. Such are those who remain to\ntell the tale. 3. _In the physical calamities of individuals._ 4. _In\nthe degradation of the soul through the deceitfulness of sin._ In\nsome extreme cases, what a sad understanding of character and\ndestruction of capacity do we behold.\n\n+II. Of the hopefulness of human life even when it is at its worst+\n(ver. 6). Though the reaper has made sure work, yet enough remains to\ngive hope. There is here true gospel, suggesting such thoughts as\nthese:--1. _Begin at the point of your ability, however low it may\nbe._ Every man is rightly expected to make use of whatever power he\nhas. If it is only sight, or only hearing, or only one hand, one\ntalent out of ten, he must use it. The loss of the other nine will\nnot excuse his neglect of the one he has. 2. _Beginning thus low\ndown, yet in earnest, we have the assurance of improvement and\nprogress._ We have abundant illustration of this in the history of\nthe \"remnant\" that was left in Israel (2 Chron. xxx. 11; xxxiv. 6, 9,\n&c.). We see here an encouragement for every sinner who will awake,\nthough late, to the true purposes of life. Redemption is the\nfavourite work of God. He is on the side of feeble, struggling men,\nand delights to encourage and help \"the remnant\" which is spared\n(H. E. I., 934-941, 956, 958, 2368, 4790-4792; P. D., 474). The very\npurpose for which Christ came into the world was to help the\nstruggling, to save the lost. Those who have been brought down to the\nextremity and need and the verge of despair may find friendship and\nhelp in Him (H. E. I., 928, 929).--_William Manning._\n\n\n\nSANCTIFIED AFFLICTION.\n\n     xvii. 7, 8. _At that day shall a man look, &c._\n\nIn the prophecies of terror to guilty nations there is always some\nprovision of comfort for God's faithful and penitent people. His\nprophets were commissioned to minister hope to His friends, while\nthey foretold misery to His enemies. In the text Isaiah, predicting\nthe overthrow of the ten tribes, furnishes consolation to the\nfaithful remnant who had not yielded to the prevalent idolatry (ver.\n6), and declares that the judgments he announced would result in the\nconversion of many who had been ensnared by it. We are thus led to\nconsider _the designs of God in the afflictions of His people._\n\n+I. To recall their wandering hearts to Himself.+ _\"At that day shall\na man look to his Maker\"_ (H. E. I., 56-59, 66-70). This is the\nresult of sanctified affliction. Whenever it is seen, it shows that\nthe processes of grace have been combined with the trials of\nprovidence, and that the health of the spirit has been restored by\nthe Physician of souls. Otherwise affliction hardens, and the man\ngoes back with greater eagerness to worldliness or iniquity, as the\nretreating wave presently rolls back upon the beach with greater\nvelocity than before (H. E. I., 223-228). But not so if the healing\ninfluence has been sought and found. Then \"a man will look to his\nmaker\"--1. With a _suppliant_ eye, to find in Him sources of\nconsolation and a rock of defence such as the world cannot furnish\n(Ps. cxxiii. 1, 2; Jonah ii. 1). 2. With a _penitent_ eye (Luke\nxxii. 62; Zech. xii. 10). 3. With a _confiding_ and _believing_ eye\n(chap. viii. 17). 4. With a _rejoicing_ eye (Rom. v. 11; Hab.\niii. 18).\n\n+II. To raise their estimate of the holiness of the Divine character\nand the rectitude of the Divine dispensations.+ _\"Shall have respect\nunto the Holy One of Israel.\"_ Sin begins with a diminished sense of\nGod's holiness, and conversion is marked by a renewed impression of\nit (Ps. li. 4).\n\n+III. To separate them from all sinful and idolatrous dependencies.+\n_\"He shall not look,\"_ &c. The sin of the ten tribes was idolatry\n(2 Kings xvii. 16), but here it is foretold that it shall be brought\nto an end. Those who had been guilty of this folly and this sin would\nnot even _look_ at the altars and the images they had fashioned with\nsuch care. So God aims by his afflictive providences to separate His\npeople from everything in which they put an exaggerated and unworthy\ntrust (H. E. I., 110, 111).\n\n+IV. To endear the mercy that mingles with the trials.+ This\nappears--1. In the moderate degree in which God's people are\ncorrected, compared with the final and exterminating judgments which\nfall upon the wicked. Damascus was to be utterly destroyed (ver. 1),\nbut a remnant was to be left to Israel (ver. 5; see also chap.\nxxvii. 7-9). God's people always see that He has afflicted them less\nthan they deserve (Lam. iii. 22).[1] 2. In the alleviations of their\ntrials (H. E. I., 117-121). 3. In the triumphant issue of the whole.\nThey are delivered from the idolatry by which they were degraded\n(H. E. I., 116).--_Samuel Thodey._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] See Outline: GOD'S RELUCTANCE TO PUNISH, chap. i. 9.\n\n\n\nFORGETFULNESS OF GOD.\n\n     xvii. 10, 11. _Because thou hast forgotten, &c._\n\n+I. It is possible to forget the God of our salvation.+ 1. The\nmajority of men habitually forget Him. He very seldom holds a real\nand commanding place in the hearts of any of us. We are all prone to\nhave our hearts wholly filled with the cares or pleasures of life.\nEven if our aims be in themselves lawful, we seldom recognise God in\nframing or prosecuting them. Hence the shock which the thought of\nGod's nearness gives us in times of calamity, sickness, or expected\ndeath. The very shock shows that we are open to the prophet's charge.\n2. This forgetfulness of God, to which we are all so prone, should be\nrecognised to be a state of peril and guilt. Who is so near to us as\nGod? who so essential to us? who has so many claims upon our grateful\nand continued remembrance? To be forgetful of Him is a sin of which\nwe should think with shame.\n\n+II. This forgetfulness of God leads to false trusts.+ The throne of\nour heart cannot remain vacant; if God be not there, unworthy objects\nwill surely take His place. The \"pleasant plants\" and foreign shoots\n(or \"strange slips\") here represent the pursuit of lust and idolatry,\nand that fatal reliance on human help which is so often denounced\n(chap. ii. 22; Jer. xvii. 5). The sin denounced by the prophet has\nnot become obsolete. All round about us are men who have forgotten\nGod, and are seeking and putting their trust in pleasure, pomp,\nmoney, or knowledge. There is a pursuit of knowledge, even a\n\"science\" falsely so called that deliberately excludes God from its\nrange, and pronounces Him unknowable! These are the things for which\nmen live, to which they devote all they are and have, from which they\nlook for the happiness for which their hearts crave; these are their\n_gods!_ Forgetfulness of God necessarily leads to idolatry in some\nform or other; desires and tendencies, in themselves right when under\nright control, become occasions of guilt; God is shifted from the\ncentre of operations, and the trust of men itself inevitably on\nunworthy objects (H. E. I., 39).\n\n+III. These false trusts lead to bitter disappointments.+ _\"The\nharvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate\nsorrow.\"_ At the very time when abundance of fruit was expected,\nnothing awaits the anxious toiler but disappointment and failure.\nMildew, or blight, or drought, or fire has done its deadly work, and\nnothing is left but rotting masses, heaps of useless and decaying\nvegetation. What a sad picture! barrenness and dearth where there\nshould be life and plenty! Yet this is a true picture of the fate of\nmany who have persisted in their rejection of God, and in their\nclinging to false hopes. A life dedicated to fashion, pleasure,\nmoney-getting, or worldly ambition, necessarily ends in a\nreaping-time of blighted hopes, of darkened prospects, of remorse and\ndespair (H. E. I., 246-248, 5021-5025; P. D., 138, 162, 255, 3592).\n1. This result of a godless life will be found even in those cases\nwhere all the good that was striven after has been realised; the\nheart is still left unsatisfied (Eccl. i. 12-ii. 17). 2. \"Desperate\nsorrow\" is the natural result of discovering that the time for\nsecuring a profitable harvest is gone (Jer. viii. 20; P. D., 2254).\n\nEarnestly consider God's claims upon you; renounce all false trusts;\nsow for that harvest in which there can be no real disappointment\n(Gal. vi. 7). Redeem the time that yet remains; to the worst of us a\ngracious promise is still held out (Mal. iii. 7; Ps.\ncxvi. 7).--_William Manning._\n\n\n\nTHE PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED.\n\n     xvii. 12. _Woe to the multitude, &c._\n\nThese verses appear to have no connection with the prophecies that\nprecede or follow them, but they seem to indicate the character and\nresult of the great invasion of Sennacherib. As a description of that\nevent, they are most beautiful and graphic, sufficient to create\nterror in the most thoughtless and boastful sinners. For they remind\nthem of the ease with which the overthrow of the rebellious is\neffected when God visits them in the midst of their pride and\nself-confidence. In regard to the punishment here depicted,\nthink--I. _Of the striking contrasts which the day of visitation\nreveals respecting the conduct and the position of the wicked._ Verse\n12 shows us the vast and varied host in fancied security; we have a\nmagnificent picture of a state of might, pomp, vainglory,\nself-confidence; but ere we reach the end of verse 13, we see it\nscattered! Even while it gloried in its strength, the storm that was\nto scatter it had already gathered over it. We see the same contrast\nin everyday life; wicked men secure, strong, boastful--the next\nmoment utterly cast down (Ps. lxxiii. 18-20); or, by the near\napproach of death, transformed into the subjects of pitiable despair\n(P. D., 684). II. _Of the restless execution of the sentence of\ndoom._ In pursuit of their wicked schemes, sinners are often led to a\ndaring defiance of all who threaten their progress, even of God\nHimself; _e.g.,_ Pharaoh (Exod. v. 2), Sennacherib (2 Kings\nxviii. 17, &c.). But how sharp is the rebuke which God administers;\nwith what terrible energy are His decrees executed! The profane\nboasters become as chaff, as gossamer before the whirlwind (H. E. I.,\n2298). III. _Of the swiftness with which the sentence of doom is\nexecuted_ (ver. 14). The morning dawns upon their noise and pomp, but\nfast as the beams of light does their judgment overtake them; trouble\ncomes at the eventide, and by the next morning they are not (P. D.,\n3413). It is true that the punishment of the wicked often seems to be\ndelayed (Eccl. viii. 11); but--1. Sin and punishment are inseparable\n(H. E. I., 4603-4610); and, 2. Whenever the punishment comes it is\nsudden. Such is the blinding and delusive power of cherished sin that\nits penalty always finds the sinner unprepared to receive it; it is\nalways a surprise and a shock to him.\n\n1. Nations and armies cannot successfully evade the penalties of\ntheir sins; how much less can the individual sinner do so! 2. The\ncertainty of the punishment of all unrepented sin should lead us\nseriously to reflect upon the attitude we are assuming before God.\n3. The subject should lead to repentance, but not to despair (Ps.\ncxxx. 7; John iii. 16, 17).--_William Manning._\n\n\n\nAN ALTAR AND A SAVIOUR FOR EGYPT.\n\n     xix. 18-20. _In that day shall five cities, &c._\n\n+I. God is able to raise up monuments and trophies of His grace in\nthe most unlikely places+ (vers. 18, 19). For the historical\nfulfilments of these predictions, see the ordinary commentaries. They\nshould teach us not to despair of the progress of religion in the\nmost unlikely _places,_ the most unlikely _times,_ among the most\nunlikely _persons._ The grace of God is able to subdue the hardest\nhearts, to enlighten the darkest minds, to convert the most guilty\nnatures, to cast out Satan where his power seems strongest and his\ninterest most secure. Despair not of your own salvation (H. E. I.,\n2376), of the salvation of those dear to you, of the final triumph of\nthe cause of truth (H. E. I., 979, 1166-1168). But recollect that all\nthat has been done has been done by the use of appropriate means: the\naltar to God in Egypt was built by human hands, the Ark was not built\nby miracle but by means; all the triumphs we anticipate are to be\nachieved by the diffusion of Divine truth, by the prayers and efforts\nof the Church. What effort are _you_ making?\n\n+II. God often overrules the trials of life to produce a spirit of\nprayer, and to bring men to Himself.+ _\"They shall cry unto the Lord\nbecause of their oppressors.\"_[1]\n\n+III. It is God's prerogative to raise up a Saviour+ (ver. 20).\nWhatever comforts or deliverances you have had through the medium of\ncreatures, the hand of God is to be pre-eminently acknowledged in\nthem all. Spiritually we need a great Saviour, and God has provided\none equal to the emergency of the case. Our guilt is very great, our\ndanger very threatening, our enemies very powerful, our ruin very\nawful, but help is laid on One that is mighty. The greatness of\nChrist as a Saviour appears from the essential dignity of His nature\n(Heb. i. 1), from the certain efficacy of His atonement (Heb.\nvii. 25), from the countless number of the redeemed (Rev. vii. 9),\nfrom the completeness of the salvation He imparts (1 Cor.\ni. 30).--_Samuel Thodey._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] See Outline: SANCTIFIED AFFLICTION, chap. xvii. 7, 8.\n\n\n\nCHASTISEMENT.\n\n     xix. 22. _And the Lord shall smite Egypt, &c._\n\n+I. The benevolent design of God in chastisement.+ God smites in\norder to heal. Scripture teaches throughout that God's dealings with\nmen are--1. _Not capricious._ 2. _Not indiscriminate._ 3. _Not\nunjust._ He does not impose burdens that cannot be borne, nor exact\nobedience which man cannot render, nor select favourites for\npreference or victims for vengeance, without any regard to the\nrelations existing between man and Himself. Contrary to all this,\nGod's smiting is that--(1) of a _Rescuer,_ who inflicts blows upon\nthe chains that He may set us free; (2) of a _Physician,_ who in\nmercy probes the wound that He may heal it; (3) of a _Father,_ who\nuses the rod for the salutary purposes of correction and reformation\n(H. E. I., 56-74).\n\n+II. The conduct befitting in men when under chastisement.+ _\"And\nthey shall return,\"_ &c. This return includes--1. _Submission_\n(H. E. I., 143). 2. _Entreaty for help._ (See also ver. 20.). This\ninvolves humble confession of sin, and hearty reliance upon God\n(H. E. I., 145-147). 3. _Sincerity of purpose,_ as manifested in the\nfulfilment of vows. (See also verse 21.)--_William Manning._\n\n\n\nTHE BURDEN OF DUMAH.\n\n     xxi. 11, 12. _The burden of Dumah, &c._\n\nThere are three distinct prophecies in this chapter, and they are all\ntermed _burdens,_ as denoting heavy judgments. The first respects\nBabylon; the next, _Dumah,_ Idumea, or Edom, inhabiting Mount Seir;\nand the last, Arabia.\n\nThe fall of Babylon by the Medes and Persians is announced under the\nform of a _watchman_ stationed to discover approaching objects, with\norders to declare what he saw (vers. 6-9). It was an event peculiarly\ninteresting to Judah. Babylon was the floor on which Judah was to be\nthreshed, till the refuse should be separated from the grain. The\nevent which destroyed the one delivered the other (ver. 10).\n\nThe fall of Babylon was interesting to other nations as well as\nJudah; particularly to the Idumeans or Edomites, who were reduced to\nservitude within a few years after the taking of Jerusalem. Now,\nseeing that Judah had received a favourable report, Edom must needs\ninquire of the watchman (like Pharaoh's baker of Joseph, after he had\nannounced good tidings to the butler), whether there was nothing\nequally favourable to them. [We are not to understand, however, that\nmessengers were really sent out of Edom to Isaiah; the process was\nmerely a pneumatical one.--_Delitzsch._] The answer is, NOTHING; but,\non the contrary, the lot of Judah's enemies, \"a burden.\"\n\nThe revolution would indeed, for a time, excite the joy of the\nconquered nations (chap. xiv. 7, 8); but the Edomites should meet\nwith a disappointment. To them a change of government should only be\na change of masters. The fair morning of their hopes should issue in\na long and dark night of despondency. In the day of Babylon's fall,\naccording to the prayer of the captives, when every prisoner was\nlifting up his head in hope, Edom was _remembered,_ as excepted from\nan act of grace, on account of his singular atrocities (Ps.\ncxxxvii. 7-9).\n\nThe Edomites were very impatient under the Babylonish yoke, and very\nimportunate in their inquiries after deliverance; reiterating the\nquestion, \"What of the night? Watchman, what of the night?\" When will\nthis dark and long captivity be ended? And now that their hopes are\nrepulsed by the watchman's answer, they are exceedingly unwilling to\nrelinquish them. Loth to depart with an answer so ungrateful, they\nlinger, and _inquire_ again and again, in hopes that the sentence may\nbe reversed. But they are told that all their lingering is in vain.\n\"If ye will inquire, inquire ye, return, come\" again; yet shall your\nanswer be the same.\n\nAnd what was the crime of the Edomites that should draw down upon\nthem this heavy _burden,_ this irresistible doom? _Their inveterate\nhatred of the people of God_ (Obad. 10). Perhaps there was no nation\nwhose treatment of Israel was so invariably spiteful, and whose\nenmity was accompanied with such aggravating circumstances. They were\ndescended from Abraham and Isaac, and were treated by Israel, at the\ntime they came out of Egypt, as brethren; but as they then returned\nevil for good (Num. xx. 14-21), so it was ever afterwards. Their\nconduct, on the melancholy occasion of Jerusalem being taken by the\nChaldeans, was infamous (Obad. 10-16).\n\nThe passage affords a tremendous lesson to ungodly sinners, and\n_especially to those who, having descended from pious parents, and\npossessed religious advantages, are, notwithstanding, distinguished\nby their enmity to true religion._ The situation of the Edomites\nrendered it impossible for them to be so ignorant as other heathen\nnations of the God of Israel; and their hatred appears to have been\nproportioned to their knowledge. Such is the character of great\nnumbers in the religious world. They have both seen and hated the\ntruth. The consequences will be, if grace prevent not, they will\nflatter themselves awhile with vain hopes; but, ere they are aware,\ntheir morning will be changed into an endless night.\n\nEdom was once addressed in the language of kindness and brotherly\naffections; _but having turned a deaf ear to this, all their\ninquiries after deliverance are now utterly disregarded._ Such will\nbe the end of sinners. \"When once the Judge hath risen up and shut\nthe door,\" they may begin to knock, may inquire and return, and come\nagain, but all will be in vain; a night of ever-during darkness must\nbe their portion.\n\nThe passage also, taken in its connection, holds up to us _the\ndifferent situation of the friends and enemies of God under public\ncalamities._ It is natural in such circumstances for all to inquire,\n\"What of the night? Watchman, what of the night?\" Each, also, may\nexperience a portion of successive _light_ and _darkness_ in his lot.\nBut the grand difference lies in _the issue of things._ God's people\nwere thrashed on the floor of Babylon; and, when purified, were\npresently restored. To them there arose light in darkness. Weeping\ncontinued for a night, but joy came in the morning. Not so with Edom;\ntheir night came last. Such will be the portion of God's enemies:\nthey may wish for changes, in hope of their circumstances being\nbettered; but the principal thing wanting is a change in themselves.\nWhile strangers to this, the oracles of Heaven prophesy no good\nconcerning them. A morning may come, but the night cometh\nalso.--_Andrew Fuller: Complete Works,_ pp. 514, 515.\n\n\nThe whole Bible has, as its common and pervading argument, one mighty\nsubject, which, appearing in a thousand different forms, is\nsubstantially the same in every page of the sacred volume. That\nsubject is, the salvation appointed for the chosen of mankind and the\nruin decreed for those who reject the offer. Therefore when the\nprophetic Scriptures publish to us promises of peace and\ndenunciations of woe, let us never deem that the Divine Spirit had no\n_ulterior_ purpose in these predictions. Let us never cast aside the\nvolume and cry that we are not Edom, or Egypt, or Babylon, or Tyre;\nand that, therefore, we have nothing to do either with their crimes\nor their punishment. Let us not vainly dream that the mighty\nmachinery of the prophetic messages was put into play merely to call\ndown curses on a few of the temporary dynasties of this perishable\nworld! \"All Scripture was written for _our_ use,\" and these\n\"springing and germinant prophecies\" (as they have been called) have\na significancy beyond the revolutions of petty kingdoms. They\nrepresent, in majestic order and manifest type, the great truths of\neternal salvation and eternal ruin; they exhibit, in the sensible\nlanguage of exterior imagery, what the great Teacher of after-times\ngave in the higher language of spiritual truth. If the laws of God be\nuniform and unchangeable, we are justified in reading by this light\nfrom _heaven_ the prophetic declarations of the course and principles\nof His earthly providences.\n\nWith such views as these elevating our thoughts beyond the details of\nperished empires into the mightier truths of the eternal empire of\nour God, let us reflect briefly upon the words before us.\n\nThe prophet appears to introduce himself as addressed in scorn by the\npeople of the land which he is commissioned to warn. \"Watchman, what\nof the night?\" What new report of woe hast thou to unroll, who has\nplaced thyself as an authorised observer and censurer of our doings?\nBut the prophetical watchman--the calm commissioner of\nHeaven--replies, adopting their own language, \"Yea, the morning (the\ntrue morning of hope and peace) cometh, and also the night (the real\nand terrible night of God's vengeance); if ye will (if ye are in\ngenuine earnest to inquire), inquire! Return, come.\" Obtain the\nknowledge you see, the knowledge of the way of life; and, acting upon\nthis knowledge, repent and return to the Lord your God.\n\nRegard, then, the guilty Edom that is warned; and the office and\nanswer of the watchman who warns it.\n\nI cannot now undertake to count over the array of those who address\nthe spiritual watchmen of the Church of Christ in tones of derision,\nand mock their ministry. Some there are who ask the report of \"the\nnight\" with utter carelessness as to the reply; some there are who\nask it in contempt.\n\nBut what is still the duty of him who holds the momentous position of\nwatchman in the city of God? On the occasion before us, remark--1. He\ndid not turn away from the question, in whatever spirit it was asked.\n2. He uttered with equal assurance a threat and a promise. 3. He\npressed the necessity of care in the study, and earnest inquiry after\nthe nature, of the truth; and he summed up all in an anxious, a\ncordial, and reiterated invitation to repentance and reconciliation\nwith an offended but pardoning God. Thus, the single verse might be\nregarded as an abstract of the duties of the ministerial office.--_W.\nArcher Butler: Sermons,_ vol. ii. pp. 339-345.\n\n\n\nNIGHT AND MORNING.\n\n     xxi. 11, 12. _Watchman, what of the night?_\n\nThat there is night in this world few will question. He must be a\nbold optimist who thinks everything as it is, is for the best\npossible in the best possible of worlds. Darkness still covers the\nearth. God's children, who have a glorious light within them, have a\ndark night all round about them. Night is the symbol of gloom and\nsuffering; and it is the season of sin. It is moral night, because\n\"men loved darkness rather than light.\" Every true-hearted, earnest\nChristian is a watchman: he watches for his own soul, and for the\nsouls of others; and he longs for the advent of the world's new\nmorning, when the shadows shall flee away. Regarding the earnest\nChristian as the person accosted in the text, what are his thoughts\nand fears about the night? What are his hopes about the morning?\n\n1. _When the Christian looks out upon the world, he sees himself\nsurrounded by the night of unbelief and irreligion, and yet he\nbeholds streaks of sunny dawn._ There are many things at which if he\nlooked exclusively he would despair--materialism taught by popular\nteachers, atheism the creed of not a few, abounding luxury,\nsensuality defiling and degrading all classes of the community. But,\nlooking beyond these, he sees evidences of Christian truth and hope\nsuch as the world never before witnessed--Sunday-schools, tract\nsocieties, home and foreign missions, various organisations for\nChristian labour, generously supported and efficiently maintained;\nand, as he looks, he feels that the morning draweth nigh.\n\nII. _When the Christian man looks into his own heart, he sees much\nthat speaks of the night, but much also that tells of the coming\nmorning._\n\nIII. _The Christless man, as well as the Christian, may well ask,\n\"What of the night?\"_ He may relieve the gloom of his existence by a\nfew sparks of transient merriment, but soon they will be all\nextinguished; and for him there will be no morning!--_W. M. Statham:\nChristian World Pulpit,_ iii. 193.\n\n\nPassing from the historical application of this oracle, we observe\nthat it may be taken as setting forth the spirit of inquiry first\nraised in the soul by the hand of God, the form that inquiry will\ntake, the answer it will receive, and the direction in which it will\nfind ultimate satisfaction.\n\n+I. Thoughts on the spirit of religious inquiry.+ The picture before\nus is that of a walled city; the middle watch of the night, when the\ncitizens are asleep. But one anxious spirit cannot sleep; he turns\nout into the dark, silent, deserted street, oppressed by a strange\nfeeling that something is going to happen. He hears the heavy\nfootfall of the watchman pacing to and fro on the city walls. With\neagerness not to be repressed, he cries, \"Watchman,\" &c. This is\nsymbolical; it has its counterparts in our own time. 1. _This\nrestless inquirer is the exception._ The many sleep, only one wakes\nand inquires. The danger is common, but only one feels any\napprehension of it. There are multitudes of sinners, few inquirers\nconcerning the way of salvation. 2. _The spirit of inquiry appears in\nan unexpected quarter._ A man of Seir, an Edomite, lifts up eager\nquestions; the men of Israel sleep. The old, old story. Many lepers\nin Israel: Naaman cleansed; ten healed, the Samaritan only returns to\ngive thanks. The boldest ventures of faith were made by the Gentile\ncenturion and the Syro-Ph\u0153nician woman. Those who pressed into the\nkingdom were not Scribes and Pharisees, but publicans and sinners. So\nit is still. 3. _The inquiry was well directed._ The appeal was not\nto the citizens who were asleep, but to the watchman who was awake.\nIf you have questions to ask, ask of the man of quick perception,\nkeen sensibility, high standing, broad and firm basis of hope in\nChrist. Not necessarily of the minister, but of the man who is\nspiritually wide-awake; he is the true watchman. 4. _The inquiry was\nweighty._ What of the night? Is it far spent? When will the day dawn?\nWhat of the foe? Are they quiet in their camp? Or are they\nendeavouring to surprise and capture the city? We have all cause to\nput questions of corresponding importance. 5. _This inquiry was\nearnest._ In some cases the inquiry is listless, is only a matter of\ncompliment; or it is entered upon reluctantly, as an unpleasant duty.\nBut this man is in earnest. He calls again and again. He _will_ be\nheard; it is a matter of moment to him. He does not know what is\nabout to happen; the watchman should know--placed high, outlook wide,\nsenses trained. The inquirer will not submit to be disregarded. Oh,\nfor more of this earnestness.\n\n+II. Thoughts on the answer.+ 1. _The answer comes through the\nwatchman._ Human lips start inquiries and through human lips the\nanswer comes. One heart is filled with fear; another heart filled\nwith faith must be its helper. Let those to whom the answer has been\nentrusted give it promptly, clearly, joyfully. 2. _The answer\ndeclares God's methods with men._ God has two great methods: one has\nits image in the _morning,_ the other in the _night._ Let _morning_\nset forth compassion, tender mercy, loving gifts; _night,_ judgment,\nawful anger, heavy inflictions. If the morning be neglected or\nresisted, then the night will certainly fall upon you. Note the order\nin which these methods are employed. 1. _Morning,_ fresh, clear,\ndewy, bracing, beautiful, comes first. So in the history of the\nworld, of the Church, of the individual. First the morning of youth!\nprize it highly, use it wisely. Upon the sinner comes first the\nmorning of mercy, of invitation, of entreaty and promise. Alas that\nhe should despise and neglect it! 2. But the _night_ comes\nafterwards! True, the night of death comes to all, but there is an\ninfinite distance between death _in_ Christ and death _out of_\nChrist. He who dies _in_ Christ, passes into the eternal day; he who\ndies _out of_ Christ, is cast into \"the outer darkness!\"\n\n\"Inquire\"--seek to know the way of salvation. _\"Return\"_--as the\nprodigal from the far country. _\"Come\"_--blessed word! \"Come\"\npenitently, believingly, NOW!--_J. R. Wood._\n\n\n\"Night\" is suggestive of anxious, perplexed, critical states; _e.g.,_\ntravellers in the desert, voyagers on the ocean, sufferers in the\nsick-chamber. Very naturally do we transfer such thoughts as these to\nour spiritual experiences (Ps. cxxx. 1, 8). Our text may be taken as\nsuggestive of the World's Cry and the World's Hope in all ages.\n\nI. THE WORLD'S CRY. _\"What of the night?\"_ This is--1. _The cry of a\nsoul awakened to its guilt._ The very purpose of conviction is to\nshow the sinner his wandering, downward, benighted state. Hence the\nterror which first views of guilt usually cause. The flash which in\nthe midnight hour shows the traveller the path of safety, also shows\nhim the dreadful precipice which yawns at his feet. When the sinner\nis aroused from his sinful career, he is bewildered by the many\nvoices of hope and fear, of warning and promise, which greet his ear;\nhe is oppressed with anxiety to know how such a night of danger and\nheart-searching will end. 2. _The cry of a soul struggling with its\ndoubts._ The night of mystery often burdens the hearts of true\nbelievers, as Job and David found when they struggled with the great\nproblems of life. Life is a new thing to each of us, and many of the\nsame problems perplex us still: _e.g.,_ the existence of moral evil,\nthe infinite goodness of God, the truth of Divine revelation. These\nsometimes press upon us with unusual weight, and shroud us in thick\ndarkness. 3. _The cry of the Church in its hours of anxiety and\nperil._ These have been frequent, and have been due to many causes:\n_e.g.,_ persecution from without, indifference within, general\nungodliness and unholy living, tides of scepticism. The watchmen of\nthe Church have to keep an earnest and anxious vigil when such nights\nas these settle upon her. 4. _The cry of humanity itself._ There are\ntimes when not merely a few men are oppressed by the burdens of their\ntime, but when men in the mass become awake to them. The world\nbetrays its keen sense of disease by the strong remedies it employs.\nAgainst wide-spread ignorance, it opposes vast educational schemes;\nfor deep-rooted vices, it contrives various measures of reformation;\nunder a sense of the terrible ravages of the war-spirit, it yearns\nfor international peace. Nations, as well as individuals, have trying\nexperiences of the terrors of social and moral night.\n\nII. THE WORLD'S HOPE. _\"The morning cometh.\"_ In the midst of all the\nworld's darkness we may cherish this blessed hope (H. E. I.,\n3421-3423). But whence is it derived? Solely from the fact that God\nin Christ is reconciling the world unto Himself. It is along the\ntrack of Divine revelation that we look for the bright rays of the\nmorning. There is hope for our race because of what Christ is--the\nRevealer of God, the Saviour of sinners, the Head of the Church, the\nRestorer of humanity. The way, then, to help on the dawning of that\nday we all long to see, is to live _in_ Him, to live _for_ Him. Life\nderived from Him, and spent for Him, will be truly blessed in itself,\nand will be a means of blessing others.--_William Manning._\n\n\n\nTHE GRIEVOUSNESS OF WAR.\n\n     xxi. 15. _The grievousness of war._\n\nIn our quiet sanctuary, so full of holy and peaceful memories, let us\nthink about war; the more deeply we do so, the more will the aptness\nof the phrase which forms our text become apparent to us.\n\n+I. The grievousness of war is seen in its causes.+ War is grievous\nin its origin and in all the things that foster it. It has its origin\nin the unholy lusts and pitiful mistakes of mankind (Jas. iv. 1).\nThese lusts and mistakes, what are they? 1. The lust for increased\npossessions and for power (P. D., 143, 150). 2. The false glory with\nwhich war has been invested. To steal and kill on a small scale is\ninfamous, but to do so on a large scale is heroic! The wholesale\nbutcher surrounds himself with pomp and pageantry that dazzle the eye\nand enslave the mind (P. D., 3470, 3476). 3. Blindness to the real\nfields on which true courage and heroism are manifested. The\nChristian courage which can meet and overcome the assaults of\nwickedness, which can turn aside the edge of scorn, and hurl back the\nweapons of temptation; that can urge men through living martyrdoms\nwhich do not keep time to music or song, which carries Moffat into\nSouth Africa, &c.,--this is too ethereal for most men to discern or\nadmire. They have no suspicion of the moral victories that might be\ntheirs on the fields of humble service and self-sacrifice.\n4. Insensibility to the worth of human souls. A suspicion of the\nvalue of life would unnerve the warrior for his task; he could not\nthen, as he does now, regard men as mere food for powder.\n\n+II. The grievousness of war is seen in its effects.+ These are\ntwofold:--1. _Physical._ \"The grievousness of war\" cannot be\nexaggerated, if we look at it from this point of view alone.\nThink--(1) of the physical and mental suffering that is caused by it\n(P. D., 3468, 3469, 3472, 3476); (2) of the far-reaching and crushing\ndesolation caused by it (P. D., 3466); (3) of the frightful cost of\npreparation for war; of the armed truce in which the nations of\nEurope live. 2. _Moral._ These are still more terrible. (1.) War\nbrutalises those actually engaged in it (P. D., 3464). (2.) War makes\ncriminals by producing a state of want. (3.) War aggravates national\nanimosities, and leaves to unborn generations a legacy of hatred.\nEvery war sows the seeds of future conflict. (4.) War and preparation\nfor war check the progress of those agencies by which the misery of\nour race would be abated, and its happiness indefinitely increased.\nThe cause of education, of mission, of the Gospel, languishes under\nthe blight of the war-spirit. The cost of a very few wars would\nevangelise the world (P. D., 3476).\n\nLet this meditation move us to action. 1. Let us exert our utmost\ninfluence to bring it to pass that national power shall be wielded by\nmen who love peace. 2. Let us encourage everything that tends to\nfacilitate international intercourse (P. D., 3461). 3. Let us on\nevery possible occasion exalt moral qualities above mere physical\ndaring (P. D., 1798, 1810-1803). 4. Let us put forth every effort to\ndiffuse the principles of Christianity. The Gospel is the only true\nand effectual peacemaker; only in Christ will men ever be lastingly\nreconciled to each other.--_William Manning._\n\n\n\nTHE IRRESISTIBLENESS OF GOD'S JUDGMENTS.\n\n     xxii. 18. _He will surely violently turn and toss thee like\n     a ball into a large country._\n\nSuch was the prophet's message to a haughty statesman who prided\nhimself on his power. Learn from it--1. +The ease with which God\neffects His judgments.+ There are many things we wish to do which\nrequire great preparations and extensive machinery; but to toss a\nball from the hand is an easy matter, mere child's play. He who takes\nup the isles as a very little thing, performs all His works with an\nease which cannot be baffled or disturbed. 2. +The utter uselessness\nof any resistance to the Divine judgments.+ As surely as a ball must\nfollow the line of projection, so surely must we go whither the\njudgments of God carry us when His set time to visit us is come\n(H. E. I., 2269, 4960). 3. +The awfulness of falling into the hands\nof the living God.+--_William Manning._\n\n\n\nTHE GLORY OF THE MESSIAH.\n\n     xxii. 24. _And they shall hang upon him all the glory of\n     his father's house--_\n\nAs on the nails or spikes fixed in the walls of the ancient temples\nand palaces it was customary to hang suits of armour, shields,\nhelmets, swords, &c., that had been taken in war as spoils of\nvictory, or that had been used by illustrious ancestors. The\ndeclaration is made concerning Eliakim, and the meaning of it is,\nthat all his relatives would connect with him all they deemed\nillustrious, and would rest upon him as their common support. Some of\nthe expressions used concerning him are appropriated by our Redeemer\nto Himself (comp. ver. 22 and Rev. iii. 7); and, without adopting the\nview that Eliakim was a type of Christ, we may say that, true as this\ndeclaration was concerning Eliakim, it is still more eminently true\nof Him to whom \"the key of David\" belongs by right. Upon _Him_ \"they\nshall hang all the glory of His Father's house.\"\n\nI. THE GLORY THAT IS PLACED UPON CHRIST. Applying the text to Christ,\nthe phrase \"His father's house\" acquired a new and more glorious\nsignificance, even that of the Church of the living God, the one\nfamily in heaven and on earth. All the glory of that spiritual and\neternal house depends upon and is justly ascribed to Christ. 1. _All\nthe glory of purchasing the Church._ All the persons of whom it is\ncomposed were in circumstances of bondage and misery, yea, under\nsentence of death, for which He ransomed them at inconceivable cost\n(1 Pet. i. 18, 19). 2. _All the glory of redeeming the Church._ This\nis not a mere repetition of what has just been said. We are the\nsubjects of a twofold redemption--a redemption of price and a\nredemption of power. From the penalties of sin Christ redeemed us by\nHis blood; from the power of sin, by His Spirit. A supremely\ndifficult and an eternally glorious task is that which He thus\nundertook and has accomplished. 3. _All the glory of preserving the\nChurch._ What a marvellous history of dangers and deliverances it has\nhad! 4. _All the glory of perfecting the Church._ It shall be\ncomplete in number, complete and resplendent with every spiritual\ngrace. Remember what marvellous symbols are employed to set forth the\nbeauty and the preciousness of its component parts, what treasures of\nspiritual wisdom and grace are already included in it. Hereafter,\nwhen it shall stand in all its radiance, the wonder and the\nadmiration of all heavenly intelligences, all the glory of it shall\nhang upon Christ.\n\nII. THE PERSONS WHO UNITE IN PLACING THIS GLORY ON CHRIST. \"_They_\nshall hang,\" &c. 1. The penitent sinner hangs upon Christ all the\nglory of his hope of acceptance with God. 2. The justified believer\nhangs upon Him all the glory of the favoured position in which he\nstands. 3. The spiritual veteran hangs upon Him all the glory of his\ntriumphs. 4. The dying Christian hangs upon Him all the glory of the\ncalmness and courage with which he advances to the final victory.\n5. The glorified Church hangs upon Him all the glory of its perfected\nsalvation. 6. Angels and archangels, though they were not the\nsubjects of redemption, join in the song of salvation (Rev.\nv. 11-13), and ascribe to Him all the splendour in which they shine.\n7. GOD exalted Him to the right hand of power, and gave Him a Name\nabove every name (Phil. ii. 9-11).\n\n        \"Oh that with yonder sacred throng\n           We at His feet may fall,\n         Join in the everlasting song,\n           And crown Him Lord of all!\"\n\n                                               --_George Smith, D.D._\n\n\n\nGLORIFYING GOD IN THE FIRES.\n\n     xxiv. 15. _Glorify ye the Lord in the fires._\n\nWe are required to honour God, not only in all we do (1 Cor. x. 31),\nbut in all we suffer (_text_). Consider--\n\nI. THE STATE HERE SUPPOSED. _\"In the fires.\"_ Fire and water are both\nScriptural figures of affliction (Ps. lxvi. 12; Isa. xliii. 2; 1 Pet.\niv. 12). Stripped of metaphor, the passage before us supposes a state\nof suffering. In this state we may be found--1. As _men_ (Job v. 6,\n7; H. E. I., 47-51); 2. As _Christians_ (Ps. xxxiv. 19). This may\nseem strange to the natural man, who concludes that the favourite of\nHeaven is entitled to every indulgence upon earth; and it has proved\na source of temptation to the people of God themselves, who have been\nled from their sufferings to suspect their safety. But this inference\nis unscriptural (Heb. ii. 10; Isa. liii. 10; Matt. x. 25; Heb.\nxii. 6; H. E. I., 189-196). Could we view many of those who are\ninfinitely dear to God, we should find them in a state of affliction,\noften exceedingly trying; and we should see them there, not hardening\nthemselves by infidel reasonings or stoical apathy; not endeavouring\nto banish all sense of their sorrows by repairing to the dissipations\nof the world; but waiting humbly upon God (Ps. lxi. 1, 2; H. E. I.,\n157, 158). This is well; but it is not enough to _seek_ God in our\nafflictions, we must _serve_ Him. Consider, then--\n\nII. THE DUTY HERE ENJOINED. _\"Glorify,\"_ &c. We cannot add to God's\nessential glory, but we can declare it; we can make it more fully and\nwidely known (Ps. xix. 1). This is the duty to which we are at all\ntimes called (1 Pet. ii. 9). We discharge it in affliction, when we\nverbally and practically acknowledge--1. God's _agency,_ recognising\nthat our trial has not come upon us by accident, but by His\nappointment or permission (Job ii. 10; H. E. I., 143; P. D., 92, 99).\n2. His _rectitude_ (Ps. cxlv. 17; Dan. ix. 7; Ps. cxix. 75). 3. His\n_wisdom,_ which regulated His corrections and every circumstance\nconnected with them. He never errs in the time, the place, the kind,\nthe instrument, the continuance of affliction; it is precisely the\nvery thing we need, and nothing could be altered without injury\n(H. E. I., 179-188). 4. His _goodness,_ in sending the affliction at\nall (H. E. I., 162-165), and in the alleviations and compensations by\nwhich it is accompanied (H. E. I., 117-121). A grateful mind will\nnever overlook these. 5. His _power,_ to support us in the\naffliction, and in due season to deliver us from it. All the records\nof Scripture should minister to our faith in His ability to help and\ndeliver; He is unchangeable; He is as near you as He was to His\npeople of old; and you are as dear to Him as they were (H. E. I.,\n198-202).\n\nIII. REASONS FOR DISCHARGING THE DUTY. We ought to glorify God in the\nfires--1. Because _it is our duty to honour Him at all times, and\naffliction cannot possibly exempt us from it._ Though He has\npermitted affliction to come upon us, He still remains our Creator,\nour Preserver, our Benefactor, our Redeemer, and as such is entitled\nto the homage of our heart and life. 2. Because _affliction furnishes\none of the finest opportunities_ for honouring God (H. E. I.,\n3692-3694). 3. _Hope should animate us,_ because it is distinctly\ndeclared that those who honour God shall be honoured by Him.\n\nAs the consequence of sanctifying God in the fires, one of two things\nis certain: either they will be removed, for when the end is answered\nthe dispensation will cease; or you will be compensated for their\ncontinuance, by increase of grace, or the future recompense of glory,\nor in both these ways combined.\n\nBut can we, who are so weak, perform a duty so hard? No, _you_ cannot\ndo it; but the grace of God will be sufficient even for this. View\nyour difficulties in connection with your supplies, God's commands in\nconnection with His promises, and boldly face them all (Phil. iv. 12,\n13).--_William Jay: Works,_ vol. xii. pp. 159-169.\n\n\nGlorify God--1. In the fires of persecution by resolute adherence to\nthe truth; 2. In the fires of temptation by a firm resistance to\nevil; 3. In the fires of affliction by patient submission to His\nwill.--_George Smith, D.D._\n\n\n\nTHE GRAND APPROPRIATION.\n\n     xxv. 1. _O Lord, Thou art my God._\n\nI. THE CONNECTION BETWEEN GOD AND OURSELVES. 1. The Lord is our God\nin a necessary and absolute sense. 2. He should be our God by choice\n(H. E. I., 306, 307, 2381, 2385, 4630-4647, 4970). 3. If He is thus\nto become our God, it must be through the person and work of our Lord\nJesus Christ, and by the exercise of an appropriating faith\n(H. E. I., 1652).\n\nII. THE ADVANTAGES WE MAY ANTICIPATE FROM THIS CONNECTION. 1. Light\nin darkness. 2. Guidance in perplexity. 3. Protection in danger.\n4. Strength in duty. 5. Consolation in sorrow. 6. Sanctity and glory.\n\nIII. THE DUTIES ARISING OUT OF THE CONNECTION. 1. We should exalt\nHim. 2. We should be jealous for His honour. 3. We must obey His\ncommands. 4. We should acquiesce in His will. 5. We should seek our\npleasure and satisfaction from Him.--_John Corbin._\n\n\n\nTHE GOSPEL FEAST.\n\n     xxv. 6-8. _And in this mountain, &c._\n\nThe blessings of the Gospel are, with wise adaptation to our views\nand feelings, often compared to the objects in which man naturally\ntake most delight; and here, as in other places, they are compared to\na costly entertainment bestowed by the Sovereign of the universe on\nthe children of His love. It was the custom of Oriental monarchs on\ngreat occasions to make rich feasts on a scale of magnificence, of\nwhich we in the West can form scarcely any idea (Esther i. 3-7).[1]\nAt these entertainments wise men were often assembled, and important\nquestions in morals and literature were discussed: hence the benefits\nof knowledge and wisdom were often exhibited under the image of a\ngreat feast (Prov. ix. 1-5). The prophet, as our Lord Himself\nafterwards (Matt. xxii. 1-3; Luke xiv. 16-24), speaks in accordance\nwith the habits of thinking common in his time, when he sets forth\nthe blessings of the Gospel under the image of a great feast.\n\nI. A BANQUET OF GRACE AND SALVATION SPREAD FOR THE NEEDY (ver. 6).\n1. _It is a feast worthy of the Founder_ (Esther i. 7). He who\nstudies it most closely, will be most struck by the vastness of the\nresources and the magnificence of the generosity of Him who spread\nit. 2. _It is eminently a feast of reconciliation and restored\nfriendship._ The feasts of the ancients were often connected with\nsacrificial rites, were employed to confirm covenants, and to\ncelebrate the reconciliation of those who had been estranged and at\nenmity with each other. We have an interesting illustration of all\nthis in what we are told of Jacob and Laban (Gen. xxxi. 43-55). When\nJoseph was about to reveal himself in love to his brethren, and to\nunite them all in a new bond of peace, he made a feast for them (Gen.\nxliii. 31-34). So did the father of the prodigal, to testify the\nperfectness of his reconciliation to his guilty but penitent child\n(Luke xv. 23). The feast of which our text speaks, is a feast founded\nupon a sacrifice; it is a feast of reconciliation effected by means\nof sacrifice; it is the sublime and glorious realisation of the\nancient symbol of the feast that followed upon the presentation of\nthe peace-offering (Lev. vii. 11-16). It is the fact that it is a\nfeast of reconciliation that gives sweetness and preciousness to all\nthe sweet and precious things of which it is composed, just as it was\nthe fact that they symbolised his restoration to his place in his\nfather's home and heart that made the ring, and the robe, and all the\nchoice viands before him, delightful to the pardoned prodigal (chap.\nxii. 1; Rom. v. 1, 2, 11). 3. _Its magnificence and its\ndelightfulness are heightened by the number of those who partake of\nit._ The rich provisions of the Gospel are as widely spread as they\nare widely needed. This is a joy to the Christian, for to a noble\nmind happiness multiplied is happiness heightened.\n\nII. ILLUMINATION FOR THE IGNORANT (ver. 7). There was a symbolical\nfulfilment of this prophecy in the hour of our Saviour's death (Matt.\nxxvii. 51); that which had hidden the Holy of Holies from the sight\nof men was rent in twain. A spiritual fulfilment of it is the need of\nthe world and of each individual: by a veil of ignorance and\nprejudice the truths which it would be to their highest interest to\nsee clearly. This is declared concerning the Jews (2 Cor. iii. 15),\nbut it is just as true of the majority of the Gentiles: they also see\nno desirableness in Christ, no preciousness in the salvation He\noffers them. But this destructive veil has been taken away from the\nhearts of millions, and shall yet be removed from the heart of a\nvaster multitude--by the diffusion of God's Word, the preaching of\nthe Gospel, and the accompanying agency of the Holy Spirit. The\npreliminary fulfilment of this prophecy at the day of Pentecost (Acts\nii. 5, 41) shall have still more glorious counterparts in the not\ndistant future.\n\nIII. CONSOLATION FOR THE SORROWING AND LIFE FOR THE DYING (ver. 8).\n\n       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThis glorious prophecy is in the course of fulfilment all around us;\nbut to us individually it may be as if God had not been faithful to\nHis Word. We may have no appetite for spiritual enjoyments, no\ncraving for spiritual blessings (Col. ii. 18, 19). In this case, so\nfar as we are concerned, this feast will have been spread in vain\n(Luke xiv. 18). If any man is conscious that for him the Gospel has\nno attractions, if he can listen to this prophecy without a glow of\nthankful joy, let him cry mightily to God for that new heart without\nwhich all that God's wonderful compassion has moved Him to do for our\nrace will leave him still unblessed (H. E. I., 4090).--_Samuel\nThodey._\n\n\nThis beautiful passage may be taken as presenting some of the\nprincipal aspects of the establishment of Christ's kingdom upon the\nearth. It expresses in a most lively manner the feelings of hope and\njoy which the Gospel is naturally fitted to call forth, and it\nunfolds the Saviour's work to us under the ideas of a _feast,_ a\n_revelation,_ and a _victory._\n\n+I. The Gospel speaks to men of a feast.+ It assumes that they are\nspiritually destitute, in actual danger of perishing, and it tells\nthem of a feast. 1. A feast _provided for all_ (ver. 6). Christ came\nnot for the exclusive benefit of Jew or Gentile; He came for _man_\n(Luke xix. 10). He invites all to share in the blessings He has\nprovided (Luke xiv. 16), and declares that the invitation will not be\ngiven in vain (Matt. viii. 11). 2. _A feast of the best things._\nSuggested here by the richness and flavour of wines long preserved.\nWe are apt to miss the truth that the blessings which the Gospel\noffers are of the richest quality and of the highest value\nconceivable; we act as if it required us to give up a certain good\nfor a doubtful and visionary one. This accounts for the eagerness\nwith which men seek first \"the world,\" regarding \"the kingdom of God\"\nas something to be made room for after all else has been obtained\n(H. E. I., 5006, 5007).\n\n+II. The Gospel is a revelation to men of God's gracious purposes+\n(ver. 7). A thing may be a mystery to us in two ways: because it is\nbeyond all human comprehension; or, because though it is\ncomprehensible a veil rests upon it. In the former case the mystery\nmust ever remain what it is; in the latter, the covering has only to\nbe removed, and the mystery is at an end. The morning dispels the\nmystery of the night. So the Gospel discloses eternal truths of which\nman has no suspicion (Eph. iii. 2-12). The central, supreme\nrevelation of the Gospel is Christ; and this is so because in Him\nGod, who had dwelt in thick darkness, stands manifestly before us\n(John xiv. 9; 1 Tim. iii. 16; H. E. I. 855-857, 2241-2243). In Him,\ntoo, man is for the first time disclosed to himself; for the first\ntime he catches a glimpse of his nature, of his relation to God, of\nhis glorious possibilities.\n\n+III. The Gospel speaks to man of an eternal victory.+ _\"He will\nswallow up death in victory;\"_ or \"He shall utterly destroy death for\never.\" Here we have suggested to us the crowning work of Christ\n(2 Tim. i. 10; Heb. ii. 14). In Him the believer has the promise and\npledge of a final and glorious triumph. 1. _How great, then, should\nbe our confidence even in the midst of the deepest affliction!_\nDoubts, fears, temptations threaten to destroy us; but with Christ\nstrengthening us, our conflict leads to certain victory. He who has\nconquered will make us \"more than conquerors.\" 2. _With what\nassurance, therefore, should we approach the hour of death itself!_\nBy Him who leads us on, death has been vanquished and captured. Hence\ndeath is one of our possessions (1 Cor. iii. 21-23). Death, as in the\nold time men thought of it, no longer exists; for the Christian it is\nswallowed up in victory (H. E. I., 1611-1614).--_William Manning._\n\n\nThe parable of the Great Supper (Matt. xxii. 1-14) illustrates this\nprophecy. Consider--\n\n+I. The Founder of this feast:+ \"the Lord of hosts.\" _Hosts_--all\ncreatures in the universe, rational and irrational; subject to His\ninspection; under His control; designed for His glory. What think you\nof the Founder of this feast? What feast ever had such a Founder? It\nis a feast worthy of its Founder. How wonderful that He should\ncondescend to provide a feast for the world!\n\n+II. The nature of the feast.+ Not only the best, but the best of the\nbest; bountiful supply; rich variety.\n\n+III. The persons for whom this feast has been prepared.+ All may\npartake of it; only those are excluded who exclude themselves. 1. Are\nyou making excuses? Will your excuses stand the test of the day of\njudgment? You must partake, or perish! Delay not; for, as far as you\nare concerned, the feast will soon be over. Not now too late; \"yet\nthere is room.\" 2. Are you participants? What present blessings; what\nfuture glories! Bless the Founder's Name. Seek to bring others to the\nfeast.--_Henry Creswell._\n\n\nI. THE AUTHOR OF THIS FEAST. Not a prodigal, squandering the fruits\nof the industry of others. Not a conqueror, satiating admirers with\nspoils unjustly acquired. Not a pompous Ahasuerus, whose only design\nis to set forth his own grandeur. God, moved with compassion for\nrebels against His authority; spreads a rich feast that they may not\nperish.\n\nII. THE SITE OF THIS FEAST. _\"In this mountain.\"_ It is in the\neverlasting Gospel this entertainment is prepared. In coming to\nChrist for the pardon of our sins and the salvation of our souls, we\ncome \"unto Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly\nJerusalem.\" The figure of a \"mountain\" denotes the _elevation,\nsecurity,_ and _publicity_ of the Gospel feast. 1. Its _elevation._\nIn coming to it, we leave all that is debasing behind. 2. Its\n_security._ In coming to it, we reach a place where we may rejoice\nwithout fear (Luke i. 71-75). 3. Its _publicity._ It is our own fault\nif we do not see it and reach it.\n\nIII. THE RICHNESS OF THIS ENTERTAINMENT. _\"A feast of fat things, of\nfat things full of marrow.\"_ Carnal images that set forth spiritual\ntruths. In the Gospel, and in the Gospel alone, is found that which\nsatisfies the hunger of the soul and fills it with delight.\n\nIV. THE GLADNESS OF THE ENTERTAINMENT. _\"A feast of wines on the\nlees, of wines on the lees well refined.\"_ A figure founded on the\ninfluence of wine on the human system (Ps. civ. 15). The Gospel, when\nrightly understood and cordially embraced, makes a heavy heart light.\nWhat can raise men's spirits so high, or make them so truly cheerful,\nas a sense that all their sins are forgiven them? The joy of a\nliteral \"feast of wines\" is transient, and after the midnight revel\ncome days of unpleasant reflection, reproach, and melancholy. But the\njoy of the Gospel is pure and permanent.\n\nV. THE EXTENSIVENESS OF THE ENTERTAINMENT. It is \"unto all people.\"\nOther entertainments may be confined to the rich, the great, and the\nnoble; here all such distinctions are done away. Christianity is a\nuniversal religion, designed to redeem and gladden the whole world.\nIts invitations are extended to all (Prov. ix. 1-5; Rev.\nxxii. 17).--_William Reeve, M.A., Miscellaneous Discourses_ (pp.\n229-237).\n\n\nI. THE FEAST. The blessings of the Gospel are compared--1. To \"fat\nthings full of marrow.\" What are they? Complete justification,\nadoption, the sustaining confidence of being an object of God's\neverlasting love--a love which had no beginning and shall have no\nend, union with Christ (and all that great truth implies), the\ndoctrine of resurrection and everlasting life. These are a few of the\n\"fat things full of marrow\" which the King of kings has set before\nHis guests. 2. To \"wines on the lees well refined\"--symbols of the\njoys of the Gospel; such a sense of perfect peace with God, the sense\nof security, communion with God, the pleasures of hope, of hope that\nfalls far short of the reality. The description of the wines--\"wines\non the lees well refined\"--reminds us that the joys of the believer\nare ancient in their origin,[2] that they are most excellent in their\nflavour and aroma, and that they are pure and elevating in their\nnature. The joys of grace are not fantastical emotions, or transient\nflashes of meteoric excitement; they are based on substantial truth,\nare reasonable, fit and proper, and make men like angels (H. E. I.,\n1082, 3052, 3053).\n\nII. THE BANQUETING HALL. _\"In this mountain.\"_ There is a reference\nhere to three things, the same symbol bearing three\ninterpretations:--1. The mountain on which Jerusalem is built. On a\nlittle knoll of that mountain--Calvary--that great transaction was\nfulfilled which made to all nations a great feast. 2. The Church.\nFrequently Jerusalem is used as a symbol of the Church of God, and it\nis within the pale of the Church that the great feast is made unto\nall nations. 3. The Church of God exalted to the latter-day glory.\nThen shall the glory of the Gospel be unveiled more clearly and\nenjoyed more fully than at present.\n\nIII. THE HOST OF THE FEAST. _\"The Lord of hosts.\"_ 1. The Lord makes\nit, and makes it all. It is utterly improper for us to bring anything\nof our own to it; the Lord provides even the wedding-garment in which\nwe are to sit at it, and no other will be allowed. 2. Only the Lord\nof hosts could have provided what man needed. But He has done it, and\ndone it effectually. 3. As the Lord of hosts has provided the feast,\nit is not to be despised. To despise it will show our folly, and\ninvolve us in great guilt. 4. As He has provided all the feast, let\nHim have all the glory.\n\nIV. THE GUESTS. _\"For all people.\"_ For all, irrespective of\nnational, social, intellectual, or even moral differences. The\ndeclaration, \"for all people,\" gives hope for all who wish to come.\nBetween the covers of the Bible there is no mention of one person who\nmay not come, no description of one person who may not trust in\nChrist. To him who trusts Christ the whole feast is open, there is\nnot a blessing of which he may not partake.--_C. H. Spurgeon,\nMetropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit,_ No. 846.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Alexander gave a feast after his return from India of five\n     days' continuance, when ninety marriages were celebrated\n     and nine thousand guests assembled. Diodorus Siculus\n     describes the festivities with which Antisthenes, a rich\n     citizen of Agrigentum (B.C. 414), celebrated the marriage\n     of his daughter: all the citizens of Agrigentum were\n     entertained at his expense on tables laid for them at their\n     own doors, beside a great number of strangers. The\n     festivities, as in the parable of the Ten Virgins, took\n     place in the evening, and the whole city was one blaze of\n     light. The Roman and Egyptian banquets were proverbial for\n     their costliness and splendour. In Persia still, royal\n     banquets are prolonged for many weeks; and a Chinese\n     emperor used frequently to make a feast that lasted a\n     hundred and twenty days.--_Thodey._\n\n [2] _Old_ wines are intended by \"wines well refined;\" they have\n     stood long on the lees, have drawn out all the virtue from\n     them, and have been cleared of all the coarser material. In\n     the East, wine will be improved by keeping even more than\n     the wines of the West! and even so the mercies of God are\n     the sweeter to our meditations because of their antiquity.\n     From old eternity, or ever the earth was, the covenant\n     engagements of everlasting love have been resting like\n     wines on the lees, and to-day they bring to us the utmost\n     riches of all the attributes of God.--_Spurgeon._\n\n\n\nTHE TRIUMPHS OF CHRIST.\n\n     xxv. 8. _He wil swallow up death in victory, &c._\n\nIt is important at the very outset that we should clearly recognise\nthe Person and the dignity of the Person of whom all these things are\ndeclared. Otherwise it will be impossible for us to look for the\nfulfilment of these marvellous promises. We have the authority of St.\nPaul for declaring that the Person is none other than our Lord Jesus\nChrist. To HIM he ascribes the victory over death (1 Cor. xv. 54).\nThus St. Paul authorises the most exalted conceptions we can find of\nthe dignity of our Lord; for the work which he declares will be\nfulfilled by Christ is in our text ascribed to Jehovah: \"The Lord God\nwill wipe away,\" &c. It is of \"the Lord of hosts\" that Isaiah speaks\nthroughout (vers. 6-8). Thus we have here one of the invaluable\nincidental proofs with which Scripture abounds of the deity of our\nLord. If He is \"the Lord of hosts,\" _then_ we can believe all the\nthings here declared of Him.\n\n+I. The deliverance of Christ's people from death.+ \"He will swallow\nup death in victory\"--as the rods of the magicians were swallowed up\nby the rod of Aaron; as the hosts of Pharaoh were swallowed up by the\nwaters of the Red Sea; as the darkness of the night is swallowed up\nin the brightness of the morning. True, God's people must depart\nhence, like other people; but in regard to them Christ \"has swallowed\nup death in victory.\" 1. By imparting to them a spiritual life and\nblessedness which are not touched by the dissolution of the union of\nbody and soul. 2. By sustaining and comforting them while that\nmysterious process is being accomplished. How often has the deathbed\nof the believer been a scene of triumph! 3. By utterly changing the\ncharacter of death in regard to them. To them it is not a curse but a\nblessing (H. E. I., 1571-1594, 1594-1643). 4. By the promises which\non the morning of the resurrection He will surely fulfil. \"THEN,\" &c.\n(1 Cor. xv. 54; H. E. I., 4334-4354).\n\n+II. The deliverance of Christ's people from sorrow.+ \"The Lord God\nwill wipe away tears from off all faces,\"--tears of sorrow for sin;\nof mourning under affliction, trials, and bereavements; of grief\ncaused by the wickedness of men and the injury done to the cause of\ntruth and righteousness: all shall be wiped away, every cause of\nsorrow brought to an end.\n\n+III. The deliverance of Christ's people from the shame and contempt\nof the world.+--_Samuel Thodey._\n\n\n\nA SORROWLESS WORLD.\n\n     xxv. 8. _And the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all\n     faces._\n\nThe vision presented is that of a sorrowless world; a vision which\nhas haunted the imagination of men in every age. The Bible declares\nthat that which has been merely a bright but disappearing dream shall\nbe a glorious fact.\n\n+I. Look at sorrow as a fact.+ How early we become acquainted with\nit. How our experience of it increases with every year of life. How\nnumerous are its sources. How inevitable it is (H. E. I., 47-50). But\nthe profoundest, heaviest, most oppressive, and most enduring sorrow\nof which we are capable is the sorrow of the soul which is caused by\nconsciousness of guilt. Unlike all other sorrows, in the thought of\ndeath it finds no relief; by that thought it is unspeakably\naggravated (H. E. I., 1334-1341; P. D., 1664, 1668).\n\n+II. Proceed to look at God removing sorrow.+ \"The Lord God will wipe\naway tears from off all faces.\" How great the enterprise! Yet how\nsufficient, though unexpected and startling, is the agency He\nemploys: on this mission of mercy He has sent His own Son. God as His\nmanner is, works from within outwards; He not only wipes off all\ntears, He removes their cause. That cause is sin. But how does He\ndestroy sin in the human soul? 1. By revealing it, by showing its\nessential hideousness--one of the revelations of the cross of Christ.\nIt is not until we perceive the costliness of the atonement of sin,\nthat we begin to suspect its terribleness and hatefulness. 2. By\nshowing that sin can be conquered. This is the glorious message and\nproclamation of the life of the Man Christ Jesus. 3. By furnishing a\nmotive that shall stimulate us to the conflict with sin which will\nend in victory. That motive is found in the love for Christ which\nsprings up in the soul when we view Him dying on the cross in our\nstead. 4. In the same marvellous spectacle we see that which alone\ncan pacify conscience, and which does pacify it. Believing, our fears\nand our sorrows flee away; our mourning is turned into joy. The\nsupreme need of the soul is met in reconciliation with God. A\nsorrowless life is begun. But that is not all. Having destroyed--_in_\ndestroying sin in the soul, God implants righteousness (chap.\nxxxii. 17). He creates as well as destroys. He introduces into our\nthoughts, words, actions, a Divine order, and therefore a Divine\nbeauty and blessedness. All sorrow springs from infractions of this\norder; this is seen in national, social, individual life. In\nproportion as it is restored, tears are wiped away. The great Agent\nby whom this work is accomplished is His own Spirit; but He works by\nmeans, and the chief instruments He employs are those who, in various\nways, are promoting the knowledge and practice of the will of God in\nthe world. In this work we may share; this possibility is the glory\nof our life. By the progress of Christian truth, how many tears have\nbeen already wiped away! In spite of every obstacle, the glorious\nwork shall proceed, with ever-accelerating triumphs. There is a\nbetter day dawning for our race (H. E. I., 3421-3423). Nothing can\nbring it in but the Gospel. All other agencies--commerce, education,\nliterature, art, legislation--have been tried and have failed. He who\nloves humanity will consecrate himself to the furtherance of the\nGospel; and he who does so shall share in that joy of redeeming the\nworld from sin and sorrow by the hope of which Christ was sustained\namid the sufferings He endured for this great end.--_Thomas Neave._\n\n\n\nADVENT THOUGHTS AND JOYS.\n\n     xxv. 9. _And it shall be said in that day, &c._\n\nIsaiah is here, as he is so often, the prophet not merely of future\nevents, but of future states of mind and feeling; not merely of God's\ndealings with His people, but of the way in which they would or\nshould meet their God.\n\nTo what event does he refer?\n\n1. First of all, to the deliverance of Hezekiah and his people from\nKing Sennacherib.[1] That deliverance was recognised as God's work.\nThe recognition of God's presence in the great turning-points of\nhuman history is in all ages natural to religious minds. He is with\nmen and nations at all times, but in the great crises of history that\npresence is brought more vividly before the imagination. So was it\nwhen a great storm destroyed the Spanish Armada, and when the power\nof the first Napoleon was broken first at Leipsic and then at\nWaterloo. Devout minds felt that these were reappearances of God in\nhuman history, and they rejoiced in Him.\n\n2. But beyond the immediate present, Isaiah sees, it may be\nindistinctly, into a distant future. The judgment of his time\nforeshadowed some universal judgment upon all the enemies of mankind,\nsome deliverance final, universal, at the end of time. For that\njudgment and deliverance the Church, both on earth and in heaven,\nwaits and prays (Ps. lxxiv. 10, 22, 23; Rev. vi. 9, 10). To them the\nanswer seems to be long delayed; but it will come (Rev. vi. 12-17);\nand when at last it bursts upon the world, it will be welcomed by the\nservants of God as was the deliverance of Jerusalem from the Assyrian\narmy.\n\n3. But between the days of Hezekiah and the final judgment there is\nanother event closer to the prophet's thought--the appearance of the\ngreat Deliverer in the midst of human history. All that belongs to\nthe nearer history of Judah melts away in the future which belongs to\nthe King Messiah. The Assyrians themselves are replaced in his\nthoughts by the greater enemies of humanity; the city of David and\nMount Zion become the spiritual city of God, the mountain of the Lord\nof hosts, the Church of the Divine Redeemer. Here, as so often, the\nincarnation of the eternal Son of God, with its vast and incalculable\nconsequences to the world of souls, is the keynote of Isaiah's\ndeepest thought, and in our text he epitomises the heart-song of\nChristendom, which ascends day by day to the throne of the Redeemer.\n(1.) _\"Lo, this is our God.\"_ Christ is not for us Christians merely\nor chiefly the preacher or herald of a religion of which another\nbeing, distinct from Himself, is its object. The Gospel creed does\nnot run thus, \"There is no God but God, and Christ is His prophet.\"\nWhen He appears to the soul of man at the crisis of its penitence, or\nits conversion, the greeting which meets and befits Him is not, \"Lo,\nthis is the good man sent for God to teach some high and forgotten\nmoral truths;\" no, but, \"Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him;\nHe will save us!\" (H. E. I., 835-845). (2.) So might the Jews, the\nchildren of the prophets, have sung; so did some of those who entered\nmost deeply into the meaning of the promises given to their fathers\n(Luke i. 46-55, 68-79; ii. 29-32). (3.) So might the noble\nphilosophers of Greece have sung; so they did sing when, in Christ\nthe incarnate God, of whom they had dreamed and for whom they had\nsought, was revealed to them. (4.) So have sung in all ages that\nmultitude of human souls whom a profound sense of moral need has\nbrought to the feet of the Redeemer (H. E. I., 948-971).--_H. P.\nLiddon, M.A.: Christian World Pulpit,_ vol. xiii. pp. 1-3.\n\n\nI. WHAT ARE THOSE COMINGS OF CHRIST WHICH ARE THE OCCASION OF JOY TO\nTHE CHURCH? 1. _His coming in the flesh,_ His incarnation. To this\nHis people had looked forward; in it they rejoiced. Good cause had\nthey for gladness, for He came to spread the gospel feast, to remove\nthe clouds of ignorance and error, to destroy the reign of sin and\ndeath. 2. _His coming in the Spirit,_ at the day of Pentecost; in the\nexperience of the individual soul, in the hours of penitence, of\ntemptation, of sorrow. His coming in the flesh was the great promise\nof the Old Testament; His coming in the Spirit is the great promise\nof the New. 3. _His coming to receive the soul to glory._ He comes\nunchanged. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His\nsaints. 4. _His coming to bring the present dispensation to a close._\nIt may be heralded by many alarming and distressing events, but it\nwill be itself a cause for joy. To the wicked it will be a day of\nunmixed terror, but to the righteous of gladness; for it will bring\nthem redemption from the power of every sin, from the assault of\nevery enemy; every fetter will be broken, every cloud dispelled.\n\nII. WHAT IS REQUISITE TO ENABLE US TO WELCOME THE APPROACH OF CHRIST?\n1. A knowledge of Him as our God and Redeemer. 2. An experience of\nthe benefits of His salvation. 3. Love for Him. 4. Submission to His\nwill and zeal for his glory.--_Samuel Thodey._\n\n\n+I. In the day of judgment nothing will inspire us with joy and\nconfidence but a real interest in Jesus Christ.+ The ungodly now\npossess many sources of present enjoyment; but in that day they will\nhave ceased for ever. One grand, all-important idea will then fill\nthe mind: \"The solemn day of account is come; how shall I abide in\nit? How shall I endure the presence of the heart-searching Judge?\"\nBut whence can this assurance be obtained? Only from an interest in\nJesus Christ. Those who do not possess it will then be filled with\nshame and terror; but, amid all its terrors, those who do possess it\nwill be enabled to rejoice.\n\n+II. In that day none will be found to have a real interest in\nChrist, nor capable of rejoicing, but those who are now waiting for\nHis coming.+ This is a characteristic of all genuine Christians\n(1 Thess. i. 10; Tit. ii. 13; 1 Cor. i. 7; Luke xii. 36). Hence, in\nour text, we find the saints representing their conduct towards the\nLord in the days of their flesh by the same term: \"We have waited for\nHim.\" It may be useful, then, to point out some of the particulars\nimplied in this general description of the Christian character. To\n\"wait for Christ\" implies--1. A FIRM BELIEF IN HIS SECOND COMING, and\nof the infinitely momentous consequences which will follow that\nevent. The true Christian walks \"by faith, not by sight.\" Unlike the\nprofane (2 Pet. iii. 4), he lays it down in his mind as an infallible\ntruth that \"the day of the Lord _will_ come.\" 2. A CONSTANT ENDEAVOUR\nTO BE PREPARED FOR IT. How the wise virgins acted (Matt. xxv. 4).\n3. A PATIENT CONTINUANCE IN WELL-DOING (Luke xii. 35-46). Are you\n_thus_ \"waiting\" for the second coming of your Lord?--_Edward Cooper:\nPractical and Familiar Sermons,_ vol. iv. pp. 225-240.\n\n\nThe chapter from which these words are taken contains a noble\ndescription of the glory and grace of God, of His glory in ruling\nirresistibly the nations of the earth, and in crushing the enemies of\nHis Church, of His glory and grace in the salvation of mankind. It\nrecords by anticipation the triumphs of the Gospel, the downfall of\nthe powers of darkness, the annihilation of death itself, the reign\nof perpetual peace and joy.\n\n+I. A recognition of the birth of the Messiah.+ It is a matter of\nhistorical certainty that the people of God did wait for the coming\nof the Saviour from the time of the very first promise given to the\nwoman after the fall, to the period of our Lord's appearance upon the\nearth, at which season there was a general expectation in all the\nneighbouring regions of the advent of some mighty personage who was\nto realise all the sublime descriptions of the ancient prophets. Anna\nthe prophetess, Joseph of Arimathea, the aged Simeon and other devout\nmen, were waiting for the \"consolation of Israel.\"\n\n+II. An assertion of His Divinity.+ \"This is our God,\"--not merely a\nprophet, a priest, a king, chosen by Jehovah from among His people,\nand commissioned to give laws and statutes, as Moses was, or to\nassert Jehovah's authority and punish idolatry, as Elijah was, or to\ndenounce His wrath against an apostate people and at the same time to\nforeshadow a great deliverance to come, as Isaiah was himself, or\nJeremiah or any other of those holy men who spake in old times by the\nHoly Ghost; but this is OUR GOD, this is Emmanuel--God with us--God\nmanifest in the flesh.\n\n+III. A declaration of His atoning work.+ How vast that work He took\non Himself to execute,--the reconciliation in His own person of\nsinful man to an offended God, the overthrow of the kingdom of Satan,\nand the abolition of death! No man could have performed it (Ps.\nxlix. 7). Could any of the angels, then, have taken in hand this\nenterprise? Beyond the power, above the conception of any being of\nlimited goodness, knowledge and power, it could only be accomplished\nby the Divine Son of God. It was God's work, devised and executed by\nOmnipotence.\n\n+IV. A recognition of the second coming of Christ.+ We are admonished\nby the Church that there is a Second Coming of Christ, for which the\nChurch is waiting, and for which we, with every member of the Church,\nought to be looking with earnest and anxious expectation. Is our\nlanguage, \"How long, O Lord?\" Our answer is, How long the final\ntriumph of the Saviour may be deferred, how long a period may elapse\nbefore the world is ripe for judgment, is one of those secrets which\nGod has reserved to Himself (Acts i. 7). The end of all things, it\nmay be not in the literal sense of the word, at hand, is every year\nand every day and every moment drawing nearer to each of us. We are\nall in silent but unceasing movement towards the judgment-hall of\nChrist. In this point of view, the moment of our death may be\nregarded as placing us at once before His awful tribunal, for the\nspace between the two, as it affects our eternal destination, will be\nto us as nothing. When the judgment is set, the books opened, we\nshall suddenly stand before the Judge, precisely in that state of\npreparation in which we were found at the moment of our departure out\nof life. Those who have lived as children of God, as servants of\nJesus Christ, under the solemn, yet not fearful, expectation of that\nday, will then be able to lift up their heads and raise the song of\njoyful recognition.\n\n_Application._--If ever there was a great practical truth, this is\none. If we do not wait for the great day of the Lord in such a spirit\nof carefulness and circumspection as to refer to it all our actions,\nwords, and thoughts, then it is perfectly certain that we shall be\nsurprised at its coming and be taken utterly unprepared. It will come\non us as a thief in the night, and we shall sink into everlasting\nperdition; not for the want of means and opportunities of being\nsaved, but for want of common prudence and forethought in the most\nmomentous of all concerns. What, then is the conclusion? Live like\nmen that are waiting for their Lord, then when He arrives, He may be\nwelcomed. Accustom yourselves to His presence, in His sanctuary, at\nHis table, in His word, in secret communings with Him in the temple\nof a purified heart. So when this solemn day shall have come the glad\nresponse may be, \"Lo, this is our God, we have waited for Him; He\nwill come and save us!\"--_C. J. Blomfield, D.D._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] It was no ordinary day that saw the discomfiture of the\n     Assyrian host before the walls of Jerusalem. We can\n     scarcely understand the terror and dismay with which a\n     religious Jew must have watched the growth of those mighty\n     Oriental despotisms which, rising one after the other in\n     the valley of the Euphrates and of the Tigris, aspired to\n     nothing less than the conquest of the known world. The\n     victory of a conqueror like Sennacherib meant the\n     extinction of national life and of personal liberty in the\n     conquered people; it meant often enough violent\n     transportation from their homes, separation from their\n     families, with all the degrading and penal accompaniments\n     of complete subjugation. It meant this to the conquered\n     pagan cities; for Jerusalem it meant this and more. The\n     knowledge and worship of God, by institutions of Divine\n     appointment, maintained only in that little corner of the\n     wide world, were linked on to the fortunes of the Jewish\n     state, and in the victory of Sennacherib would be involved\n     not merely political humiliation, but religious darkness.\n     When, then, his armies advanced across the continent again\n     and again, making of a city a heap, and of a fenced city a\n     ruin, and at last appeared before Jerusalem, when the blast\n     of the terrible men was as a storm against the wall, there\n     was natural dismay in every religious and patriotic soul.\n     It seemed as though a veil or covering, like that which was\n     spread over the holy things in the Jewish ritual, was being\n     spread more and more completely over all nations at each\n     step of the Assyrian monarch's advance, and in those hours\n     of darkness all true-hearted men in Jerusalem waited for\n     God. He had delivered them from Egyptian slavery; He had\n     given them the realm of David and Solomon. He who had done\n     so much for them would not desert them now. In His own way\n     He would rebuke this insolent enemy of his truth and His\n     people, and this passionate longing for His intervention\n     quickened the eye and welled the heart of Jerusalem when at\n     last it came. The destruction of Sennacherib's host was one\n     of those supreme moments in the history of a people which\n     can never be lived over again by posterity. The sense of\n     deliverance was proportioned to the agony which had\n     preceded it. To Isaiah and his contemporaries it seemed as\n     though a canopy of thick darkness was lifted from the face\n     of the world, as though the recollections of slaughter and\n     of death were entirely swallowed up in the absorbing sense\n     of deliverance, as though the tears of the city had been\n     wiped away and the rebuke of God's people was taken from\n     earth, and therefore from the heart of Israel there burst\n     forth a welcome proportioned to the anxious longing that\n     had preceded it, \"Lo, this is our God; we have waited for\n     Him; He will save us.\"--_Liddon._\n\n\n\nTHE PROTECTING HAND.\n\n     xxv. 10. _For in this mountain shall the hand of the Lord\n     rest._\n\n\"Rest!\" As a father's hand on the head of his first-born, blessing\nand protecting his child. That mountain is impregnable which rests\nunder the shadow of God's hand.\n\n+I. Of every enterprise we should ask, \"Is it right?\"+ If wickedness\nbe in \"the mountain,\" God's protecting hand will not rest upon it. A\njust cause creates a good conscience, and hence inspires strength. It\nis only the just man who feels that God \"teaches his hands to war and\nhis fingers to fight, so that a bow of steel is broken by his arms.\"\n\"The righteous is bold as a lion.\" The good man can patiently wait\nand confidently expect God's blessing (James v. 7).\n\n+II. Material force allied with injustice will eventually become weak\nas straw, vile as a dung-heap.+ The strong places of Moab had no\ninherent lastingness, because built in a godless spirit (Ps.\ncxxvii. 1).\n\n+III. Forts and castles, ironclads and armies, can never save an\nunrighteous nation from decay.+ National selfishness, oppressive\nenterprises, weaken the strongest defences, corrupt the richest\ntreasurers. Babylon became a marsh, Nineveh a forsaken mound, Tyre a\ndeserted rock. In the Colosseum at Rome where martyrs bled, the fox,\nthe bat, and the owl now make their home. The walls of Moab were\nlevelled with the dust. By justice only can peoples be strong. If God\nbe in the city, its walls will be lasting as the hills.--_William\nParkes._\n\n\n\nDAYS OF DELIVERANCE.\n\n     xxvi. 1-2. _In that day shall this song be sung, &c._\n\nThere are days in the history of God's people when they specially\nneed His interposing power. This is their prayer (Ps. xxx. 10). This\ntheir glad confession (Ps. xc. 17). As such seasons of direct\ndeliverance the natural expression of the heart is one of gladness.\nIf the poetic faculty be strong within them, as in the case of the\nking of Israel, they sing in lyric splendour, as in Psalm xviii.\n\n1. _That historic period referred to by the prophet Isaiah in this\nchapter was such a day._ They had been marvellously protected from\nthe invading Assyrian. His host had been smitten as by the blast of\nthe Lord. When from the city walls they saw the thin relics of that\ngrand army hasten away, then would this song of salvation be echoed\nthrough the city. When under the imperial protection of Cyrus the\nexiles returned to their own land, that was another day of\ndeliverance. They rebuilt the temple and renewed the temple service.\nThen they sang in their own land, the land of Judah, the songs of\nZion.\n\n2. _But the first great event in their history,_ the birthday of\ntheir nation, their deliverance from Egyptian bondage, was specially\nmemorable as \"that day.\" And in every subsequent national deliverance\nfrom the times of the Judges, all through the splendid leadership of\nDavid and the heroic days of the Maccabean brothers, that first\ndeliverance seemed to be renewed, and the old song from the Red Sea\nshore was again chanted (Ex. xv. 6).\n\n3. _In the infant days of the Primitive Church,_ meeting then in the\nupper room in Jerusalem, when its two leaders, Peter and John, were\nseized and confronted with \"their rulers, and elders, and scribes,\"\nand sternly threatened \"not to speak at all or teach in the name of\nJesus.\" That was a day of deliverance. Then was seen how gloriously\ntransformed were these two Galilean fishermen under the inspiration\nof the Kingdom of Christ, how sublimely fit they were to lead the\nforlorn hope of the Church through the breach of Judaism and\nheathenism on to the conquest of the world. See Acts iv. 19, 20, 23,\n24. How deeply and rapturously impressed was that little church with\nthe conviction that the power of Him who had made heaven and earth\nwas then resting on their own chiefs, and making them bold to speak\n_\"His name.\"_ They shook the very walls of the room with the volume\nof their song: \"We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for\nwalls and bulwarks.\"\n\n4. Another day of deliverance came to the early Church, _when the cry\nof the primitive martyrs was heard_ (Rev. vi. 9, 10). That \"little\nseason\" soon passed, and their cry was answered; rest came to the\nmartyred Church. No more holy men were thrown to the lions, no more\ndelicate women thrust into caldrons of boiling pitch; the sword slept\nin its scabbard, and crucifixions were ended. Then the churches had\nrest, and this hymn was joyously sung. Since those early centuries,\nGod's Church has passed through many a fiery furnace, and has come\nout all the purer and all the stronger. And many a song of\ndeliverance has floated up to heaven.\n\n5. This season of gladness has been realised by God's people\nindividually. (1.) _When a consciousness of the forgiveness of sins\nhas come._ When in the temple of the soul this voice has been heard:\n\"Thy sins are forgiven thee; go in peace.\" (2.) _When the child of\nGod has been delivered from some dark calamity, so threatening that\nno human help could deliver._ (3.) _But the grandest deliverance is\nthe final one._ The best wine is kept for the last cup. When the\ndeath-river is crossed, and the crystal gates respond to the command,\n\"Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth\nmay enter in.\" Then when this corruption has put on incorruption, and\nthis mortal has put on immortality, when standing within that city\nwhere the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest, will\nthe redeemed of the Lord shout this song as never before: \"We have a\nstrong city, salvation will God appoint for walls and\nbulwarks.\"--_William Parkes._\n\n\n\nPERFECT PEACE.\n\n     xxvi. 3-4. _Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, &c._\n\nOur text points to the infallible remedy for the worst of all forms\nof human ills, a burdened and disconsolate spirit--\"perfect peace.\"\n\n+I. The Author of this peace is none other than God Himself.+ The\nmind of man is too active and capacious ever to find rest, unless it\nbe in its Maker. This is the testimony of experience as well as of\nScripture. Earthly honours, riches, friendships, leave the heart\ndevoid of enduring peace, because they can do nothing to dispel the\nsense of guilt and the consequent apprehensions of the future which\never and anon disturb those who possess them most abundantly. We\ncannot have peace unless we have God for our portion. But how can\nGod, the righteous governor of the universe, be at peace with us\nsinners? To this question a complete and glorious answer is found in\nthe Gospel, and there only. God Himself, at infinite cost, has opened\na way of peace by which we may return to Him. Peace is offered to all\nwho will receive it as His gift, through our Lord Jesus Christ; but\nonly from Him and thus can it be obtained.\n\n+II. The peace which God imparts to His people is \"perfect.\"+ 1. In\nits _source._ This determines its quality. The laws of the human mind\nare such that our happiness will partake of the character of the\nobject from which it is derived. If it be from an uncertain and\nunsatisfying world, _it_ will be just as uncertain and unsatisfying;\nif from the eternal and immutable God, _it_ will be undisturbable. As\nto both his temporal and eternal necessities, the believer's Helper\nis omnipresent and all-merciful. What, then, can he fear (Ps.\nxxvii. 1)? 2. In its _measure._ It rises like a river, and swells and\nrolls onward until it bears sin and sorrow away into the land of\nforgetfulness. 3. In its _adaptation to our needs._ These do but\nafford the occasions for its triumphs. It comes in when all other\njoys go out, and erects its brightest monuments on the ruins of\nearthly hopes. There is no trial which it cannot enable us to\nendure.[1] No wonder that Jesus calls it His peace (John xiv. 27),\nand bequeaths it to His disciples as the best legacy which it is in\nHis power to bestow. That very repose in God which so filled and\ncheered His own bosom He delights to share with all who love Him.\n\n+III. If this perfect peace is to be ours, we must link ourselves on\nto God by a simple, earnest, childlike faith.+ As sinners we must\nbegin by the exercise of a personal faith in His Son as our Saviour.\n1. This is _essential._ Nothing else will answer the purpose.\nWhatsoever was the strength of the ark built by Noah, or its fitness\nto float on the water, it could save from the deluge those only who\nentered it; and so Christ's death on the cross to procure peace for\nus will avail us nothing unless through Him we seek reconciliation\nwith God. 2. This is _sufficient._ Let this be done in the first\ninstance, and be repeated as often as clouds overcast the mind and\ndoubts arise in the heart, and there can be nothing to hinder the\nenjoyment of peace. Nothing more is needed. Once let a simple trust\nin the merits of the Saviour take possession of the bosom, and it\nwill go further to produce abiding tranquillity than all the tears\nand vigils of the most perfect devotee. The peace thus coming to us\nwill never end. Let the penitent sinner but stay himself on the Lord\nand trust in God of his salvation, and though he \"walk in darkness,\nand see no light,\" he is just as safe for both worlds as the power\nand grace of God can make him.\n\n+IV. We have to acknowledge that many who hope for salvation through\nChrist are not possessed of \"perfect peace.\"+ Many believers are \"in\nheaviness through manifold temptations,\" and their peace is more like\nan uncertain brook than a perpetual river moving calmly into the\nocean. Why is this? 1. Sometimes, though rarely, because God has been\npleased to withdraw the blessed feeling of undisturbed tranquillity,\nin order that He may produce a deeper sense of dependence on Him. In\nsuch cases, peace will be reached again through humble submission to\nthe Divine will concerning us, and trust in the unchangeableness of\nthe Divine love. We must not give way to despondency. We must be on\nthe alert to hear God speaking comfort to us through His Word.\n2. Sometimes the believer's peace is interrupted by a derangement of\nthe physical or mental system. Let us remember that while we are in\nthe flesh we are liable to such trials, and that our salvation does\nnot depend on our feelings, which are changeable as the clouds, but\non the Rock of Ages. 3. Sometimes we permit our attention to be\nturned away from God and engrossed by our trials. It is with us as\nwith Peter (Matt. xiv. 30). But then, like him, let us cry to the\nLord, let us obey the exhortation of our text, and we shall find that\nHe can give us both deliverance and peace. 4. Sometimes, alas! we\nforget that the faith to which peace is promised is a faith that\nshows itself in \"patient continuance in well-doing\" (Rom. ii. 7;\nJames ii. 26). Let us not be surprised if, then, our peace departs.\nLet us return unto the Lord, and beseech Him to heal our\nbackslidings. Restored to the paths of righteousness, we shall find\nthat they, and they alone, are \"paths of peace.\"\n\n+V. It is the duty, as it is the privilege, of all believers to seek\nfor \"perfect peace.\"+ With any lower measure of this blessing, we\nshould not be content. 1. Without it, we cannot possess the comfort\nwhich God desires that all His people should enjoy. 2. Without it, we\ncannot help our fellow-men as we ought. It is our duty to reveal to\nthem the power of the grace of God; and in few ways can we so\neffectually stimulate our fellow-men to seek Him whom they need, as\nby manifesting that tranquillity they so much desire, and can find\nonly in Him. 3. Without it, we cannot glorify God as we ought. What\nwe _are_ should move onlookers to praise Him, as a lovely landscape\nuplifts the thoughts of beholders to the Creator of all; but this can\nbe only when the purposes of God in regard to us are fulfilled, and\nwe are rejoicing in the possession of purity and \"perfect\npeace.\"--_David Magie, D.D.: American National Preacher,_ vol. xxv.\npp. 221-231.\n\n\n+I. All true spiritual peace originates in reconciliation with God.+\nThe grand object of the Gospel is to bring about this peace (Luke\nii. 14). Jesus Christ is designated \"the Prince of peace;\" the\nFather, \"the God of peace.\" God is really reconciled, _i.e.,_ is\npeaceably disposed towards us, \"waiting to be gracious;\" but men are\nnot reconciled, not willing to renounce their rebellion and yield\nthemselves to Him. They can have no true peace until they cast away\ntheir sins and cast themselves on the Divine mercy, as it is offered\nto us in and through Jesus Christ. But doing this, it and all other\nspiritual blessings shall be theirs (Isa. lv. 7; Rom. v. 1).\n\n+II. We attain to true spiritual peace precisely in proportion as we\nattain to perfect harmony with the Divine will.+ When we first become\nat peace with one with whom we have previously been at variance, it\ndoes not follow that we can at once fall in with all that is required\nof his household, however justly. So the peace of the regenerated man\nis not at first perfect, because his submission to the Divine will is\nonly partial. Afterwards, when he can truly say of all God's\nproceedings, \"Thy will be done,\" and his mind is fully \"stayed on\nGod,\" even when perils threaten and sharp sacrifices are demanded,\nthen his peace \"flows like a river,\" and grows into \"the peace of God\nwhich passeth all understanding.\"\n\n+III. All true spiritual peace is supernatural in its origin.+ To\ngrant this deep and abiding peace is the prerogative of the Divine\nSaviour. Friends may leave us houses, lands, gold, but only Christ\ncan give us peace (John xiv. 27). \"My peace!\" What is Christ's peace?\nNot the peace of reconciliation, for with God He never was at\nvariance (Heb. iv. 15; 1 Pet. ii. 22). \"My peace\" could only mean\nthat mental peace which flows from perfect harmony with the Divine\nwill. Such peace can come to us only through the educational power of\nChrist. The more we obey the Master, the more implicit will be our\nsubmission to God, and the deeper our peace. Only then shall we know\n\"perfect peace.\" Such peace, like every Christian grace and holy\nvirtue, being beyond the reach of nature, is supernatural (James\ni. 17). The child of God, calm amid a tempest of trouble, often\nexcites the wonder of the world. Such quietness of soul is not the\nresult of temperament or of training. It is God's work: \"_Thou_ wilt\nkeep,\" &c.\n\n+IV. All true spiritual peace is practical in its results.+ Though in\nits Divine creation it is \"past finding out,\" it is not a mystical\nrapture, a thing in the clouds; it is a reality, a living principle\narousing itself for the battle, and standing on the watchtower amid\nthe struggles and trials of daily life (Phil. iv. 7; R. V.) As a\ngarrison seizes and retains a stronghold, so \"the peace of God\" takes\nmilitary possession of the soul, and beats off all outside\nassailants. It has an active as well as a passive side, like a staff\nwhich we can draw forth for a fight as well as lean on for rest.\n1. It protects the _mind._ Sceptical thoughts, atheistic objects, may\ninvade the mind and perplex the reason, but then we fall back on this\npeace. We _know_ that we are never so calm and strong as when we obey\nthe will of God, and keep conscience on our side. Rectitude bringing\npeace, is an evidence of the divinity of our religion stronger than\nany sceptical objection that can be brought against it. 2. It\nprotects the _heart._ Affection allures it; joy and sorrow, hope and\nfear assail it; but the Christian can withstand these assaults,\nbecause he opposes higher things to lower; Divine pleasures to human,\nriches to riches, honours to honours. He can realise the meaning of\nthe Master's words (Matt. xix. 29). Resting on such promises as\nthese, he is \"kept in perfect peace.\"--_G. R. Miall._\n\n\nI. Peace is at once a blessing, and a mother of blessings. How many\nspring from her! How the poets have sung of her! Peace is needed by\nevery man; every man is conscious of disturbing influences without\nand within. Peace is earnestly sought by most men. What sanguinary\nwars have been waged to obtain peace!\n\nII. The idea of \"perfect peace,\" presented in the text, seems to most\nmen at the most a beautiful dream; in proportion to their experience\nof life is their disbelief that it can be theirs. But it is declared\nhere that God bestows it on every man whose mind is stayed on Him.\n\nWhat interpretation are we to put upon this declaration? The\nexperience of God's people must be our guide in answering this\nquestion. This makes it abundantly clear that the peace which God\nsecures for His people does not consist in freedom from assault. This\nis sometimes vouchsafed them; their foes are scattered, and songs of\ntriumph are given them, such as this chapter. But their experience,\ntaken as a whole, may be said to be a continuous verification of our\nSaviour's declaration: \"In the world ye have tribulation.\"\n\nInstead of caring to secure for His people freedom from assault, He\nseems rather often to prefer to expose them to it (Matt. iii. 16;\niv. 1). He prefers rather to teach them to fight and to conquer; to\ndevelop and discipline their virtues by struggles in which they are\ntried up to the very last point of endurance. For this end, He turns\na deaf ear to their prayer, \"Lead us not into temptation;\" and lets\nloose upon the foes bent upon their destruction.\n\nNotwithstanding, they may have \"perfect peace.\" \"In the world ye have\ntribulation: in Me ye have peace.\" Not merely that the peace is to\nsucceed the tribulation; the two may co-exist. It is quite possible\nfor peace to dwell in the heart of the chief ruler of a nation waging\na terrible war;[2] or in the heart of the captain of a vessel\nstorm-driven; or in the heart of a merchant in the midst of a\ncommercial panic, because he knows that the struggle will for him end\nin victory. So in the midst of all the conflicts of life, a Christian\nmay have \"perfect peace.\"\n\nIII. A Christian; he, and no other! Not every profound peace is\n\"perfect peace.\" The contemporaries of Noah and of Lot; Belshazzar\nand his court were in \"perfect peace,\" as far as their feelings were\nconcerned, in the very hour that destruction came upon them. But\nhowever much the feelings may be soothed, there is no \"perfect peace\"\nthat has not a sure basis of _fact._ For the peace of the wicked\nthere can be no such basis; God and all the forces of the universe\nare arrayed against the wicked, and their ultimate destruction is\nsure (Isa. xlviii. 22; Rom. ii. 8, 9). Repentance and reconciliation\nwith God through Christ are the essential preliminary conditions of\n\"perfect peace.\"\n\nIV. But is \"perfect peace\" the possession of all who have complied\nwith these conditions? No. Why? Because they have not yet learned to\nstay their minds on God. They have faith, but it is yet in the germ,\nand they have not yet been trained in the exercise (Matt. xiv. 31;\nxvi. 8). Not upon God exclusively are their hopes set (Ps. xlii. 5);\nit is but seldom that they do look up to Him, and hence their faith\nis imperfect and intermittent. It remains in the power of their foes\nto distress them; anxieties as to their temporal necessities, and\nforebodings as to their external welfare, harass and weaken them.\n(For other reasons, see preceding outlines.)\n\nBut there are those who have passed through and beyond these\nelementary stages of Christian experience, and, steadily pursuing the\npaths of righteousness, they have \"perfect peace.\" Their\ncircumstances may be adverse and threatening, but they possess a\ntranquillity of soul that is undisturbable (2 Cor. iv. 8-10); nay, is\neven triumphant (Rom. v. 3; Acts xvi. 25; Hab. iii. 17-19).\n\nV. In this \"perfect peace\" these rare souls rest, because they are\nkept in it, by God Himself: \"_Thou_ wilt keep,\" &c.\n\n1. _How?_ (1.) By the means of the deliverances which from time to\ntime He works for them. Memory becomes a treasury-house of Divine\nfaithfulness and mercy, and out of it their souls are fed and\nsustained when a season of famine and danger has befallen them. Then\nthey know that He who has delivered will deliver, and they wait upon\nHim with calm, joyful expectation. (2.) To these souls the records of\nGod's deliverances of His people in ancient days become prophetic of\ndeliverances He will still work for His people right on to the end of\ntime. By His Spirit He works in them an immovable, soul-inspiring\nconfidence in His own unchangeableness. To them He is \"the living\nGod,\" acting to-day precisely as He did in the days of old. (3.) But,\nabove all, He produces in their souls, as the chief safeguard of\ntheir tranquillity, a childlike confidence in His personal love for\nthem. There is nothing they are so sure of as that God loves them,\nand being sure of this, all the rest follows as a matter of course.\nThey never forget what proof God has given of His love for them, and\nhence they reason precisely as St. Paul did (Rom. viii. 31-39). This\npriceless revelation He makes to many who are \"babes\" in this world's\nwisdom (Matt. xi. 25), and to others also who know all that science\nhas to teach them of the vastness of the universe and of their own\nrelative insignificance.\n\n2. _Why?_ (1.) Because it is a state of soul in which He delights.\n\"The God of peace\" desires that in this, as in all respects, His\npeople--His _children_--should be like Him. (2.) Because they trust\nin Him. Devoting themselves to His service, and putting themselves\ninto His care, His honour is pledged to the defence and maintenance\nof their welfare. Will he forfeit it? _Men_ are far gone in depravity\nwhen they willingly disappoint those who trust in them: guides of the\nblind, lawyers and their clients, doctors and their patients, widows\nand their business advisors.[3] What sacrifices we make to fulfil the\nexpectations we have encouraged our children to form! Will it be\notherwise with our Father in heaven? Never!\n\nVI. What then? 1. \"Trust ye in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord\nJehovah is everlasting strength.\" There is more than \"strength;\" but\nthere _is_ the \"strength to carry out His wise and loving purposes\ntowards His people.\" He can do more than pity. 2. Let us cultivate\nthe habit of trusting IN THE LORD, and of doing this in all the\nvicissitudes of our lot, \"for ever.\" 3. And that this habit may\nbecome to us invariable and its exercise easy, let us accept with all\nsimplicity the revelation which He has been pleased to make of\nHimself as our Father in heaven. Precisely in proportion as we do\nthis we shall stay our mind on Him, and we shall enter into that\n\"perfect peace\" which He desires should be the inheritance of all His\nchildren.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Can we turn aside and see what light this peace of God can\n     diffuse through the chamber of disease; how it can\n     tranquilise the bosom of the poor widow surrounded with her\n     helpless babes; what serenity it can shed around the\n     tottering steps of some aged saint; and how it can\n     irradiate the gloom even of the grave itself, and not feel\n     that it is rightly called \"perfect?\" True, it might often\n     be more folly possessed on earth, and it will be more fully\n     possessed in heaven. But if we remember what it has\n     actually done in ten thousand instances, when the dearest\n     friends have died, and property has taken wings and flown\n     away, and one pall of sadness has seemed to overspread the\n     entire world, we shall feel that it is impossible to give\n     it too high a name or attach to it too high a\n     value.--_Magie._\n\n [2] In the darkest period of the American civil war, as Mr.\n     George William Curtis was taking leave of President\n     Lincoln, the President placed his hand on his shoulder, and\n     said with deep feeling: \"Don't fear, my son; we shall beat\n     them.\"\n\n [3] Sir William Napier describes, in his \"History of the\n     Peninsular War,\" that at the battle of Busaco in Portugal\n     how affecting it was to see a beautiful Portuguese orphan\n     girl coming down the mountain, driving an ass loaded with\n     all her property through the midst of the armies. She\n     passed over the field of battle with a childish simplicity,\n     scarcely understanding which were French and which were\n     English, and no one on either side was so hard-hearted as\n     to touch her. Sir William Napier once in his walks met with\n     a little girl of five years old, sobbing over a pitcher she\n     had broken. She, in her innocence, asked him to mend it. He\n     told her that he could not mend it, but that he would meet\n     her trouble by giving her sixpence to buy a new one, if she\n     would meet him there at the same hour the next evening, as\n     he had no money in his purse that day. When he returned\n     home he found that there was an invitation waiting for him,\n     which he particularly wished to accept. But he could not\n     then have met the little girl at the time stated, and he\n     gave up the invitation, saying, \"I could not disappoint\n     her; she trusted in me so implicitly.\" That was the true\n     Christian English gentleman and soldier.--_Dean Stanley._\n\n\n\nTHE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD AND HIS PEOPLE.\n\n     xxvi. 7. _The way of the just, &c._\n\nIsaiah foretold the captivity of Judah to Babylon, also its\ntermination. This chapter is a song ready for the occasion. It\nrelated the story, and it unfolds the principles that underlie the\nevents.\n\nOur text is thoroughly practical. It reminds us--\n\n+I. That righteousness is the personal characteristic of God and of\nHis redeemed people.+ 1. _God is righteous._ \"Thou most upright.\" He\nis perfectly righteous. It is essential to the Divine nature; the\ncontrary cannot be supposed; as heat is natural to fire. God Himself,\nHis laws, His providential government, even His redeeming mercy, all\nare characterised by perfect rectitude. So prominent is this idea\nthat we are taught to exercise simple faith in God, and assume that\nwe are imperfectly informed if we are unable to reconcile anything in\nour experience with His perfect righteousness. 2. _His people also\nare righteous_--here called \"the just.\" It is suggestive when God's\npeople are thus called by a name similar to His own. They share in\nthe same righteousness, although in different degrees. More is\nintended than that they are in a justified state. That is implied.\nThey are justified by the grace of God through faith in the Lord\nJesus Christ. But the text refers to the righteousness which\nassimilates them to the Divine nature. The grace of God produces a\nnew nature. Saul of Tarsus became a new man on his conversion. A\nsavage adopts the habits and forms the tastes of civilised Christian\nlife. It is a new nature. 1 John iv. 4: \"Ye are of God.\" As children\npartake the nature of their parents, His nature is in them, though\nnot yet perfected. Their sympathies are with Him. In so far as they\nare unrighteous, they are inconsistent with their true selves. The\nlife of God in the regenerated soul is a principle ever tending\ntoward the perfect righteousness of the Divine nature from which it\ncomes.\n\n+II. When righteousness characterises a person, it will dictate his\nconduct.+ 1. _The conduct of the righteous man._ \"The way of the just\nis uprightness;\" his course of life. He is erect in his moral\nmanhood, as contrasted with one who is bent and crooked. Men's ideas\nof uprightness are apt to become partial and one-sided. Some seem to\nimagine that all demands of righteousness are met by the acceptance\nof Christ and the experience of spiritual feeling, while they\noverlook the demands of human relationships. Others confine their\nview to men. They imagine all demands are met, when they are fair and\nhonourable in their dealings with men, while God is left out of\nconsideration. The Divine idea of righteousness is not thus partial.\nIt takes in the whole of our moral relations our relations both to\nGod and an. And the good man strives to bring his whole life into\nconformity to it. [Work this out in detail: \"The way of the just is\nuprightness\" (1), in regard to God; (2), in regard to man.]\n\n2. _The conduct of the righteous God._ \"Thou most upright dost weigh\nthe path of the just.\" At first sight like confusion of metaphor. It\nmeans to ponder it. The heathen symbol of Divine righteousness is\nthat of justice holding the scales (Dan. v. 27). The conduct of the\nrighteous is weighed. God observes it; His honour is concerned in it.\nHe will eventually pronounce upon it (2 Cor. v. 10).\n\nExamine, then:--1. Are you among the just? Have you experienced a\nchange of heart? 2. Are you pursuing the path of the just? This\napplies to your actual dealing with God and with man. Consider how\nfar imperfection may be consistent with reality. Do not try how far\nyou may go safely. There comes a point at which a man must be\ncondemned, at which he must condemn himself. At that point he will\neither repent or harden himself. Let us cultivate the highest measure\nof practical uprightness.--_J. Rawlinson._\n\n\n\nTHE JUST MAN'S SECURITY.\n\n     xxvi. 7. _Thou most upright, dost weigh the path of the\n     just._\n\nWe can scarcely find anywhere a more touching description of the God\nof our salvation than that furnished by Job (Job xxxv. 10). God has\nalways given His people songs in the night, and in the night-time of\naffliction He has furnished them with songs of consolation and\nconfidence. Our text is a part of one of those songs. The Chaldean\npower threatened God's people. They were instructed to cherish a firm\nfaith in God. Not a breath of despair was to reach the camp of the\nenemy; rather they were taught a scornful defiance of that proud king\nwho had defied the armies of the living God (Isa. xxxvii. 22).\n\n\"In that day shall this song be sung.\" The connection may teach us\nthat it is wisdom to treasure up a source of consolation against the\nday of adversity. It is in spring that we are to prepare for winter;\nin the morning of life to prepare for old age. The oil must be ready\nfor the midnight hour. No good soldier will run for his armour \"when\nthe enemy comes in like a flood.\"\n\nThe text suggests _the Christian's reasons for security and repose\nunder the various events of life._ These are--\n\n+I. The perfect wisdom and rectitude which marks God's universal\ngovernment.+ \"Thou most upright, dost weigh,\" &c. This world is not a\nneglected province of the Divine Dominions. That impression of the\nDivine supremacy which inspires the songs of seraphs quickens the joy\nof frail humanity. While thrones, principalities, and powers exclaim\nas with the voice of many waters, \"Alleluia, for the Lord God\nOmnipotent reigneth,\" the inhabitants of the earth roll back the\nresponse, \"The Lord reigneth: let the earth rejoice.\"\n\nThe Christian knows no such Deity as Chance or Fate. This is God's\nworld, nor has He left it like an ocean weed to float at random on\nthe dark and shoreless ocean of uncertainty. What was worthy His\ncreation must be worth His control. God's method of government\npartakes of His own perfections, and is therefore infinitely wise and\ngood. We rejoice that God ruleth over _all,_ and keeps the dominion\nof the world in His own hands. The remotest consequences of things\nare all seen by Him; whatever evil occurs He permits; whatever good\narises He originates; whatever series of causes come to a final\nissue, the train was laid by His wisdom, conducted by His power,\ncontrolled by His goodness. The topic, therefore, furnishes a ground\nof security and repose to the Christian. Amidst the shakings of the\nnations and the storms of life, it is delightful to know that the\nsceptre of universal power is in the hand of Infinite Love. He\nreigneth, be the earth ever so unquiet.\n\n+II. The minute attention which God pays to the individual interests\nof His people.+ This comes out whichever interpretation you put upon\nthe word here translated \"weigh.\" It may mean, to weigh as in scales\nor a balance (Ps. lviii. 2); but it may also mean, and does usually,\nto make straight, or smooth, or level (Ps. lxxviii. 50, \"He leveled a\npath for his anger,\" [NAS], &c.) (_Barnes_). \"He 'weighs' or\n'ponders' (_s. w. a._ in Prov. iv. 26, v. 21) the path, with a view\nto keeping it straight and level\" (_Kay_). 1. The idea of \"weighing\"\nimplies careful impression. The balance is held with a careful hand,\nand a keen eye is on both the scales. This is a source of comfort to\nthe just, and to them alone. 2. The same minute, condescending\nobservance is implied in the other interpretation. God will make a\nplain, level way for His people to walk in. All obstacles to their\nprogress shall be removed. They never have any need to turn aside\nfrom the well-constructed road of God's commandments into \"crooked\nways\" of man's devising (Ps. xvii. 3-5). They shall reach their\ndestination in the better world.--_Samuel Thodey._\n\n\n\nTHE WAY OF GOD'S JUDGMENTS.\n\n     xxvi. 8. _Yea, in the way of Thy judgments, O Lord, have we\n     waited for Thee._\n\n+I. Observe what God's judgments are.+ They are simply the expression\nof His thoughts. His final judgment is the declaration of His\nthoughts of a man's character; His judgments here are also His\ndeclaration of what He thinks of our conduct and ways. One special\nthing for which psalmists and prophets adore Him is that men can see\nthat His judgments are true and righteous (Ps. xix. 9; cxix. 75, &c.)\nTheir tendency and aim is to teach men what righteousness is (ver. 9).\n\n+II. The way of God's judgments is the way of His laws.+ The\ncalamities which men call \"judgments\" are generally the results of\ninfraction by them of the laws by which He governs the universe.\n\nThe civil war in America was a judgment of God because it was a\nnatural result of their toleration and defence of slavery; the war,\nwith all its terrors, was a heavy penalty, and was clearly connected\nwith their sin. So the cattle-plague of England was doubtless a\nnatural result of some violation, through carelessness or greed, of\nGod's laws concerning the breeding and tending of cattle, and was\nthus one of God's judgments.\n\n+III. The way of God's judgments prescribes our way of prayer and\nexpectation.+ We are to pray and expect, not that, while we continue\nas we were, God will remove the judgment; but that He will help us to\nunderstand it, and that He will dispose us to abandon the conduct\nthat has brought it upon us. In thus waiting upon God--with penitence\nfor our transgression, with prayer for light, and with sincere\nresolve to amend--we may expect God to bless us; but this we may\nexpect only while we wait upon Him thus.--_Alexander Mackennal, B.S.:\nSermon on the Cattle-plague._\n\n\nThose who wait for God in the way of His judgments are, 1. Those who\nin prosperous and peaceful times endeavour to serve Him. 2. Those who\ndesire to learn from them the lessons they were designed to teach.\n3. Those who honour God by submission and trust in the trying hour.\n4. These, even in the midst of judgment, may confidently expect the\nfavour of God. A purpose of benevolence runs through even the stern\nand \"strange work\" of justice; and God, even when He chastises, will\nnot utterly smite down the trusting heart.--_William Manning._\n\n\n\nTRUST AND TRIALS.\n\n     xxvi. 8, 9. _Yea, in the way of Thy judgments . . . will I\n     seek Thee early._\n\nIn this verse the prophet expresses the confiding trust of God's\npeople amid times of judgment. It is as though they had said, \"When\nthe pathway assigned for Thy people was rough with judgments,--sore\ninflictions of national calamity,--even then, Lord, did we wait still\non Thee in patient, trustful hope, and our desire was toward the\nremembrance of Thy name.\" Note the view this passage affords of the\ncharacter and experience of God's people.\n\n+I. They wait upon him.+ Wait in the most unpromising circumstances.\n\n\"Yea, in the way of Thy judgments have we waited for Thee.\" When all\nis dark and threatening; when the promised mercy is long delayed and\nall seems settling into gloom and desolation; when the dungeon has no\nlamp and the night no star, even then does the Church wait for God\n(chap. viii. 17). It is a genuine mark of grace to trust a\nwithdrawing God and never forego confidence in Him, but look for Him\nas in the darkest night the shivering sentinel looks for the morning\nstar; as the husbandman amid the severest winter believes in the\nreturning spring. Such was the faith of Habakkuk (Hab. iii. 17-19).\nSo, like Aaron's rod, the Christian's hope will bloom in the midst of\nbarrenness. \"Yea, in the way of Thy judgments have I waited for Thee.\"\n\n+II. Their desires centre in Him.+ \"The desire of our soul is to the\nremembrance of Thy name.\" God's _name_ is a compendious expression\nfor the fulness of His perfections. God's people are concerned for\nthe honour of God's name whatever becomes of their own. Religion\nconsists much in holy desire. \"Thy servants who desire to fear Thy\nname.\" They desire to live in the fear of God, in His love and in His\nservice. Desire is love on the wing; delight is love at rest. David\ncombines both (Ps. xxxvii. 4). Making God our heart's delight, He\nwill not fail to give us our heart's desire. This desire, if genuine,\nwill never be satisfied without God. As well offer lumps of gold or\nstrains of music to one dying of thirst, as offer the world's best\ngifts to that soul which truly thirsts for God and His righteousness\n(Ps. lxxiii. 25). 1. _Where genuine, this desire is the fruit of\nimplanted grace._ It is an evidence of a renewed nature. The beating\nof the pulse proves life. That which aspires to God has come from\nheaven. If the iron, contrary to its nature, moves upward, it is a\nsign that some magnetic force attracts it; and if the soul aspires to\nGod, that is a sign that the grace of God has visited that soul.\n2. _Genuine desires after God are influential._ Real desires govern\nour conduct (Prov. xxi. 25). It is useless to pretend that we thirst\nfor grace, if by devout prayer and holy resolve we do not let down\nthe bucket into the well.\n\n+III. They seek Him diligently night and day.+ \"With my soul have I\ndesired Thee in the night, yea, with my spirit within me will I seek\nThee early.\" Our Lord gives it as the distinctive mark of God's elect\nthat they cry night and day to Him. This habit of prayer prompting to\nduty, tests the sincerity of our desires, &c.--_Samuel Thodey._\n\n\n\nNIGHT LONGINGS FOR GOD.\n\n     xxvi. 9. _With my soul I desired thee in the night._\n\nNight appears to be a time peculiarly favourable to devotion. Its\nsolemn stillness helps to free the mind from that perpetual din which\nthe cares of the world will bring around it; and the stars looking\ndown from heaven upon us shine as if they would attract us up to God.\nBut I leave that thought altogether; I shall speak,--\n\nI. TO CONFIRMED CHRISTIANS. 1. The Christian man has not always a\nbright shining sun; he has seasons of darkness and night. The light\nis sometimes eclipsed. At certain periods clouds and darkness cover\nthe sun. The best of God's saints have their nights. Sometimes it is\na night over the whole Church at once. Sometimes the darkness over\nthe soul arises from temporal distresses, sometimes from spiritual\ndiscouragements. 2. A Christian man's religion will keep its colour\nin the night. Men will follow Christ when every one cries Hosanna!\nDemas and Mr. Hold-the-world, and a great many others, are very pious\npeople in easy times. They will always go with Christ by daylight,\nand will keep Him company so long as fashion gives religion the\ndoubtful benefit of its patronage; but they will not go with Him in\nthe night. But the best test of a Christian is the night. If he only\nremained steadfast by daylight, when every coward is bold, where\nwould he be? There would be no beauty in his courage, no glory in his\nbravery. There is full many a Christian whose piety did not burn much\nwhen he was in prosperity; but it will be known in adversity. Grind\nthe diamond a little, and you shall see it glisten. 3. All that the\nChristian wants in the night is his God. I cannot understand how it\nis, unless it is to be accounted for by the corruption of our spirit,\nthat when everything goes well with us we are setting our affection\nfirst on one object and then on another, and that desire which is as\ninsatiable as death and as deep as hell never rests satisfied. But if\nyou place a Christian in trouble, you will find that he does not want\ngold then, nor carnal honour; he wants his God. 4. There are times\nwhen all the saint can do is to desire. The more evidences a man has\nof his piety the better. Many witnesses will carry our case better at\nthe bar than a few. But there are seasons when a Christian cannot get\nany. He will have lost assurance. But there is one witness that very\nseldom is gagged, even in the night, and that is, \"I have desired\nThee--I have desired Thee in the night.\"\n\nII. TO NEWLY AWAKENED SOULS. I will now endeavour to answer three\nquestions. 1. How am I to know that my desires are proofs of a work\nof grace in my soul? (1.) By their _constancy._ Many a man when he\nhears a stirring sermon has a strong desire to be saved, but he goes\nhome and forgets it. A certain measure of constancy is essential to\nits real value as evidence of a Divine work. (2.) By their\n_efficacy._ If they lead you into real \"works meet for repentance,\"\nthen they come from God. Seeking will not do; there must be striving.\nNot good intentions only, but practical desires that lead you to give\nup your sins. (3.) By their _urgency._ You want to be saved some of\nyou, but it must be this day next week. But when the Holy Ghost\nspeak, He says _\"To-day.\"_ Now or never. 2. If I have desired God,\nwhy have I not obtained my desires before now? (1.) You have hardly a\nright to ask the question. Perhaps God has not granted your desire\nbecause He designs to show you more of your wickedness, more of the\nblackness of sin, that your longings may be quickened, that He may\ndisplay more fully the riches of His grace at the last. (2.) Perhaps\nit has come already. Some of you are pardoned and do not know it. Do\nnot expect miracles and visions. (3.) Will God grant my desire at\nlast? Verily. His refusal would dishonour His word. You would be the\nfirst that ever perished desiring, praying, trusting in\nJesus.--_C. H. Spurgeon, New Park Street Pulpit,_ 1859, p. 237.\n\n\n\nTHE NECESSITY AND PROFITABLENESS OF CHASTISEMENT.\n\n     xxvi. 9. _When Thy judgments are in the earth, the\n     inhabitants of the earth will learn righteousness._\n\nI. _It is a lamentable proof of the depravity of our nature, that in\ngeneral, apart from God's judgments, the wicked will not learn\nrighteousness._ 1. The history of the world shows that men will not\ngive heed to the lessons they _ought_ to learn from the beauty of\ncreation, the established laws of nature, and the ordinary blessings\nof Providence (Rom. i. 20-23). Extraordinary blessings excite only\ntransient emotions of praise and thanksgiving; and too often serve\nonly as occasions for showing greater alienation of heart from God,\nand for filling up the measure of iniquity (H. E. I., 3997-4014).\n2. All this may be abundantly illustrated from the history of our own\ncountry. With us times of national prosperity have been times of\nnational profanity. 3. On every hand we find individual proofs of the\nsame sad fact.\n\nII. _When such special interferences of Providence take place as in\nScripture language are called \"judgments,\" the inhabitants of the\nearth sometimes learn righteousness._ In this respect, signal\nchastisements are ordinarily more effective than the most bountiful\ndisplays of kindness and compassion. 1. Scripture abounds with\nstatements of the need and profitableness of chastisement (Ps.\ncxix. 67, 71; 2 Chron. xxxiii. 12, &c.) It is intimated that\nafflictions form an essential part of the discipline of the righteous\n(Ps. xxxiv. 19; Rev. iii. 19, &c.) Some cross is needful, as long as\nwe live, to keep us in our right place, dependent on our Maker; and\nhence those who have few outward afflictions to teach them the\nnecessary lessons of humility, generally experience a large allotment\nof inward trials on that very account; and sometimes both the outward\nand the inward afflictions are combined for this purpose (2 Cor.\nxii. 7, 10). 2. Even without the Bible, the fact asserted in our text\nwas so universal and prominent, that it by no means escaped the wiser\npart of the heathen moralists. A Greek historian has observed, \"that\nfortune never bestows liberally an unmixed happiness on mankind. With\nall her gifts, there is conjoined some disastrous circumstance, in\norder to chastise men into a reverence for the gods, whom, in a\ncontinual course of prosperity, they are apt to neglect and forget.\"\n\nCONCLUSION.--1. _Few things are more perilous than long-continued\nprosperity._--Ordinarily its effects on the religious opinions and\nmoral habits of nations and individuals are most lamentable (Deut.\nxxxi. 20, 29). Let those, then, who are prosperous be especially on\ntheir guard (Deut. viii. 10, 11). 2. _For \"judgments\" we should be\nthankful._ They are not displays of vindictiveness, but gracious and\ncompassionate dispensations, intended to warn, that God may not be\ncompelled to destroy. 3. _To the lessons of God's \"judgments\" we\nshould give heed._ Prominent among them is this, that \"except the\nLord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.\"--_Isaac Milner,\nD.D.: Sermons,_ vol. i. pp. 1-54.\n\n\nI. CONSIDER THE AUTHOR OF THOSE JUDGMENTS AND CALAMITIES WITH WHICH\nTHEY ARE VISITED; THE ENDS FOR WHICH THEY ARE SENT; AND THEIR FITNESS\nTO INSTRUCT US IN RIGHTEOUSNESS.--1. Judgments _come from God._ His\nprovidence rules over all, and all second causes, animate and\ninanimate, are directed and overruled by Him. This is the decision of\n_reason,_ and the declaration of _revelation_ (Amos iii. 6; Isa.\nxlv. 6, 7). Imitate, then, the ancient believers who, whatever were\nthe inferior causes of their affliction, without justifying the\ninstruments, and leaving to God the punishment of the unrighteous,\never looked up to Him who ruleth over all (Gen. xlv. 5, 7; Job i. 21;\nH. E. I., 139). 2. _But why does God visit us with judgments?_ Not\nthat He delights in the miseries of His creatures (Lam. iii. 33); but\nthat they may be humbled, convinced of their iniquity, and taught\nrighteousness. We often compel Him thus to deal with us. We permit\nHis favours to hide the hand that confers them; and, like Jonah, when\nthe ocean of life is smooth, and the gales of prosperity pleasantly\nblow, we flee from Him, and slumber in our sin. In the greatness of\nHis compassion, He employs the rough means necessary to arouse us\n(Ps. lxxviii. 34, 35). 3. _There is a fitness in judgments to cause\nmen to awake to righteousness._ (1.) They deeply affect us, and lead\nus to repentance, because they are rarer than mercies. Our attention\nis most arrested by that which is novel. We gaze more earnestly on\nthe sun, when for a few moments it is in eclipse, than we have done\nfor months while it was steadily pursuing its course through the\nheavens. We are more roused by a storm for a day, than by serene\nweeks. It is thus with mercies and judgments. (2.) They powerfully\naddress that passion which has most influence on the greater part of\nmankind--the passion of fear. They present God in such a character,\nthat even the most stout-hearted sinners tremble to oppose Him.\n(3.) Because they teach on that most compendious and efficacious\nmode--by example. On beholding them we feel that the threatenings of\nGod are not a dead letter which need fill us with no dismay. Yet they\nhave not invariably this effect. There are some who can resist\njudgments as well as mercies (2 Chron. xxviii. 22; Isa. xxii. 12, 13).\n\nII. WHY THE JUDGMENTS OF GOD DO NOT ALWAYS TEACH MEN RIGHTEOUSNESS.\nJudgments that light upon others are frequently rendered useless.\n1. By disbelief of His declarations. 2. By false views of His\ncharacter (H. E. I., 2180-2184, 2282). 3. By unscriptural views of\nour own state and condition. 4. By a base inattention to the\noperations of Providence. 5. By a stupid insensibility to our danger.\nWe tranquilly behold the lightning flashing at a distance, and\nsuppose that it will not hurt us, as though we were of a different\nnature from those who are consumed by it (Zeph. iii. 6, 7).\n6. Because, instead of being humbled and led to think of our sins, we\nvent our grief only in vain regrets and useless lamentations. We\nforget who is the Author of these judgments, and so, instead of\nhumbly saying with Job, \"Shew me, wherefore Thou contendest with me,\"\nwe waste our strength in profitless complaints of men and\nthings.--_Henry Kollock, D.D., Sermons,_ pp. 505-512.\n\n\n\nTHE USE AND ABUSE OF THE JUDGMENTS OF GOD.\n\n     xxvi. 9, 10. _For when Thy judgments, &c._\n\nI. _The judgments of God are frequently in the earth_--such as\nearthquakes, hurricanes, pestilence, commercial disasters. These are\nnot, as the infidel asserts, merely the results of the working of\nnatural causes: these public calamities are the punishment of public\nsins. _Nations_ are thus punished, because they have no immortality,\nand therefore, if they are to be judged at all, must be judged here\nand now. Without these chastisements, which often astonish the hearts\nof the most insensible, and bring the most incredulous to their right\nmind, the world would be only a theatre of atheism and crime. That\nthese calamites are strictly \"the judgments of God,\" is the testimony\nof _Scripture_ (Amos iii. 6; Jer. xxxii. 23, &c.), of the universal\n_conscience,_ which appeals loudly in terms of calamity,[1] and of\n_reason._ Acknowledge a First Cause which directs all things, and we\nare obliged to confess that public calamities are the judgments of\nGod.\n\nII. _God's design in sending His judgments upon the earth is that the\ninhabitants thereof should learn righteousness_--righteousness\ntowards Him, towards their neighbours, and towards themselves. This\nis His design, and to comply with it is the indispensable duty of\nthose who He afflicts.[2] The natural tendency of these chastisements\nis to remove the obstacles that ordinarily oppose themselves to our\nconversion: indolence, thoughtlessness, abuse of God's patience, the\nhope of long life.[3]\n\nIII. _God's design in sending judgments upon the earth is often\nfrustrated by the fact that some sinners are so obdurate that neither\njudgments nor mercies will move them_ (v. 10). The \"favour\" here\nspoken of is a temporal favour, a deliverance from physical misery, a\nsuspension of the judgments which were falling upon the wicked. Such\nfavours, instead of calling forth gratitude, are frequently turned\ninto reasons for sinning (Eccl. viii. 11; Ex. viii. 15). To harden\nourselves against the \"judgments\" of God is a great sin, but to\nharden ourselves against His \"favours\" is a still greater sin. Those\nwho commit it leave the Almighty no alternative but to utterly\ndestroy them.--_Daniel de Superville: Sermons,_ pp. 332-361.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] We see that people of every description endeavour to\n     appease Heaven, in time of public calamities, by prayers,\n     incense, sacrifices, and solemn humiliations. And though\n     many of them have been deceived in the object of their\n     worship, and have erred in many of the practises which they\n     adopted as proper to appease the Divinity, their actions\n     set forth the feelings of man's conscience, and prove that\n     it is a general sentiment, that in public calamities we\n     ought to learn righteousness.--_Superville._\n\n [2] Judgment that falls upon another should be as a catechism\n     to us by way of instruction; when judgments are abroad in\n     the world, shall not the people learn righteousness? Shall\n     the lion roar and the beasts of the field not tremble?\n     Shall God's hand lie heavily upon us, and we stand by, as\n     idle spectators, nothing at all minding what is done? Shall\n     our very next neighbour's house be on fire, and we look on\n     as men unconcerned in the danger? It cannot be, it must not\n     be. There is, without all doubt, the same combustible\n     stuff--the same, if not greater sins--lodged in our hearts,\n     and the same punishment hovering over our heads; it is,\n     therefore, high time to look about us.--_Donne,_ 1573-1631.\n\n [3] Herodotus informs us, that in a certain temple of Egypt\n     there was a statue of Sennacherib with an inscription, the\n     sense of which was, \"Learn to fear the Deity, in looking at\n     me.\" The judgments of God upon rebellious sinners are\n     monuments which God erects in the world, and which express,\n     in characters which all men should read, \"Learn to fear the\n     Deity, in looking at us.\" A celebrated poet among the\n     ancient Romans, in describing the divers punishments of\n     hell, presents us with a fine sentence, \"Learn\n     righteousness by us, and do not despise the gods.\" It\n     appears by this, that the secrets of man's conscience, and\n     his natural sentiments, lead him to profit by the examples\n     which God exhibits of His justice, whether in this world or\n     the next, and to respect a Supreme Being who knows how to\n     avenge Himself, both now and hereafter.--_Superville._\n\n\n\nNATIONAL PEACE THE GIFT OF GOD.\n\n     (_A Thanksgiving Sermon._)\n\n     xxvi. 12. _Lord, Thou wilt ordain peace for us: for Thou\n     hast wrought all our work in us._\n\nThe joyfulness of the occasion. Peace a greater blessing than mere\nvictory; for he that celebrates victory celebrates an event which has\nbeen produced by an incalculable measure of human suffering. Let us\nconsider--\n\n+I. What there is in the restoration of peace, generally considered,\nto excite our gratitude.+ 1. _The effusion of human blood is stayed,_\nand all the suffering inescapable from war. 2. _The injurious effects\nof war on human character_ afford another reason for thanksgiving on\nthe return of peace. War renders men callous to human misery. The\nsacredness of human life is forgotten. Wars lead to intestine\ndissensions, and embitter and perpetuate national animosities.\n\n+II. What there is in the particular circumstances of this country to\nwarrant us in considering the blessing as of special and particular\nvalue.+ 1. _The triumph of which this peace is the result is the\ntriumph of a righteous cause._ Peace is often the result of the\nsuperiority acquired by the aggressor. The cause of right does not\nalways at once prevail. Unoffending natives are conquered, or obliged\nto submissions contrary to their rights and interests, and then peace\nfollows; peace dictated, not argued. There is peace, but not the\nspirit of peace. 2. _We have preserved our national honour._ Our\nvictory has not been purchased by any alliance of which we have cause\nto be ashamed. 3. _Peace does not find us, as it finds many nations,\nwith our houses desolated and our cities destroyed by fire._ 4. _It\nwas seasonable._ We had put forth our utmost strength. Had we not\nsucceeded at the moment we should have fallen to rise no more as a\nnation of the first order. 5. _It may be considered an indication of\nthe Divine approbation._ On this subject we would not be\npresumptuous, but it may at least be affirmed that the happy change\nin our affairs, which has ultimately led to peace, followed, and, in\nsome instances, immediately followed, certain acts of national\nreformation (_e.g.,_ the emancipation of the slaves) and\nacknowledgement of God which, from the condescending assurance of His\nWord, we know must have been acceptable to Him. 6. _It will increase\nour means of promoting the kingdom of Christ in the world, and thus\nestablish our national prosperity by continuing to us the blessing of\nGod._\n\n+III. The reasons of our thankful acknowledgement of God on this\noccasion.+ He is the giver of the blessing of peace. Text. This is a\nmost important principle, and if our hearts be not firmly grounded in\nit, our thanksgiving is a mockery; for why do we thank Him if we\nascribe the work to second causes? He that excludes God from the\nworld of providence might as well exclude Him from the world of\nnature. He who can attribute the events which are daily taking place\nin society, and especially such events as are connected with the\ncelebration of this day, to mere human agency, is not less an atheist\nthan the man who ascribes the birth and being of the fair system of\nthe universe to chance or the dance of atoms.\n\nCONCLUSION.--The proper expression of our thankfulness for this great\nblessing will be to do our utmost in the diffusion of the Gospel,\nthat the final reign of the Prince of Peace may commence, and\n\"quietness and assurance for ever\" becomes the lot of man.--_Richard\nWatson: Works,_ vol. ii. pp. 20-40.\n\n\n\nHOLINESS ACCOMPLISHED, PEACE ORDAINED.\n\n     xxvi. 12. _Lord, Thou wilt ordain peace for us: for Thou\n     also hast wrought all our works in us._\n\nRather, _\"for us.\"_ The Church acknowledges that all her deliverances\nand successes have been accomplished for her; and on what God has\ndone for her in the past, she rightly bases her expectation as to\nwhat God will do for her in the future. He who was able to deliver\nHis people from their bondage in Babylon, would secure peace for them\nwhen He had restored them to their own land. But, then, of all the\nworks that God accomplishes _for_ His people, some of the most\nimportant are precisely those which He accomplishes _in_ them. So we\nmay profitably meditate on our text as it stands:\n\nI. THE CHRISTIAN'S CONDITION.\n\n1. _A Divine work has been accomplished for him. \"Thou,\"_ &c.\nThroughout, the New Testament teaches us that the Christian is a man,\nnot who has delivered himself, but who has been delivered; not a hero\nwho broke the chains by which he was bound, but a poor slave of sin\nwho was set free and uplifted to true manhood (Phil. ii. 13; Eph.\nii. 10); everything is ascribed to the Spirit--the life, the good\nworks, the comforts of the Christian (John iii. 5; Gal. v. 16, 22;\nActs ix. 31). 2. _As the operation is Divine, so is it internal in\nits effects._ We should never overlook what God has done for us in\nHis kind and tender providence (Ps. xxiii. 6). But the greatest of\nall God's works for us is redemption by the blood of the cross. This\nwas accomplished long ago (John xix. 30). Nothing can now be added to\nit, but you are mistaken if you suppose that His work _for_ you is to\nsupersede His work _in_ you. If your sins are not subdued as well as\npardoned, you will never be able to serve and enjoy God. Unless you\nhave a meetness for heaven, as well as a title for it, you will never\nbe at home there. The salvation that is promised and accomplished is\ninternal (John iv. 14; Ezek. xi. 19, 20; Ps. li. 10). 3. _The\noperation is manifold in its influence._ \"_All_ our works.\" How much\nneeds to be done in man! Conscience is to be awakened, purified,\npacified; the understanding is to be enlightened; the judgment is to\nbe informed; the will is to be subdued; the affections to be\nspiritualised; the world is to be dethroned in the heart, and holy\nprinciples implanted there. There needs the continuing act of a\nperforming God from the hour of the first conviction of sin to the\nresurrection of the body unto eternal life (Phil. i. 6). 4. _His\nDivine work is acknowledged._ \"Thou _hast_ wrought,\" &c. Much remains\nto be done in us, but much has been accomplished in every believer,\nand it should be acknowledged. Humility well becomes us, but\ngratitude becomes us equally (Ps. lxvi. 16).\n\nII. HIS FUTURE EXPECTATION.\n\n\"Lord, Thou wilt ordain peace for us.\" 1. There is an _appointment_\nor _ordination._ To ordain is an act of authority and power. You may\nwish and promise a thing, but the monarch ordains, and what he\nordains is supported by all the resources of the realm, and will be\naccomplished. Much more shall God's counsel stand and His pleasure be\ndone. 2. What is the _blessing_ He will ordain? \"Peace!\" Peace\n_temporal_ (Prov. xvi. 7). Peace _spiritual_.[1]\n\nIII. THE DEPENDENCE OF THE EXPECTATION ON THE CONDITION.\n\n\"Thou wilt . . . for Thou hast.\" The expectations of God's people are\nbased--1. On the experience of God's people in all generations (Ps.\nxxii. 4). 2. On their own experience of His faithfulness and mercy\n(Ps. cxvi. 1, 2).[2]--_William Jay: Sunday Evening Sermons,_ &c., pp.\n306-312.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] See outlines on verse 3.--This peace of the Christian often\n     fluctuates. It has various degrees. Some have comparatively\n     little of it, arising from constitutional malady, but it\n     commonly increases in death. It is therefore compared to a\n     river which meanders and fertilises as it goes, but becomes\n     wider and deeper as it approximates to the sea; so the\n     peace of God's people generally increases as they get\n     nearer eternity.--_Jay._\n\n [2] When a friend has always been kind, we think it base and\n     unworthy not to suppose that he is ready to succour and\n     help. But here we have the advantage: Men may be weak and\n     unable to help, but God is almighty; men may change their\n     mind, but with Him is \"no shadow of turning.\" Remember what\n     God has done, view it as a pledge, a beginning, an earnest\n     foretaste of what He will do. Has He not shown you the evil\n     of sin, the beauty of holiness, and the preciousness of a\n     Saviour? If He had a mind to destroy you, would He have\n     shown you such things as these? Nay, He will ordain\n     everything for your welfare.--_Jay._\n\n     H. E. I., 2363-2377, 2791.\n\n\n\nMAN'S HOLINESS, GOD'S WORKMANSHIP.\n\n     xxvi. 12. _Thou also hast wrought all our works in us._\n\nIt is not all men who could speak these words to God; the wicked and\nthe worldly-minded could not use such language without blasphemy. It\nis the godly, and they only, who can dare to use the language of our\ntext, and even they must do so with a certain limitation. Nothing\nthat is evil in any of God's people is in any way His work. It is\nonly their _good_ works of which it can be truly said, \"God wrought\nthem;\" and of these it may be said, God wrought not some only, but\n_all_ of them.\n\nI. THE DOCTRINE WHICH OUR TEXT CONTAINS. Man is by nature a creature\nso depraved that he is \"unto every good work reprobate.\" God looks\ninto his heart, and seeing evil motives even in his best performances\npronounces \"all his righteousnesses 'filthy rags.'\" Where things are\nnot done to please God, He is _displeased._ No matter what show the\nunregenerate make before their fellow-sinners, God turns away His\nface from them, and counts them even \"dead in trespasses and sins,\"\nwhilst _men,_ perhaps, are holding them in admiration (Article xiii.;\nLuke xvi. 15; Rom. viii. 7, 8). When, therefore, a man _does_ begin\nto please God, it is because God hath \"wrought him for this self-same\nthing\" by the mighty working of His power (Eph. ii. 4, 5; Phil.\nii. 13). In these passages the earliest beginning of any good work in\nus is ascribed wholly to the Lord (Article x.) The Holy Spirit is the\nauthor of all good in man from first to last. \"From Him all holy\ndesires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed.\"\n_Repentance is His Work._ \"Godly sorrow\" is no natural emotion (Acts\nv. 31; xi. 18; 2 Tim. ii. 25). So also is _faith_ (1 Cor. xii. 3).\nSo, again, is all _holiness_ of heart and life (Eph. ii. 10; Prov.\nxvi. 1; Gal. v. 22, 23). All excellences in man are \"fruits of the\n_Spirit._\" Such is the doctrine of our text. Consider,--\n\nII. THE FEELINGS WHICH GOD'S PEOPLE OUGHT TO ENTERTAIN WHEN THEY\nREFLECT UPON IT. Is it true that God hath wrought all our works in\nus? What a ground there is here, then,--1. For +humility.+ Surely\n\"boasting is excluded.\" Pride is an absurdity (1 Cor. iv. 7; xv. 10.)\n2. For +thankfulness.+ Solomon was full of wonder and amazement that\nGod should condescend to come and dwell within his costly temple.\nShould not the Lord's people be still more gratefully amazed that He\nshould make a temple of their hearts? 3. For +encouragement+ (Phil.\ni. 6). Let the believer look at the very construction of our text,\nlet him read it in connection with the words which go before, and he\nwill see what a comfortable argument is drawn from it: \"Lord, Thou\n_wilt_ ordain peace for us, _for_ Thou also hast wrought all our\nworks in us.\" The presence of His grace within our bosoms is a token\nof the favour which He means to show us. He who put oil into our lamp\nand set it burning, and then said, \"Let your light shine before men,\nthat they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is\nin heaven,\" will never omit to feed the celestial flame.--_A.\nRoberts, M.A.: Plain Sermons, Second Series,_ vol. i., 21-30.\n\n\n\nSPIRITUAL USURPERS RENOUNCED.\n\n     xxvi. 13, 14. _O Lord our God, other lords beside Thee have\n     had dominion over us, &c._\n\nWe have in this language--\n\nI. A PENITENTIAL CONFESSION. \"Other lords,\" &c. Exegetically the\npoint to be determined is whether the \"other lords\" who \"have ruled\nover us,\" are the king and people of Babylon or idol gods; the former\nwith coercion, the latter with their own wicked consent? Perhaps both\nideas are included and a sad sequence implied. They had wandered of\ntheir own wicked will into the service of pagan gods, and now against\ntheir will were forced to serve pagan kings. Paganism had led to\nvice; vice had destroyed all true manliness. Heroism in Jewish\nhistory had lived only so long as fidelity to Jehovah had lasted.\nPiety having decayed, heroism was dead; they could not stand before\ntheir invaders. Paganism had enslaved them. This they now feel, and\nhate paganism, and shun it more thoroughly than ever before.\n\nII. A HOLY RESOLVE, involving, 1. _A recognition of Divine claims._\nIt is right that we should consecrate our services to Thee. By Thee\ncreated and sustained, it is robbery to carry our services elsewhere.\nThou art our Father, and to honour others instead of Thee is unfilial\ningratitude. Our King Thou art, and not to serve Thee is sedition.\n2. _A consciousness of dependence on Divine help._ \"But by Thee\nonly,\" &c., _i.e.,_ \"Only by Thy Divine help can we hope to be\nfaithful to Thee.\" Here is a renunciation, not only of heathenism,\nbut also of all self-sufficiency. By sad experience they have learnt\nthat without God they can do nothing.\n\nIII. A SHOUT OF VICTORY (vers. 14). The struggle against sin may be\nsevere and long. Bad habits not easily overcome. But Divine help\ngives victory to human endeavours. He who uttered the almost\ndespairing cry, \"O wretched man that I am,\" &c., can now give the\nvictorious shout, \"I thank God through our Lord Jesus Christ.\" There\nare those who once served mammon, and bowed to ambition; who followed\nthe Moloch of revenge and hate; slaves to drunkenness and nameless\nvices, who now through Divine grace can say of these bad habits,\n\"They are dead . . . Thou hast visited and destroyed them,\" &c.--_W.\nParkes._\n\n\nMan is a responsible being. To say he is responsible to himself is to\nsay nothing more than that he claims to act according to his own\ninclination. Responsibility has regard to another. Lordship from\nwithout is exercised by every human soul. Good and evil--God and\nSatan--contend for the dominion. Evil usurps the dominion until an\ninward revolution occurs. Thus the Jewish people had cast off the\nauthority of Jehovah, and placed themselves under the dominion of\nother gods. The captivity in Babylon converted them from this folly.\nThey then determined that thenceforward they would only \"make mention\nof,\" celebrate and honour, give the dominion to the Lord their God.\nHere is a penitential confession and a good resolution.\n\nI. A PENITENTIAL CONFESSION. \"Other lords beside Thee have had\ndominion over us.\" The dominion of evil in human souls is:\n1. _Multiform._ It assumes many shapes. The gods the Jewish people\nserved were numerous as the nations under whose influence they fell.\nSo the form of evil most congenial to a man's own nature is sure to\nassail him (H. E. I., 4679-4683). Not only so; while each has\nprobably his special besetment, each has also multitudinous\nbesetments (H. E. I., 4550, 4551). The penitent sees that his sins\npass all power of numeration or recollection; they have become lords\nand masters (Rom. vi. 16; H. E. I., 4482-4484). 2. _Wrongful._ \"Other\nlords beside Thee.\" The language implies that God ought to have had\nthe dominion. Then it must be wrong to give it to others. He is the\nrightful sovereign on every ground. Nor can he divide His throne with\nany rival. As it is impossible to serve two masters whose interests\nare opposed to each other, or to adhere to two claimants of the same\ncrown, so is it to make mention of the name of God and at the same\ntime to submit to the dominion of other lords. But we have attempted\nthis. \"Will a man rob God?\" Yes. Men who would not wrong each other\nwill defraud God daily without compunction and without shame. To\nallow the dominion of other lords is a wrong done to God.\n3. _Voluntary._ It has been entirely with our own consent. Those who\nmake this confession mean that they have been blamable for the\nwrongful dominion of other lords. Freedom is essential to\nresponsibility. We have consented to sin--loved it. Nor does it avail\nto say we are unable to break from its power. If unable, what has\nbrought our moral nature in to such a state of imbecility? Are not\nits chains wound round our nature by our own consent? Is not the\nwretched victim of intemperance responsible for his inability to\nresist the cup, when that inability is the result of the voluntary\nindulgence of years? The fetters of the sinner have been forged by\nhimself. The criminality reaches farther back than the present sin;\nto the sins freely chosen long ago, which have led up to the present\npower of sin over the will. If the will is in bondage to sin, it was,\nin the first instance, voluntarily surrendered. _Now_ the penitent\nsinner sees all this. He comes with lowly submission and penitential\nconfession.\n\nII. A GOOD RESOLUTION. \"By Thee only will we make mention of Thy\nname.\" The confession of the ransomed Jews meant more than empty\nwords. They had seen their error; they intended a complete change, a\nradical reformation. Idolatry was for ever renounced.\n\nThis is a type of the conversion of a sinner. The confession means\nnot only that he seeks forgiveness, but also--1. _Intends\nreformation_--abandonment of all sin, no reservation of any sin, the\ncourse of life completely altered. 2. _Supposes regeneration._ Man\ncan only see the outward change; but what does it represent?\nAwakening to the danger, sight of the evil of sin. The disposition is\ndifferent; the heart is changed. Hence the will determines the other\nway. 3. _Proceeds from God._ There is a work of the Holy Spirit in\nconversion. We need His help to fulfil the resolution. \"By Thee only.\"\n\nHave you experienced this change? It is a personal one. Whether you\nhave or not, He is the Lord--your Lord; therefore right that He\ndemands your service. O yield His claim!--_J. Rawlinson._\n\n\n\nPRAYER IN TROUBLE.\n\n     xxvi. 16. _\"Lord, in trouble,\" &c._\n\nEvery man knows what trouble is; what it is to lie under the\nchastening hand of God. In the day of trouble, we feel our dependence\non external help. Some in adversity seek friends who they neglect in\nprosperity. Happy is he who, when trouble comes, finds himself\nsurrounded by true friends. Acquire the art of keeping your friends.\nBut there are troubles to which human sympathy and help are\ninadequate. Times when men's thoughts drift towards God. Trouble\nreminds us of the unseen, the spiritual, the external. It quickens\nthe spiritual sense by casting the fierce light of eternity on the\nthings of time. Men visit God in trouble by pouring out to Him their\nprayers.\n\n+I. Some pray in trouble, who are prayerless at other times.+\nMultitudes live entirely without prayer. Taught by mothers in\ninfancy. For a considerable part of ripening youth they maintained\nthe habit. But began to neglect, were afraid of ridicule, or fell\ninto sinful indulgence; it would appal them to think how long it is\nsince they poured out one prayer to God. Surprising that with God so\nnear, so many should habitually turn away and never seek His face.\nBut some heavy trouble comes. They pause, recollect themselves,\nremember the long years of misspent time, pray, promise and vow\n(H. E. I., 69).\n\nDoes this always continue when the trouble has departed? Is not this\noften the history? The cloud breaks, the sun bursts out again, the\nman forgets that the sun was ever hid. Ship in storm. Cries, prayers,\nvows. Ship is saved. Prayers cease; revelry is resumed. How often on\nthe bed of sickness are prayers and promises uttered which are\nforgotten with returning health. Pharaoh alarmed by the successive\nplagues. Besought Moses to pray. Hardened his heart again. The\nchildren of Israel repeatedly fell into idolatry. Visited with\njudgments. Cried to the Lord. When punishment was withdrawn returned\nto the sin. Conviction is not conversion; awakening not repentance.\nIf the heart remains unchanged, a man will only pray as long as he is\nalarmed (H. E. I., 3877-3879).\n\n+II. Some begin to pray in trouble, and continue to pray afterwards.+\nMany have had to thank God for trouble. Borne along the stream of\nprosperity towards destruction. Some obstruction. It was unwelcome.\nIt compelled examination. It revealed the yawning falls a little way\nbeyond. Just in time to return. Every human soul requires one such\ngrand interruption in its career. Grace of God employs various means\nfor its effectuation. Trouble is one (Hosea v. 15). The soul's deep\nsin, danger, need, has been revealed. The cry has gone up to heaven.\nIt was the cry of true repentance and humble faith in the Crucified\nOne. Comes from the trouble a new man--a praying man (Manasseh,\n2 Chron. xxxiii. 10-13. The prodigal son, Luke xv. 14-21).\n\n+III. Some pray habitually, but especially in trouble.+ Prayer is the\nspecial characteristic of a Christian. It is his \"vital breath.\" He\ncannot fail to establish stated seasons of prayer, both public and\nprivate. He endeavours to maintain the spirit of prayer. By its aid\nthe blood of the spiritual life is kept in circulation. An important\nsense in which he prays \"without ceasing\" (H. E. I., 3866-3879;\nP. D., 2839). And every remarkable event is made the occasion of\nspecial prayer. Certainly trouble is one of these. Do you not go to\nGod in your sorrows, as a child goes to his father or his mother?\nBishop Reynolds says: \"A Godly heart is like those flowers which shut\nwhen the sun sets, and open again when the sun returns and shines\nupon them. Hannah prayed silently so long as she was in bitterness of\nspirit; but as soon as God answered her prayer and filled her heart\nwith joy, presently her mouth was enlarged into a song of\nthanksgiving.\" In trouble you pray, 1. for deliverance, in submission\nto the Divine will. 2. More especially for a sanctified use of\ntrouble; complete submission, faith, purification (Phil. iv. 6,\n7).--_J. Rawlinson._\n\n\n\nNATIONAL REVIVAL.\n\n     xxvi. 19. _Thy dead men shall live._\n\n+I. This is the language of exultation.+[1] In this part of the\nchapter the tone changes from sorrow, failure, and abortion to life,\nprosperity, and joy. \"Thy dead, O Zion, shall live again.\" Thy people\nhave been virtually, civilly, nationally dead, but they shall have a\nresurrection. Because these dead are God's people, their resurrection\nfrom national death is certain. Then, thrilled with confidence in\nthis truth, the prophet gives utterance to the voice of God within\nhim, \"Awake and sing, ye that lie buried in dust, awake; come forth\nfrom your (figurative) graves, and break out in song as ye come up to\nthe light of day!\"\n\n+II. This expectation involves a contrast.+ The resurrection of\nnational life of God's people stands in contrast with the denial of\nresurrection to the wicked rulers of Babylon (ver. 14). That Chaldean\nnation went down to its political grave with no hope, no possibility\nof being raised to national life again. On the contrary, God's\npeople, from being in a state of national death in Babylon, were\neventually called into national life.\n\n+III. This declaration suggests a truth which nations ought to\nlearn.+ No nation that seeks God and His righteousness can be\npermanently kept down. \"Righteousness exalteth a nation;\" exalteth it\nfrom depression into power. It may be brought low, but if the\nelements of rectitude lie within it, if public justice be a part of\nits political creed, and respect for the rights of others its\nunvarying practice, then, though apparently buried in the grave of\ndefeat and degradation, its resurrection shall come. God rules not\nonly amid the armies of heaven, but amongst the inhabitants of the\nearth, and to every nation maintaining justice, mercy, and truth,\nthough brought ever so low, the voice of history proclaims, \"Thy dead\nmen shall live!\" The bodies of English martyrs to the Tudor period\nperished. Under the Stuart dynasty the bones of those English\npatriots who defied \"crowned and mitred tyranny\" were dug up and\ndishonoured. That part of them corruptible and worthless died, but\nthe better part of them has experienced a resurrection. Their\nprinciples live to-day. \"Thy dead men shall live.\"--_Henry Cowles,\nD.D._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] This passage proves beyond a question that the idea of a\n     resurrection from the dead was familiar to the prophet and\n     to his first readers, for whose immediate use he wrote.\n     Sensible writers never borrow figures from things unknown,\n     but always from things better known than the facts they\n     would illustrate. As no writer _could_ draw a figure from\n     what was unknown to himself, so, if he sought to teach, he\n     _would_ not draw one from what was unknown to his readers.\n     As Isaiah could not talk about a resurrection if he had\n     never known the idea and the words to express it, so he\n     would not expect to be understood unless his readers were\n     also familiar with it.--_Cowles._\n\n\n\nGOD'S INVITATION TO SHELTER.\n\n     (_For a Time of National Distress._)\n\n     xxvi. 20. _Come, my people, &c._\n\nThe history of humanity as a whole, and of nations and communities as\na part, is like that of individual man, diversified and varying, made\nup of hope and fear, of joy and sorrow. There is a \"but\" in every\ncondition, a crook in every lot. The people of God, however, have\nalleviations which the world knows not of. They have promises of\npresent comfort and help, hopes of future recompense, and they are\ninvited to make God their Refuge now. This was very much the case\nwith the captive Jews in Babylon. Wars and commotions would rage as a\ntempest around Babylon, and bring its overthrow. But while the storm\nraged, the people of God were to be calm and tranquil; were to enter\ninto their places of retirement, and avoid the commotions of war.\nThis passage is a word in season to God's people now.\n\nI. THE PERSONS INVITED. \"My people.\" This was addressed to the Jews,\nwho stood in a peculiar relation to God. It has now a wider range. It\nmay include--1. _Those who are His by profession._ This includes a\nlarge portion of the people of this land. Many of these, however, are\nout of Christ, and they are specially invited to repair to Him as\ntheir complete and only refuge from the storms of conscience and the\nrighteous displeasure of a Holy God. 2. _Those who are His by\npersonal consecration._ Not only received into the visible Church by\nan outward profession, but have become living members of that\nmystical body of which Christ is the Head. In times of danger and\ndistress, when the judgments of God are in the earth, they are\ninvited to repair to Christ. He is a complete refuge from every storm.\n\nII. THE DUTY ENJOINED. 1. _The form of the injunction._ No terrible\nthreatening, but mild and compassionate invitation. Though our\nRedeemer and Master has a right to command, yet He more frequently\nemploys the language of invitation. 2. _The place of retreat._ We may\nthink of many sacred localities to which we may repair in this time\nof national or individual sorrow. There is the open _sanctuary._ This\nto many is a place of refuge and comfort. There is the _home._\nFamilies may meet and together commune with God. There is the\n_private closet._ There we may humble ourselves, mourn our own faults\nand those of others, and seek God's favour. But after we have\nthoughts of all these places we must go much further, into a more\nmysterious and safer sanctuary. These are only the _way_ to the City\nof Refuge; only the _plank_ by which we may ascend to the Ark; only\nthe _door-way_ into the Temple. Ours must be the language of the\nApostle (John vi. 68). 3. _The purpose of retirement._ For defence.\nIsrael must remain within the blood-sprinkled doors while the\ndestroying angel wields his sword outside. Rahab and her family abide\nwithin their dwelling while Jericho is destroyed. Amid the tokens of\ndanger and the coming storm, we are to hide ourselves in the\nperfections of God, in the merits of Christ. We must enter into the\nark, and like Noah expect the Lord to shut us in. When the Hebrews\nhad sprinkled the blood of the Paschal lamb, the command was, \"None\nof you shall go out of his house till the morning.\" The manslayer\ncould not go within the City of Refuge. Here in Christ, God manifest\nin the flesh, is safety from every danger, a complete Refuge in every\ntime of need.\n\nCONCLUSION.--The whole of this year has been marked more or less by\npersonal, relative, or national calamity. It opened in storm, and a\nfine ship, the _London,_ perished. Pestilence among the cattle\nfollowed. War broke out and mercantile prosperity waned. Now a\npainful visitation is among us. God is now calling you to\nHimself.--_George Smith, D.D., August_ 9, 1866.\n\n\n\nCHAMBERS OF SAFETY.\n\n     xxvi. 20. _Enter into thy chambers, &c._\n\nThe religion of Christ, as a religion of consolation, is eminently\nsuited to the condition of men in a sinful, suffering, and dying\nworld. The same Saviour who died to save, lives to bless, saying,\n_\"Lo, I am with you always,\"_ &c. (Matt. xxviii. 20). The same Holy\nSpirit sanctifies and comforts. This Scripture suggests, that in the\nworst of storms God's people have a secure hiding-place.\n\nI. A CONSOLATORY TRUTH IMPLIED. God's people have chambers of\nsecurity and defence in time of danger. Every perfection of the\nDivine character, every office of Christ, every Divine promise is a\nchamber of defence (Prov. xviii. 10).\n\nII. A WELCOME DUTY ENJOINED. \"Enter,\" &c. 1. _Who gives the\ninvitation?_ The Lord Jehovah, with whom is Everlasting Strength.\n2. _To whom this invitation is given,_ \"My people.\" Not Babylon, not\nEgypt, but \"my people.\" 3. _What it is to which He calls them._ To\nenter their closets, hold communion with Him, trust themselves to His\nkeeping.\n\nIII. THE REASONS FOR THIS RETREAT. 1. _Because the calamity\nanticipated is very great._ God comes out of His place to judge the\nnations, &c. 2. _The season of danger is short._ \"For a little\nmoment.\" Self-sacrifice and self-restraint for Christ's sake will not\nlast long. 3. _Because the blessings promised are very valuable._\nPresent purity and peace, future glory, &c.--_Samuel Thodey._\n\n\n\nRELIGIOUS RETIREMENT.\n\n     xxvi. 20. _Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers,\n     and shut thy doors about thee._\n\nAn exhortation to religious retirement. Man was intended for society,\nbut also for contemplation. When devoted to pious purposes,\nretirement is highly useful to man and most acceptable to God\n(H. E. I., 3466-3525). It is commended to us both by precept and\nexample (Gen. xxiv. 63; Matt. xiv. 23, &c.) But the retreat which the\nScriptures commend is temporary, not total; not that of a monk to his\ncell, in which he passes his days in barren and unprofitable\nspeculation, but that of men living in the world, who go out of it\nfor a time in order that they may return to it better fitted for the\nduties which God has assigned them there. That you may be stimulated\nto this duty, consider its advantages.\n\n+I. Religious retirement takes off the impression that the\nneighbourhood of evil has a tendency to make upon the mind.+ We need\noften to escape from it in order that we may see its true character,\nand renew our strength to resist it.\n\n+II. Religious retirement is favourable for fixing pious purposes in\nthe mind, and strengthening our habits of virtue.+ Dazzled no longer\nby the false glitter of the world, we open our eyes to the beauties\nof the better country; stunned no more with the noise of folly, we\ncan listen in silence to the still small voice. At leisure we can\nreflect by what temptations we were formerly foiled, that we may\nguard against them in time to come; for seeing the evil day, we can\nprepare ourselves for its conflicts.\n\n+III. In religious retirement we attain to self-knowledge.+ Here\nwisdom begins. We can never ascend to the knowledge of Him whom to\nknow is life eternal, without knowing ourselves; and we can never\nknow ourselves without stripping off whatever is artificial about us,\nwithout throwing off the veil which we wear before men, and devoting\nour sacred hours to serious consideration.\n\n+IV. Retirement and meditation will open up a source of new and\nbetter entertainment than you meet with in the world+ (Ps.\nciv. 34).--_John Logan: Sermons,_ vol. ii. pp. 156-164.\n\n\n\nGOD'S GOODNESS TO THE CHURCH.\n\n     xxvii. 2, 3. _In that day sing ye unto her, &c._[1]\n\nThe Church a vineyard: a spot set apart: weeds taken out; choice\ntrees planted; supplied with means; fruitful of \"red wine,\" the best\n(Prov. xxiii. 31).\n\nI. GOD'S CARE OF HIS CHURCH. 1. It is _constant,_ \"night and day.\"\n2. It is _all-sufficient._ \"I, the Lord, do keep it\"--what\nOmniscience and Omnipotence guards, none can hurt.\n\nII. GOD'S MINISTRY TO THE CHURCH. Not only does He guard it from\nexternal assault, He ministers to its internal necessities. \"I will\nwater it.\" God's influence upon His Church is--1. _Adapted to its\nwants._ The vine needs moisture. 2. _It is a continued blessing._\n\"Every moment.\" 3. _It is followed by blessed results:_ Growth,\nfragrance, beauty, fruitfulness.\n\n_Application._--1. How secure is the true Church of God (H. E. I.,\n1246-1251; 2449). 2. How important to belong to it. 3. How great are\nits obligations to God. 4. How zealous we ought to be for its\nextension.--_British and Foreign Pulpit,_ i. 74, 75.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] _Cowles_ only follows _Alexander_ in the rendering of these\n     verses. _Birks_ translates: \"In that day sing ye unto her.\n     A vineyard of choice wine!\" &c. _Cheyne:_ \"In that day--a\n     pleasant vineyard--sing ye of it. I, Jehovah, its\n     keeper--moment by moment I water it; lest any should invade\n     it, by night and by day I keep it.\" _Kay:_ \"Sing ye unto\n     her.\"\n\n\n\nA SOLEMN DISCLAIMER.\n\n     xxvii. 4, 5. _Fury is not in me, &c._\n\nThe figurative language in ver. 1 sets forth some powerful and\nterrible enemies of Israel--cruel, crafty, and bloodthirsty\noppressors. But, terrible as they were to Israel, they were no more\nthan \"briers and thorns\" in the way of Israel's God. He would \"march\nagainst them and go through them,\" just as soldiers on their march\ntread down and crush so frail a barrier as these would be against\nthem. His own people the while should be the object of His special\nand necessary care (vers. 2, 3). And if they should so offend as to\ndraw down His judgments upon them, still He would not deal with them\nas adversaries. He would be ready to make peace with them again on\ntheir humbling themselves before Him. The solemn disclaimer of our\ntext should be borne in mind by us when we study--\n\nI. GOD'S THREATENINGS AGAINST THE WICKED. Many of these are very\nterrible, and a certain class of religionists would have us believe\nthat these alarming texts of Holy Scripture are metaphors that mean\nnothing, and that we dishonour \"the God and Father of our Lord Jesus\nChrist\" if we associate His name with anything that savours of wrath,\nvengeance, and severity. But this is taking a meagre and one-sided\nview of the Divine Character. In God there is not only love, but also\nholiness, which \"cannot look upon iniquity;\" justice, which \"will by\nno means clear the guilty;\" and truth, which forewarns and will not\nfail to punish the transgressors of law and order. Let us not mistake\nthe character of such punishment. A furious man acts on the\npassionate impulse of the moment. He strikes blindly and without\nconsideration; does many things which, when the excitement is over,\nhe will be sorry for and try to undo. But nothing like this is there\nwith God. His threatenings are not uttered in blind and inconsiderate\nwrath, but in awful calmness of judgment, and in vindication of His\nessential and eternal holiness; and thus, too, they will be executed.\nThis it is that will make the judgment-day so awful, and that then\nwill reduce the condemned to despair. The son who sees his father's\nanger so stirred against him, that vain attempt were it to reason\nwith him, vain to offer a word of explanation or excuse, does well to\nkeep out of his father's way, and hope for a better time to stand\nbefore him and ask to be forgiven. But no such hope is there, when\nthe offender sees that his aggrieved parent--not furiously, but \"out\nof very faithfulness\"--is about to administer a threatened\npunishment; ay, and that his heart is heavy, and his eye dim with\ntears, even while he punishes! And this, allowing for the inevitable\nweakness of any illustration of such a matter, may serve to convey\nthe idea which I would impress upon you. \"The Father of mercies and\nGod of all comfort\" will certainly execute His threatenings against\nimpenitent transgressors. Not in passionate haste, and on sudden\nimpulse of which He might afterwards repent, will the Lord make \"a\nway for His anger\" against sin.\n\nII. THE DOCTRINE OF THE ATONEMENT. Not a few earnest men becloud and\nall but explain away this fundamental doctrine, because (they tell\nus) they cannot endure the thought of sin being punished in the\nperson of the Sinless One. They do not like to hear of the Father's\n\"wrath\" being averted and (as it is said) \"appeased\" by the death of\nHis Son; of God looking out (as it were) for a victim, and fastening\nupon the One found guiltless as a substitute for the guilty mass! But\nthis mistaken representation arises from attributing to God a passion\nwhich in men would be indignation and wrath. But what does our text\nsay? \"_Fury_ is not in _Me._\" We may not think of our heavenly Father\nas an angry Being, furiously raging against those whom the devil has\nproved too strong for, and not to be appeased till He found a victim\non which to wreak His vengeance! But no unwillingness on our part to\nhear it can alter that which is written (2 Cor. v. 21; 1 Pet. iv. 18;\nIsa. liii. 5, 6). If we study this great subject aright, we shall\nfind in the Atonement the result of the co-working of the calmest\n(and therefore most inflexible) justice and the tenderest\nlove.--_T. W. Peile, D.D.: Sermons,_ pp. 101-112.\n\n\nThe text expresses the preference of God for forgiveness rather than\nfor punishment, and the conditions of that forgiveness; but, at the\nsame time, the utter overthrow of all who continue in opposition to\nHis will. It suggests--\n\n+I. A blessed absence in the nature of God.+ \"Fury is not in me.\"\nFury seems to be _uncontrolled_ and _uncontrollable_ anger, such as\nthat with which the storm seems to beat upon the dismasted, helpless\nvessel; such as that which inspires the hungry lion that has been for\nsome hours disappointed of its prey. When a man is so under the\ninfluence of anger that no consideration from within or intercession\nfrom without can pacify him, he is in a state of _fury._ But no such\nstate is possible to our God. His anger is always under control, He\nis always the Lord God, abundant in goodness and truth; and we have\nalso plentiful evidence that, in the height of His displeasure, He is\naccessible to intercession on behalf of His creatures. See how the\nSon of God ends His woes against \"Scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites,\"\nwith \"O Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered,\" &c. Recall the\neffect of Abram's pleading for Sodom, and that of Moses for\nunbelieving Israel (Num. xiv.) The declaration of the text has been\nabundantly verified in all ages. Nevertheless,\n\n+II. This blessed absence in the nature of God is compatible with\ncontention with the unrepenting.+ \"Who would set the briers,\" &c.\nImagine a father and a son at variance, the father being in the\nright, and son in the wrong. There are two ways of reconciliation;\neither the son must comply with the conditions of the father, or the\nfather must lower his standard to the level of the son. But what a\nwrong would the father do himself, his family, and society, if he\nwere to adopt this course! He ought not, will not. If the son\nresolves to fight it out, reconciliation is impossible. This is the\nrelative position of God and the ungodly man. God says, \"I am\nJehovah, I change not.\" It is a blessed impossibility. But the\nunrepentant man ought, can, must! If no, the fire of goodness must be\nset against the briers of wickedness, a contest as hopeless, and of\nwhich the issue is as certain, as that of the devouring flame with\nbriers and thorns.\n\n_Conclusion._--The absence of fury in God leads Him to prefer pardon\nto punishment, and to provide means for the former. \"Let him take\nhold of my strength,\" &c. Men, churches, and nations are lovers of\npeace in proportion as they are righteous (Ps. lxxii. 3). The\npreference of God for peace depends upon the very attribute of which\nthe ungodly would rob Him, His righteousness. What is God's strength?\nHow take hold of it? When a man falls overboard at sea, the appointed\nmeans of rescue is the life-belt which is thrown to him. Seizing\nthat, he lays hold of the strength of the vessel to save him. When\nthe man-slayer, fleeing from the avenger of blood, entered the city\nof refuge, he took hold of God's appointed means of shelter. God's\nstrength is His pardoning prerogative, exercises to us through\nChrist, the \"arm\" or \"strength\" of the Lord. See how Moses takes hold\nof it (Num. xiv. 19). And the prodigal (Luke xv. 21; Rom.\nv. 1).--_Horace Bushnell, D.D._\n\n\n\nTAKING HOLD OF GOD'S STRENGTH.\n\n     xxvii. 5. _Or let him take hold of My strength, &c._[1]\n\nI. IN WHAT GOD'S STRENGTH CONSISTS. First, as we think of\nAlmightiness, that irresistible power which created the world, &c. We\nare apt to forget those other and higher sources of strength which\nbelong to God (1 Kings xix. 12). Wisdom is strength (Eccles. ix. 15,\n16). Truthfulness is strength. Justice is power. Mercy to the weak is\noften the manifestation of the highest strength. England has often\nput forth her power; her soldiers have crushed the most appalling\nrebellions; her guns have sunk the mightiest navies; but history will\nperhaps record it as the highest display of her power when, under a\nsense of justice, she withdrew her forces when she might have crushed\nher foes (as in the late Transvaal war, 1881). Now, this element of\nmercy, as manifest in the work of Christ, is God's strength (Rom.\ni. 16; 1 Cor. i. 24). God's fatherly love is the essence of His power\n(H. E. I., 3206). Christ is the expression of that love. Christ is\nGod's strength. \"And let him take hold of My strength.\"\n\nII. HOW MAY MAN TAKE HOLD OF GOD'S STRENGTH? 1. By _submission_ (Rom.\nvi. 13; Ps. li. 10). As nothing is so reasonable, so nothing is so\nwise as submission to God. 2. By _prayer._ Prayer is the hand of the\nchild stretching itself under that father's protecting power. Prayer\ntakes hold of God's strength. 3. By _obedience_ (1 Pet. i. 14). When\nSaul of Tarsus, after asking, \"Lord what wilt Thou have me to do?\"\nwent straightway and did God's will, then there came to him a moral\npower mightier than he had ever wielded before. 4. By _implicit trust\nin God's mercy_.[2]\n\nIII. THE RESULT OF THUS TAKING HOLD OF GOD'S STRENGTH. The result is\nthat Divine strength is infused into our minds. We become \"strong in\nthe Lord, and in the power of His might.\" Trust is the medium through\nwhich God's power is transmitted to man's weakness (Heb. vi. 19). We\ncan only really know those whom we love and trust (Dan. xi. 32). The\nmost invincible and lasting institution in the world is the Church of\nChrist, because composed of those who are \"partakers of the Divine\nnature,\" and whom God has made strong.--_William Parkes, F.R.G.S._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] _Cheyne_ translates and comments: \"_Or else_. . . . A truly\n     evangelical belief that God is willing to be reconciled\n     even to His enemies. . . . _Seize upon my fortress_--Let\n     him take sanctuary in the Name of Jehovah (Prov.\n     xviii. 10); in short, let him become a believing servant of\n     Jehovah. _'Fortress,'_ a symbolical name for a protecting\n     deity, as xvii. 10, Ps. lii. 7 (9).\" _Kay:_ \"Or, 'Let a man\n     lay hold of My strong refuge;' let him flee to my altar of\n     reconciliation (cf. 1 Kings i. 50).\"\n\n [2] \"I think I can convey the meaning of this passage so that\n     every one may understand it, by what took place in my own\n     family within these few days. One of my children committed\n     a fault for which I thought it to be my duty to chastise\n     him. I called him to me, explained to him the evil of what\n     he had done, and told him how grieved I was that I must\n     punish him for it. He heard me in silence, then rushed into\n     my arms, and burst into tears. I could sooner have cut off\n     my arm than have then struck him for his fault; he had\n     taken hold of my strength--he had made peace with\n     me.\"--_Toller._\n\n\n\nTHE FUTURE PROSPERITY OF ISRAEL.\n\n     xxvii. 6. _He shall cause them, &c._[1]\n\nIt did not often happen to ancient nations to rise into new vigour\nafter being conquered and removed. Ancient Assyria and Babylon fell,\nand their influence faded. But it was otherwise with Israel. They had\nflourished; abused their trust; were punished by being conquered and\nremoved. But they did not perish. From the Babylonian grave they\nrose. Centuries longer they existed, until their crowning sin. No\nfurther need for their national existence. It ceased. But their\nseparate identify as a race continued. The Jew is everywhere.\nEverywhere he is a witness to the truth of the Bible. And the\n_influence_ of the Jewish people continues. The influence of the\nclassic writers of Greece and Rome continues. Their study is\nessential to a liberal education. But only the few enjoy that\nadvantage. The literature of the Jewish race was confined almost\nentirely to their sacred books. But how wide its influence! Read by\nthe scholar and the peasant, &c. Lifts men's thoughts above the level\nof this world, and presents a loftier ideal of human character than\nany of the mere \"thinkers\" of ancient or modern times.\n\nNor is it only the perpetuation and influence of a literature. It is\nthe perpetuation of a type of moral life. One who came of Jacob has\nexerted and is exerting an influence never equalled. Born in a\nmanger, trained in poverty, dying on a cross, He has been and is the\nfountain of spiritual life to millions. In him they have become a new\nseed of Jacob (Gal. iii. 29).\n\nThe text foretells the stability, the growth, and the diffusion of\nthe Church.\n\nI. ITS STABILITY. _\"Take rest.\"_ This is necessary to _growth._ And\n_life_ is necessary to _it._ You may plant a stone, or a piece of\ndried wood, but it can never take root. Why? It wants the mysterious\nprinciple called life. Reasons for this. And the roots are the\nfirmest part of the plant. Hence the metaphor--a man is rooted in his\nposition. Fine forest-tree with roots, like arms, many feet on every\nside. Impossible to dislodge that tree. This is one of the emblems of\nthe stability of the Christian's spiritual position (Col. ii. 7).\nThus the stability of the Church, the aggregate of spiritual men, is\nset forth in the text. It has struck its roots so deep, and spread\nthem so far, that, as hitherto, so in the future, it shall continue.\nStorms of opposition, persecution, infidelity unable to uproot it.\n\"The gates of hell shall not prevail.\"\n\nII. ITS GROWTH. Rooting of a tree only valuable in relation to its\ncontinued life and growth. Look at it in the individual member of the\nspiritual Israel. In the living tree in spring the bud breaks forth,\nthen the beautiful blossom--promise of the fruit. So in the Christian\nlife. Gradually it develops by a certain though irregular\nprogression. Nor will this promise of fruitfulness be falsified (Gal.\nv. 22, 23; Rom. vi. 22; Ps. xcii. 13, 14; H. E. I., 2508-2516,\n2538-2544). Multiply this by the number of living members in any\nChurch, and how much of spiritual goodness, and beauty will be in\nthat circle! Not only within it, but in the homes, among the\nneighbours, over the whole sphere of their influence. Then multiply\nthis by all the Churches. What an amount of moral beauty thus in the\nworld!\n\nIII. ITS DIFFUSION. _\"And fill the face of the world with fruit.\"_\nThis vision was always present to the prophet's eye. Suppose it\nrealised, and the whole world converted. Then the world will be\nfilled with goodness. But it is all in the spiritual succession from\nJacob. How much comes of little! So it has ever been; small\nbeginnings, gradual growth, great endings.\n\nDo you say you cannot believe in the world's conversion? Do you\nbelieve the harvest comes from the seed? That Jesus multiplied the\nloaves? Is anything too hard for the Lord?--_J. Rawlinson._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Note the translation of this verse by Alexander and\n     Delitzsch, in which Kay, Birks, and Cheyne concur.\n\n\n\nTHE DAY OF THE EAST WIND.\n\n     xxvii. 8. _In measure, when Thou sendest it forth, &c._\n     (_Margin_).\n\nWe have often complained of the bitterness and depressing effects of\nthe \"east wind.\" In Bible lands it was scorching and destructive (Job\nxxi. 18; xxvii. 12; Gen. xli. 6). Israel is represented in this\nchapter as a vineyard, of which God was the proprietor and guardian\n(ver. 3). The removal of the people to Babylon seemed to contradict\nthis declaration. They presented the appearance of a vineyard uncared\nfor, forsaken, neglected, and spoiled. The east wind, sweeping over\nit, marred its beauty and checked its growth, and its desolation\nseemed complete. The question arises, Does God really mean what He\nsays when He engages to keep His vineyard with continued care? In\nreply to this question the prophet speaks here. He justifies the ways\nof God to man, explaining the Divine procedure, and showing the\npurpose of that afflictive dispensation which He visited upon His\nbeloved vineyard. What a consoling subject, is here presented,--the\ntrials of the godly (1), in their severity, and (2), in their\nmitigation.\n\nI. THE SEVERITY OF CHRISTIAN TRIAL. Our seasons of sharp distress and\nloss are fitly set forth as _\"the day of the east wind,\"_ biting and\npiercing, when the heart is joyless and depressed. God, who sends it,\nmeans us to feel its keenness. The severity of our trials\nappears--1. _In the time when they overtake us._ The east wind\nprevails with us in the early spring. So in our experience of life,\nwhen all is full of fair promise, our hopes are blasted. A young and\ntender faith is often sorely tested. We would push adversity into old\nage, with youth as a course of uninterrupted joy; but at the most\nunlikely periods the day of the east wind sweeps over us. 2. _In\ntheir violence._ The wind of adversity seems to us cruel and\ndevastating. We speak of a reverse or bereavement as \"a sad blow.\"\n3. _In their continuance._ We could tolerate an occasional day of\neast wind, but when it blows persistently for weeks, we begin to\ngrumble. Afflictions sometimes follow each other in rapid succession.\nThe night of weeping is long and dark, and it seems as if the morning\nof joy would never break (H. E. I., 52, 53). 4. Because of _the\naspect in which God appears to us when we are under them._ He seems\nto be contending, \"debating\" with us, to be opposed to us. This gives\nthe keenest poignancy to our griefs. How unworthy, often, is the view\nwe form of God's character in the day of the east wind, charging Him\nwith partiality and injustice. Of all ingredients that embitter the\ncup of suffering, this is the most bitter, but it is an ingredient\nwhich the sufferer puts in with his own hand. As in the time of east\nwinds weak and cheerless people fall into dull, moody fits, the\nsighing breezes chiming in with the dull music of their own spirits,\nso in the day of adversity the soul sometimes loses its sense of the\nDivine Love.\n\nII. THE MITIGATING, ALLEVIATING CIRCUMSTANCES. 1. The day of the east\nwind is _well timed._ It blows at the right season, in the early\nspring. It may nip a few opening buds, but if it did not come out\nthen, it would retard vegetation to a fatal extent afterwards. The\nyouth may complain of his hard struggle, but it nurses a manly\ncharacter. 2. Trial is _limited in its duration._ The east wind does\nnot blow all the year round. These cold blasts usher in the spring.\n3. _God moderates its severity._ \"In measure\" (1 Cor. x. 13). Sorrow\nis nicely adjusted to the heart on which it falls (H. E. I., 187,\n188). 4. The following verse suggests a further alleviation,\nviz.:--_The gracious purpose accomplished by trial,_ to purge\niniquity, and take away sin. God appoints our sorrow for the\nuprooting of our sin. The physician finds it necessary to adopt sharp\nmeasures, but his operation is wise and kind. A proneness to idolatry\nwas Israel's sin, and, to check this, the nation is sent into exile.\nThough He removed it with \"His rough wind in the day of His east\nwind,\" the fruit or effect was to uproot a besetting sin (H. E. I.,\n85-89, 116, 211). 5. Another mitigating circumstance is found in\nverse 7. _God makes a distinction between His people and the world._\nGreat as Israel's sufferings were, the judgments which descended on\ntheir enemies were far more terrible, not corrective, but destructive\n(1 Cor. xi. 32). The surly blasts of the east wind may howl and chafe\nand spend their rage on God's vineyard, but they are only the last\nremnants of the dreary winter. To those who are in covenant with God\nevery wind that blows is charged with blessing (H. E. I., 108).\n\nCONCLUDING REMARKS. 1. When the east wind of trial begins to blow\nupon us, let us hasten, not to blame God, but to examine and blame\nourselves. Though trials are not always punitive, or even corrective,\nthey are very frequently so; and in our case, as in that of Israel,\nthe reason why the east wind is blowing probably is because there is\niniquity in us that needs to be purged away (ver. 8; H. E. I., 114).\n2. When the east wind is blowing upon us, instead of murmuring let us\nrecall the mitigating circumstances of which I have reminded you, and\nlet us thank God that He loves us too much to leave us under the\npower of iniquity (Heb. xii. 5-10; H. E. I., 162-165).--_William\nGuthrie, M.A._\n\n\n\nTHE AFFLICTIONS OF GOD'S PEOPLE.\n\n     xxvii. 7-9. _Hath He smitten him as He smote his smiter, or\n     was he slain as his slayers were slain? In exact measure,\n     when dismissing her, Thou didst contend with her; He scared\n     her away with His rough blast in the day of the east wind.\n     Therefore on these terms_ [or, hereby] _shall the guilt of\n     Jacob be purged, and this shall be all the fruit of taking\n     away his sin, when he maketh all the altar-stones like\n     lime-stones dashed in pieces, that Ash\u00e9ras and sun-images\n     rise up no more.--Cheyne._\n\nThis is a continuation of the song of the vineyard (vers. 2-6). That\nsong was to be sung after deliverance from disasters which had come\nupon God's chosen people, as the chastisement of their sins. The\nprophet here pauses to reflect and to instruct them. His instructions\nare of exceeding value to us, for God acts on the same principles in\nevery age.\n\nI. GOD'S PEOPLE ARE OFTEN SEVERELY AFFLICTED.\n\nThey fail in duty, or they even transgress His commandments. Then\nthey certainly suffer. Utter is the delusion that _they_ may sin with\nimpunity. Unlike human parents, God never spoils His children; He has\nno foolish fondness for them that would lead Him to be blind to or\ntolerant of their faults. On the contrary, sin in them is most\ngrievous to Him (H. E. I., 4563-4570), and the chastisement thereof\nis certain and often severe (Amos iii. 2). Terrible was the\npunishment which Isaiah foresaw would come upon Israel--deportation\nto the land of their conquerors. In that calamity what varied and\nawful sufferings were involved! So it is still! there is severity as\nwell as mercy in the God we serve. Because he loves us, He will not\nallow us to go on to ruin unchecked. By terrible calamities, if need\nbe, He will arrest us in the path to perdition.\n\nII. IN THE SEVEREST AFFLICTIONS WHEREWITH GOD VISITS HIS PEOPLE HIS\nMERCY IS MANIFEST.\n\nManifest, 1. +In the fact that they befall them here and now.+ How\nkind in Him, not to stand silently by, and leave them to go on\nunchecked to ruin! Remember, the sinner has no claim upon the mercy\nof God in any form. 2. +In the restraint with which they are measured\nout.+[1] There is no passion or vindictiveness in God's dealings with\nthem that provoke Him to anger. Though His chastisements may seem to\nburst upon the backslider like a hurricane of east wind, in reality\nmercy controls and directs the storm. \"In exact measure,\" &c.[2]\nBecause it is so exactly measured out by mercy, (1) _it always falls\nshort of the guilt of the sinner._ Did justice measure it out, so\nthat it should be commensurate with the guilt of the transgressor, it\nwould mean destruction. This is seen in the case of the enemies of\nGod. Persistent ungodliness is visited at length, not with\nchastisement, but with judgment, _i.e.,_ utter ruin (note the picture\nof the doom of Babylon in verses 10, 11). So that when God's erring\npeople have been chastened most severely, His prophets can put to\nthem Isaiah's question in verse 7. To it they can only return the\nanswer given in Ps. ciii. 10. (2) _It always falls short of the\ntransgressor's power of endurance_ (H. E. I., 180, 187). When it is\nended, he still lives--lives to bless the hand that smote him (Ps.\ncxix. 71, 75, 67). 3. +In the motive that inspires them all.+ By them\nGod seeks, not the destruction of His erring people, but their\ndeliverance. Israel was held in the degrading bondage of idolatry;\nthe terrible calamites of the captivity were the strokes by which He\nbrake their fetters. When the discipline was over, they hated\nidolatry in all its forms; all the altar-stones in which they had\ndelighted were \"like lime-stones dashed in pieces,\" and the Ash\u00e9rahs\nand sun-images rose in their midst no more. It is the same motive\nthat inspires Him in all His afflictive dealings with His people\nto-day (H. E. I., 56-59, 66-74). Therefore, if He is visiting us with\nafflictions,--1. Let us not be rebellious, but submissive (H. E. I.,\n158). 2. Let us be moved to penitential self-examination (H. E. I.,\n145-147). 3. Let us give heartfelt thanks to God because He is\nresolved to make us like Himself (Heb. xii. 10; H. E. I., 162-165).\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] See pp. 5 (GOD'S INDICTMENT AGAINST ISRAEL), 20 (GOD'S\n     RELUCTANCE TO PUNISH).\n\n [2] Verse 8, _In measure._ Rather, _with measure by measure:_\n     Heb. \"with _seah-seah,_\" a seah, being the third part of an\n     ephah, was a moderate measure. With forbearance and\n     graduated severity, dealing out punishment in carefully\n     adjusted quantities, and at successive times, \"not\n     suffering Thy whole displeasure to arise,\" \"correcting with\n     judgment, not in anger\" (Jer. x. 24, xxx. 11).--_Kay._\n\n\n\nTHE DISCIPLINE OF SIN.\n\n     xxvii. 9. _By this, therefore, shall the iniquity of Jacob\n     be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin._\n\nThe history of God's ancient people is a Divine teaching. He had\nbrought them into special relations to Himself, and had conferred on\nthem special privileges. They were intended to be witnesses for Him\nin the world. To a large extent they failed. Instead of persistent\nfaithfulness to their mission, they repeatedly fell into idolatrous\npractices. Punishment came. They repented. But when the impression\nwas gone, they renewed the sin. For centuries this continued, until\nthe captivity. Then they finally renounced idolatry. This was the\nDivine design in permitting that disaster to befall them. The prophet\nforetold it with suggestive accuracy. \"By this shall the iniquities\nof Jacob be purged,\" &c.\n\nTheir conduct, and the Divine dealing with them, finds its parallel\nin the history of the modern Church. The parallel holds--\n\nI. WITH REGARD TO THEIR SIN.\n\nThe spiritual Jacob sins. Saintly individuals, here and there, whose\nconduct is an honour to the gospel; but comparatively limited number.\nMany who in youth felt strongly have seriously declined from the\nwarmth of their first love. Instead of keeping themselves from the\nworld, they are under its influence; like imperfect swimmers, who get\nwithin the power of a wave and find they have neither strength nor\nskill to cope with it. They listen to the sentiments of the world on\nmatters of religion and morality. By little and little they conform.\nLike Samson, when shorn of his locks, they become weak as other men.\nFrom contentment with imperfection they become reconciled to positive\nsin. Sometimes they even exceed their teachers. Christian professors\nwho have declined into sinful ways often become worse than those from\nwhom they have taken their lesson.\n\nAnd does not God hate sin in them as He hates it in others? A man's\nstanding in Christ is nothing, if he is living in wilful sin. It\ndeadens his conscience, interrupts his communion with God, exposes\nhim to the peril of final apostasy and perdition. Read the former as\nwell as the latter part of 1 John i. 7. (H. E. I., 4563-4570.)\n\nII. WITH REGARD TO THE DISCIPLINE OF SIN.\n\nThe discipline God sent to the Jewish people was--\n\n1. _Severe._ It seemed hard to be driven from their beautiful city to\na foreign land, possibly to be absorbed in its population or held in\nslavery. Nor had they the consolation of knowing that they had not\nbrought it on themselves. God knows how to regulate the severity of\nsuffering according to all the facts that must be taken into account,\nand all the ends that are to be served. However severe our\nsufferings, we are compelled to admit that they are always less than\nwe deserve. But if His strokes are to be felt, they must sometimes be\nsevere.\n\n2. _Punitive._ God punished Jacob for his sin; but He did not cast\nhim off. His disapprobation of sin had been shown in words; now it\nmust be shown by punishment (Hos. xii. 2). The sufferings of God's\npeople are sometimes trials of faith. But they are often punishments.\nWhen a parent inflicts punishment, does he mean that he has disowned\nhis child? Does it not spring from and prove the relation between\nthem? God punishes as a father: and because He is a father. But this\nis different from allowing the penal consequences of sin to fall\nfully on them. That would be disownment, perdition. He fulfils His\nword (Ps. lxxxix. 30-37. H. E. I., 56-59, 66-70).\n\n3. _Corrective._ \"Purged; and this is all the fruit, to take away his\nsin.\" No man's suffering can atone for his sin. That comes another\nway. The Divine One has atoned. Here repentance, reformation is\ncontemplated. As when the husbandman prosecutes his labours he aims\nto produce the fruit, so God's design in His people's troubles is to\ntake away their sin. A rough method; but necessary. The wild storm\ndamages but purifies. The vine-dresser cuts off branches that the\ntree may bear more fruit. The sharp frosts of affliction kill the\nweeds of sin. The medicine is distasteful, but it attacks and\ndislodges the disease.\n\nBut have afflictions invariably this effect? No. Sometimes received\nin a rebellious spirit; God not recognised in them; thoughtfulness\nnot encouraged; the heart is hardened; comfort is sought from\npernicious sources; the soul is driven further from God and deeper\ninto sin.\n\nBut when trouble is sanctified--(1.) _It suggests serious\nthoughtfulness._ How has it come? From God? Why? Sin. Our moral\ninstincts point to retribution. Perhaps some particular sin. May be\nan immediate connection of the punishment--with intemperance for\ninstance, or fraudulent business transactions. There will be\nself-examination. God, responsibility, eternity will be realised.\n(2.) _It produces self-humiliation._ Confession of sin. Penitential\ncry for mercy at the cross. Renewed self-dedication. (3.) _It\nreawakens spiritual life._ It is a reason for the reception of fresh\nimpetus. New earnestness in the culture of holiness; new watchfulness\nagainst evil. Like a child corrected.\n\nThen if troubles surround you--(1.) Be conscious of God's hand. Look\nbeyond the secondary causes. (2.) Justify God in His dealing. (3.) Be\npatient; wait His time. (4.) Study His design in sending the trouble.\nAnd unite with Him for the accomplishment of that design (H. E. I.,\n143-154).--_J. Rawlinson._\n\n\n\nTHE DOOM OF THE INCORRIGIBLE.\n\n     xxvii. 10, 11. _Yet the defenced city, &c._\n\nI. WHAT A WONDERFUL PICTURE! Proud Babylon so utterly overthrown that\non its site cattle feed, and women gather dried sticks for firewood.\nWhat an astonishing faith that rendered it possible for any one even\nto conceive of such a national revolution. That faith grew out of a\nvictorious confidence in the righteousness of God as the ruler of the\nworld, and in His faithfulness to His promises. Such a faith we\nshould cultivate when we see iniquity triumphant. Its utter overthrow\nis sure. II. WHAT AN ASTONISHING DECLARATION! \"For it is a people of\nno understanding; therefore,\" &c. It appears to be in direct\ncontradiction to our Saviour's prayer, \"Father, forgive them, _for\nthey know not what they do._\" But in the latter case the ignorance\nwas involuntary; in the former, it was deliberate and persistent.\nBabylon resisted every effort God made to instruct her, and persisted\nin her career of defiance of His authority and of outrage on all the\nclaims of man. Such obduracy was at length confronted by Divine\njustice, and then ensued utter ruin. This is the eternal law of the\nuniverse. Therefore, let the impenitent tremble, for persistence in\nsin forfeits all our claims upon God as our Creator (H. E. I., 4488,\n4489).\n\n\n\nTHE GOSPEL TRUMPET.\n\n     xxvii. 13. _And it shall come to pass in that day that the\n     great trumpet, &c._\n\nThe Jews had been scattered everywhither--some wandering in Assyria,\nand some exiled in Egypt; but their coming back, as by the call of a\ntrumpet, is here predicted. The passage is strongly descriptive of\nthe exiled and perishing condition of sinful men, and of their return\nat the trumpet-call of the Gospel.\n\nI. THE SINNER'S CONDITION. He is--1. An exile. 2. He is ready to\nperish.\n\nII. THE GOSPEL TRUMPET.\n\nIt was not fashioned by man. 1. It is great in its _power._ In a\nstill night you may hear a brazen trumpet two or three miles away;\nbut this is so mighty that it is not only heard from heaven to earth,\nbut it is to arrest the attention of all nations. Men with physical\nhearing all gone catch the first strain of it. Men buried half a\ncentury in crimes have heard it. 2. It is great in its _sweetness._\n3. It is a trumpet of _alarm._ It puts us on our guard against the\nfoes who are advancing to destroy us. 4. It is a trumpet of\n_recruit._ It summons us to join the standard of the Son of God.\n5. It is a trumpet of _retreat._ It warns us against the\nfool-heartiness of entering into temptation. 6. It is a trumpet of\n_victory._ It tells of victories achieved, and of others still more\nglorious yet to be won. 7. It is a trumpet of _awakening._\n\nAs chaplain I was a little while in the army. Early every morning we\nwere awakened by a trumpet sounding the r\u00e9veille. At that sound all\nthe troops arose from the tents, hastened to their places in the\nline, and answered the roll-call. That done, they went to their\nmorning rations. We who are the soldiers of Christ cannot always be\nmarching and fighting. The evening will come. The shadows will\ngather, and we must go to the white tents of the grave. There we\nshall sleep soundly. But the night will pass along, and the first\nthing we shall hear will be the trumpet-call sounding the r\u00e9veille of\nthe resurrection; and we shall come up and fall into the long line of\nlight, the trophies of Christian conflict gleaming in the unsetting\nsun. The roll shall be called, and we shall answer to our names; and\nthen we shall go to the morning repast of heaven (1 Cor.\nxv. 52-55).--_De Witt Talmage, D.D.: Christian World Pulpit,_ i. 410.\n\n\n\nENGLAND'S CRYING SIN.\n\n     xxviii. 1-4. _Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards\n     of Ephraim, &c._[1]\n\nEphraim one of the most important of the tribes. It occupied some of\nthe richest land, about the middle of Palestine. When the ten tribes\nformed a separate kingdom, Ephraim was the principal tribe in it.\nHence the new kingdom was sometimes called Ephraim. Its capital\nSamaria, here called \"the crown of pride.\" It was a position of great\nnatural strength. Its situation exceedingly beautiful. The sides of\nthe hill on which it was built sloped down to rich valleys, covered\nwith beautiful flowers and fruit-bearing trees. \"Glorious beauty.\"\n\"Fat valleys.\" No wonder the people were proud of it. When this\nprophecy was written, it was at the height of its pride. But it was\ndoomed. The glorious beauty was a fading flower. The crown of pride\nwas to be trodden under feet. Samaria was a delicious morsel for the\ninvader, plucked and eaten as soon as seen. Shalmanezer, with the\nAssyrian host, invaded, overcame, carried the people away, never to\nreturn. Unlike Judah in this respect. An unsolved problem to this\nday, where are the ten tribes? do they still exist, or are they\nentirely extinct?\n\nIt was because of sin. The story of Samaria's idolatry. To tamper\nwith idolatry was to renounce allegiance to Jehovah. But that was not\nall. Serious moral obliquities came in the wake of idolatry. Among\nthese was intemperance. Had become a crying sin. Was helping to drag\nthe nation down to ruin. \"Woe to the crown of pride,\" &c.\n\nHere is a warning to England. England's crying sin is Samaria's\ncrying sin. God forbid that England should persist in it, so as to\nbring on herself Samaria's doom! Mark--\n\nI. ITS SINFULNESS. It was treated as sin in the case of Samaria. It\nis still a sin, as well as a vice and a crime. Keep to the text in\npointing out its sinfulness. Drunkards described as \"them that are\novercome with wine.\" Not a trifling thing to be overcome. The\ndrunkard allows a thing he loves to overcome him and rob him of that\nfor the safe keeping of which he is responsible to God. He is under\nobligation to keep himself for God, and he betrays his trust. What is\novercome?\n\n1. _Reason._ A great trust. Bound to use it to the best of our\nability; therefore to keep it in efficient working order so far as it\nlies in our power. If you lent a man a tool, or a machine, you would\nrequire him to keep it from injury. But strong drink contends with\nand overcomes reason. You attach no importance to opinions expressed\nor reasonings attempted by a drunken man. His reason has been\novercome by his own consent. He could not have been overcome if he\nhad refused to play with the enemy.\n\n2. _Conscience._ Is not conscience a sacred trust? Sentry at the door\nof character. Shall the sentry be drugged when the enemy is near?\nDoes not intemperance stupefy the conscience? Many a man who once\nwould have dreaded a sin more than a blow has become regardless of\nsin, regardless of God. Not only does intoxication deaden the sense\nof its own criminality; it lowers the moral tone as to everything\nelse. The moral nature becomes enfeebled. Any other temptation more\nlikely to succeed. By little and little comes over the soul a\ntendency to make light of every kind of sin. Communion with God is\nbroken off. Prayer is dull and comfortless exercise when the\nexcitement of intemperance has become attractive. The religious\nnature becomes dead or maudlin under the influence of drunkenness.\nAlas! that men should undermine and disable their noblest faculty!\n(H. E. I., 4498).\n\n3. _Physical strength._ Are not our bodies also entrusted to us to\nkeep safely for the uses the Maker intends? If the suicide who takes\nhis own life by a single stroke rushes into the presence of his Judge\nuncalled, must not the man who by negligence, folly, or vice,\nshortens his life answer for it in the same way? But the drunkard\ndoes this by being overcome with wine.\n\nII. ITS PENALTY. There was a worm at the root of the glorious beauty,\nand fruitfulness, and pride of Ephraim; and therefore it was a fading\nflower. The worm was their sinfulness. The drunkard may say that he\nis prosperous to-day; but the worm is at the root.\n\n1. Look at the consequences to himself. The _deteriorated character,_\nlowered tastes, lowered company of many a well-educated and splendid\nyoung man, and many a beautiful promising boy. _The social\ndegradation._ \"Trodden down.\" Avoided and despised by former\nassociates. _The ruined circumstances._ Gradually downwards, and\nfinally at the depth of poverty. _The Lost Eternity._ \"No\ninheritance.\" 2. Look at the consequences to his family. Wife\nunhappy. Children uneducated and untrained. Home impoverished and\ndesolate. There is a skeleton in that house. 3. Look at the\nconsequences to society. Drunkards usually seek society. Their\nexample influences others.\n\nHow to cure? How to prevent? 1. _Legislation._ Can the legislature do\nnothing more than it has done? What of Sunday closing? What of music\nsaloons? What of limitation of the hours? What of diminishing the\nnumber of houses? What of abolition of the traffic? 2. _Abstinence._\nUrge it on drunkards as their only chance of recovery. On the young\nas their best security. On Christians as the most effective protest\nand influential example. 3. _Religion._ Realise the sinfulness of\nintemperance. Let the grace of God reign over thoughts, appetites,\nhabits.--_J. Rawlinson._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] See pages 116 (THE MISERIES OF THE DRUNKARD) and 127 (DRINK\n     AND ITS WOES).\n\n\n\nTHE BELIEVER'S DIGNITY AND POWER.\n\n     xxviii. 5, 6. _In that day shall the_ LORD _of Hosts be for\n     you a crown, &c._\n\nThis sustaining assurance stands in striking antithesis to the solemn\nthreatenings and humbling charges which precede and follow it. It\nrises like some stately palace amid the ruins of man's humbled pride\nand broken hopes. This voice comes from heaven in the very hour of\nearth's desolation and decay. The prominent figure on the prophet's\ncanvas is very unlike the objects grouped around it. On the one side\nyou look into a lovely valley, in the centre of which, on a\ncommanding height, stands Samaria, the capital of the \"Ten Tribes,\"\n\"the crown of pride,\" \"the glorious beauty.\" But that proud crown is\nsoon to be cast to the ground; that \"glorious beauty\" is but a\ngarland of fading flowers; that luxuriant valley, whose very\n\"fatness\" was made the minister of sensual indulgence, will soon be\noverswept by the desolating march of the Assyrian invader; that gaudy\nsplendour, the boast of Ephraim's drunkards, is as short-lived as the\nwreaths which the revellers bind around their brows. The worm of\nintemperance is gnawing at the root of \"the fading flower,\" and\noverhead the storm is gathering that will blight its beauty. Turn now\nto the other side of the central figure, where the kingdom of Judah\nis introduced (ver. 7). Jerusalem as well as Samaria has her troops\nof reckless inebriates and her scenes of disgusting intoxication;\nthough her punishment is not so near as that of the northern kingdom,\nhere, too, are seen the marks of sure decline. On both sides, then,\nthe prophet's picture is gloomy and portentous--the earth a scene of\ndrunken revelry, and the black sky streaked with the lightnings of\nDivine wrath. But out of this sombre background of sottish\nintemperance and overhanging judgment, of falling crowns and fading\nwreaths, rises the luminous figure of our text. \"In that day\" of\nvanishing glory \"shall the Lord of Hosts,\" &c. In the fulness of its\nwealth this promise belongs to us; the Lord of Hosts has become to us\n\"a crown of glory.\"\n\nI. THE BELIEVER'S DIGNITY. Let us not tone down the grandeur of the\npromise. Christ is the crown with which the believer is invested. He\nis an heir of God, a partaker of the Divine nature. Let us see what\nis implied in this representation, bearing in mind the crown to which\nit stands in contrast. 1. It is a crown of _honour without\ninsecurity._ Man is like a discrowned and exiled king (Lam. v. 16).\nBut God has taken means to restore him his lost dignity (1 Cor.\ni. 30). The crown of original righteousness which sin has torn from\nour brows and trampled in the dust has been replaced by the\nrighteousness of Christ. How complete and glorious is His work in our\nbehalf, to what dignity does He raise us! This crown cannot be placed\non our head without inspiring us with a sense of honour, a feeling of\nrecovered power, of joy and hope and security. There may be a crowned\nhead without a kingly heart. A young prince may mount the throne\nincapable of discharging its duties, or, perhaps, trembling lest his\nnew dignity should make him a mark for the bullet of the assassin;\nbut the Christian's honour cometh from God, and, along with the\nrestored kingship, kingly qualities are imparted, so that no man can\ntake his crown. 2. This is a crown in which we may _boast without\npride._ Samaria was a crown of pride to the Ephraimites, and because\nthey gloried in it, it was soon to be overturned. But while this\ncrown of carnal confidence was thus to be swept away, God becomes to\nHis people a more glorious crown in which they might boast without\npride. When anything short of God is made our confidence it fosters\nvainglory, but with God as our crown all self-sufficiency is\nexcluded. 3. It is a crown of _joy without degradation._ As it does\nnot foster pride, so neither does it allow its wearer to descend to\nlow indulgence. Reference is probably made to the wreath of flowers\nworn by drunken revellers on festive occasions. Under the plea of\nfestive mirth they wallowed in the mire of sensuality. How soon their\ngarlands would fall in disorder _from_ their heads, or fall _with_\ntheir heads as they lay in senseless intoxication. The believer's\n\"diadem of beauty\" points to purity and self-control (Ps. iv. 7).\n4. It is an _unfading_ crown. This point in the contrast is equally\nobvious. And is not \"the fading flower\" an emblem of all our earthly\njoys?\n\n        \"All that sweet was made, but to be lost\n            when sweetest.\"\n\nThis world's fairest chaplets will soon wither on our brows; its\nhonours, possessions, and hopes are evanescent; but the Lord will be\nour everlasting crown, our God will be our eternal glory (H. E. I.,\n4975-4989).\n\nII. THE BELIEVER'S POWER.\n\nIn ver. 6 we have all the elements of personal power, social\nwell-being, and national greatness (Acts i. 8; Eph. v. 18). The\nindwelling Spirit confers three benefits. 1. _A clear head._ \"A\nspirit of judgment.\" Solomon asked this blessing. It does not fall to\nmany of us to sit on the bench, but what is good for the judge is a\nprecious gift for all. When the Spirit pours His light upon the mind,\nthe eyes of our understanding are enlightened. A clear intellect, a\nsound mind, an unwarped, unprejudiced judgment, is needed in all\nwalks of life. How appropriate is this part of the promise! How could\njustice be rightly administered in such a state of society as that\ndescribed by the prophet? If there is one thing that saps the morals,\nand muddles the understanding, it is intemperance. Men in positions\nof responsibility need all their wits about them. 2. _A brave heart_\nis promised \"to them who turn the tide of battle to the gate.\" The\nsoldier as well as the judge is to participate in the gifts of God's\nspirit. We have a spiritual warfare to wage (Eph. iv. 12), and we are\npledged to conquer the world for Christ. Beware lest we render\nourselves unfit for military service by luxurious habits, and sinful\nindulgence. The drunkards of Ephraim could do nothing to oppose the\ninvaders of their country. We need the Spirit to fire our hearts with\ncourage and enterprise. Without His influence we shall prove\npoltroons. 3. _A strong arm._ Self-denial is a source of moral\ncourage and of spiritual strength. Far from us be the dissoluteness\nwhich enfeebles our powers, both of mind and body.\n\nSuch, then, are the contents of this precious promise. Oh, that we\nwere all invested with this crown of holiness, dignity, and beauty.\nHow many are content with the gilded coronets and fading chaplets of\nthe world. You remember the scene in the \"Pilgrim's Progress,\" part\nii., which has been made the subject of a painting by Sir Noel\nPaton--the man raking straw while one held a glittering crown over\nhis head. Make Christ your boast. The crown of pride shall be hurled\nto the ground, the garlanded revellers shall sink in their own\ncorruption, the honours which men so eagerly seek are as a fading\nflower, but the crown shall sparkle for ever on the believer's head\n(Dan. xii. 3; Ps. xc. 17).--_William Guthrie, M.A._\n\n\nGod has said He would discrown Ephraim, remove his beauty, and strain\nhis pride. This was done when Samaria was overthrown by the\nAssyrians. \"In that day\" He would do to the \"residue of His\npeople\"--apparently the kingdom of Judah--what is said in our present\ntext. It was done in the reign of Hezekiah, when the true worship was\nre-established, reformation effected, and the nation defended against\nits enemies.\n\nThe text may be regarded, however, as a description of the splendour\nof the regenerated world.\n\nI. THE PERSONS INTERESTED.\n\n\"The residue of His people: him that sitteth in judgment: and them\nthat turn the battle to the gate.\" All classes. Brave defenders;\ngovernors and administrators of justice, and the great mass of the\npeople. Hence we observe that the blessing of the Gospel is needed by\nand suited to every class and every man. If there be a man anywhere\nwho does not need it, it is either because--(1), he has no soul to\nsave; or (2), he has not sinned; or (3), he is sufficient in himself\nto remove sin and its consequences from himself. But none of these\ncan be said of any man.\n\nII. THE BLESSING PROMISED.\n\nIt consists in that which the Lord will be to the regenerated world.\n1. _Honour._ Men mistake the things that constitute the true honour\nand dignity of human nature. Sounding titles; enormous wealth;\npersonal beauty; commanding intellect; undisputed power. They are all\ninsufficient and insecure, like fading flowers. God is the true crown\nof glory to man. When the soul returns from its wanderings to God and\nis re-united to Him through Christ, the crown is placed upon his head\n(Jer. ix. 23, 24). 2. _Wisdom._ Both in barbarous and civilised\ncountries, man without the Gospel is ignorant of the character of\nGod, and of the way to approach Him (1 Cor. i. 21). He gropes about\nin the darkness, if he desire to find Him at all. But Christ is made\nof God to us \"wisdom,\" as well as \"righteousness, sanctification, and\nredemption.\" In Him the Divine character is closely seen in the\nfulness, harmony, and glory of its attributes. In Him also we learn\nhow man can be reconciled to God, and the way to eternal life.\n3. _Strength._ Not physical, nor intellectual power, however valuable\nin the regions proper to them. But moral power; the power of the\nhuman will; the most important power of all. This alone possesses the\nterrible capacity of resisting the Almighty. The most powerful\nanimals act as they have been created to act. All mechanical forces\nact according to their laws. But man, possessed of will, is possessed\nof a power that can either defy or obey the authority of Omnipotence.\nWhen the Gospel comes to the human heart, it constrains the will into\na mighty force for good. God and man combine to overthrow the empire\nof evil in the heart and in the world. \"The Lord of hosts is for\nstrength to them that turn the battle to the gate.\"\n\nIII. THE TIME INDICATED.\n\n\"In that day.\" Christ came \"in the fulness of time.\" There are\nreasons and circumstances specially favourable to the advancement of\nthe kingdom of Christ. There is a time in the purpose of Jehovah when\nall nations shall walk in the light. We may mark the circumstances\nwhich are usually indicative of the further spread of the Gospel.\n1. When there is a time of special revival, reformation, and\nearnestness in the Church. As in time of Hezekiah. 2. When God stirs\nup His people to exert themselves for the world's salvation, it is a\nsign that the world's salvation is coming on apace. \"When God enters\nthe chamber, and awakens His children, and bids them rise, it is a\nsign that the morning has come.\" 3. When the church longs, waits,\nprays for the success of the work, the time is likely to have come.\n\"As soon as Zion travailed she brought forth her children.\" Let the\nChurch of Christ really desire, believe in, pray for the world's\nconversion, and God will open the windows of heaven and pour down the\nblessing. Have you been sufficiently interested in the world's\nsalvation? As individuals? Are we sufficiently interested in our\nown?--_J. Rawlinson._\n\n\n\nEARLY RELIGIOUS TRAINING.\n\n     (_Sunday School Anniversary Sermon._)\n\n     xxviii. 9, 10. _Whom shall He teach knowledge? &c._\n\nWhether we regard these verses as the language of the drunkards of\nEphraim, deriding the Lord's messengers for the plainness and urgency\nof their unwelcome instructions, or as the language of the prophet\nhimself affirming interrogatively the spiritual ignorance and\nimbecility of the people, with their prophets and priests, they\nsuggest the importance of earnestly instructing the young in the\nknowledge of our relations to God and eternity. We may turn to them\nmore hopefully than to the old. Youth is the time for learning. In\nthe first ten years of life are laid the foundations of the social\nand religious character which every man carries to the grave.\nTherefore we should not leave them to be laid haphazard, but should\ndo our utmost to bring it to pass that they shall be such that on\nthem can be built the structure of a holy life. To accomplish this we\nmust instruct them in the revealed will of God. 1. The youth learns\nnothing good until he is taught. Though wise to do evil, to do good\nhe has no knowledge. 2. The young mind is susceptible of deep and\nenduring impressions (H. E. I., 775, 776, 786). 3. Scriptural\nknowledge is not only of surpassing value, but is more easily\nimparted to the young than most of that human knowledge for which the\nopening powers are often severely taxed. If difficulties arise from\nimmaturity and levity of mind, they are more than balanced by freedom\nfrom the prejudices of age, and the perplexing cares of life; by\ntheir docility and instinctive desire to penetrate the unknown; by\nthe eagerness with which they seize upon the explanations of facts in\nnature and providence, or on similitudes and allegories; and by their\nunsuspecting confidence in the ability of their appointed teachers.\nTheir natural aversion to God is but partially developed, and waits\nthe coming of riper years to mature its strong resistance to the\nDivine claims. 4. The weightiest obligations rest on parents to give\ntheir children religious instruction (H. E. I., 803-806). When\nparents are unable to do so personally, through defect of ability, or\nthe urgency of paramount duties, it is their privilege to do so\nthrough the kind offices of others. 5. A failure in the discharge of\nparental obligations to children imposes on others who fear God the\nduty of teaching the knowledge. They are immortal; for them Christ\ndied. Of the fulness and glory of the results of a faithful\nperformance of this duty no adequate conception can be formed by us\non this side of heaven.--_R. S. Storrs, D.D., American National\nPreacher,_ xix. 121-141.\n\n\n\nTHE POWER OF LITTLES.\n\n     xxviii. 10. _Here a little and there a little._\n\nThe application of this text is first of all to the impressions\nproduced by the Word of God and the efficacy of constant religious\ninstruction. But it is in this same way, by little and little, that\nall great and lasting impressions are made and the mightiest results\naccomplished.\n\n+I. The processes of nature.+--Mighty and sudden changes are not the\nrule, but gradual and prepared ones. The seasons, the months, day\ninto night, night into day--how gradual and imperceptible the\ntransitions. The germination of seed, &c. +II. The formation of\ncharacter.+--Little by little every man's character is _formed_\n(H. E. I., 709-711, 1836-1851) or _spoiled_ (H. E. I., 4521-4523,\n4720-4725). All the steps, successively, that lead either to heaven\nor hell are small, one by one, except in great crimes, and even then\nthere has been a gradual preparation for them (H. E. I., 428, 429).\nSo conversion, that great change of the soul, is prepared for\nimperceptibly (H. E. I., 1462). From minute and commonplace thoughts,\nwords, actions, results character for eternity! +III. Christian\nservice.+--Called not to acts of heroism, but to a faithful discharge\nof commonplace duties (H. E. I., 4149). +IV. Christian work.+--It is\nby little and little that, in such a world as this, we must do the\ngreater part of the good that we ever accomplish (H. E. I., 1725).\n+V. The training of children.+--Heavenly habits are to be formed in\nthem by the influence upon them of daily, familiar, minute, but\never-recurring examples set before them (H. E. I., 777-779, 790,\n802). +VI. Preparation for heaven.+--Try to gain a little for God, a\nlittle for heaven, a little more of grace _every_ day. Do this in\n_little_ things and you will accomplish _great_ things. Here a little\nand there a little will carry you on from step to step, from grace to\nglory (H. E. I., 2512, 2537).--_G. B. Cheever, D.D.: American\nNational Preacher,_ xxvi. 145-152.\n\n\n\nTHE SURE FOUNDATION.\n\n     xxviii. 16. _Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold! I\n     lay in Zion a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone\n     for a firm foundation; he that believeth shall not be in\n     haste.--Birks._[1]\n\nI. Who this foundation is. II. Where this foundation is laid.\nIII. The Author of this foundation. IV. The character of this\nfoundation. V. The safety of those who build upon it.--_R. Bingham,\nM.A.: Sermons,_ p. 202.\n\n\nI. God's foundation for the eternal salvation of sinners. II. Its\nproperties and excellences. III. The blessedness of those who build\nupon it.--_W. Hancock, B.D.: Sermons,_ pp. 1-16.\n\n\nThe person and salvation of Jesus Christ are frequently spoken of\nunder the image here presented, the most obvious and expressive image\nof security, that of a foundation. Our Saviour expressly appropriates\nto Himself (Psalm cxviii. 22). The same architectural idea appears in\nEph. ii. 20; 1 Pet. ii. 4-8.\n\n+I. The grand object which God proposed to Himself in all His\ndispensations to man,+ viz., the laying of a foundation in which the\nhope of a repenting sinner might rest, with regard to God and\nEternity. We trace this object, 1. In the primal promise (Gen.\niii. 15). 2. In the mysterious rite of sacrifice Divinely appointed\nfrom the beginning to prefigure \"the Lamb of God who taketh away the\nsins of the world.\" 3. In the whole system of the Mosaic law, \"The\nschoolmaster to bring us to Christ.\" 4. More and more distinctly\nannounced in the Psalms and Prophecies. The foundation proclaimed by\nJehovah in the text is the chief end of all He has done and revealed\nto mankind; the central point in which all the lines of His\nprovidence and His word meet and terminate. Nature supplies the\nscene, providence the scaffolding, revelation the plan, and that\nmighty spiritual edifice of which this is the foundation.\n\n+II. This foundation was needed.+ None will dispute this point. So\nsensible are men that they need a foundation for hope towards God,\nthat every one is disposed to lay his own. Every one feels that\nwithout some restitution made to a holy God sin cannot be pardoned\nnor the sinner saved. The question is, How shall a proper foundation\nbe laid? where shall an adequate restitution be found? The most\nimportant question in the universe to be answered and at the same\ntime the most difficult! (1 Sam. ii. 25). Only three kinds of\nrestitution on the part of man are imaginable--penitence, good works,\nvoluntary sufferings; but none of these, nor all put together, can be\ndeemed satisfactory in the case before us. 1. _Penitence_ is no\nfoundation of the soul before God; the most sorrowful remembrance of\nsin cannot repair it (H. E. I., 4225-4228). 2. Neither are _good\nworks,_ to which the same insufficiency attaches; they are always\nrequired, and therefore can never possess a superfluity or redundancy\nof merit (H. E. I., 375, 1950). And this applies to the best works;\nbut what are ours in the sight of God? 3. The only remaining kind of\nrestitution is by _voluntary sufferings:_ this, by its very\ndefinition, is absurd and vain, for if any sufferings are required\nthey become part of our duty; but to invent penances of our own is no\npart of our duty, and must be contradictory rather than satisfactory\nto the Divine law. Penitence, good works, voluntary sufferings, may\nbe methods of procuring for us the priestly absolution of a poor\nsinful man like ourselves; but they will not secure for us the Divine\nacceptance.\n\nIII. Observe, it is in the midst of the false foundations, the\n\"baseless fabrics\" of sinners, that God in our text introduces His\nown, +the only true and solid foundation.+ All who build their hope\non any other will be compelled at last to say, \"We have made lies our\nrefuge, and under falsehood we have hid ourselves.\" See 1 Cor.\niii. 10. The wonderful way in which this stone was laid; how a person\nof the Godhead assumed our human nature, He who was in the form of\nGod took the form of a servant, He became \"Jehovah our\nrighteousness.\" See 2 Cor. v. 19. He who laid the foundation of the\nheavens and the earth alone could lay this foundation in Zion!\n\n+VI. The excellent qualities of this foundation.+ It is\nrepresented--1. As _\"a tried stone:\"_ a foundation which has resisted\nthe strongest attempts to shake it,--that has stood the trial of\nunnumbered enemies and friends. It has been proved in the fiery trial\nof Divine justice, and the sins of the whole world have tried its\nstrength to sustain an overwhelming weight. The storms of persecution\nhave raged against it in vain, still it stands uninjured (Heb.\nxiii. 8)! In every respect \"a tried stone;\" tried by God, by Satan,\nby man; tried in life, in death, in eternity; tried by all the saints\nin all their trials; and never tried in vain! 2. As _\"a\ncorner-stone.\"_ The corner-stone unites both sides of an edifice; and\nSt. Paul represents Christ as Him in whom the whole building, fitly\ncompacted, rises a spiritual habitation of God (Eph. ii. 19-22).\n3. As _\"precious;\"_ precious in respect to the Saviour's Person as\nthe only begotten Son of God; in respect to His sacrifice; a\nfoundation composed not of corruptible things (1 Peter i. 18, 19).\n4. As _\"a sure foundation:\"_ not an imaginary one like every other,\nbut one real and substantial! In the Hebrew the word is reduplicated\nfor the greater emphasis, \"A foundation, a foundation!\" Not a\ntransitory but an eternal one. We are dying men; we sojourn in a\nworld of vanity and death; what we want is a \"sure foundation.\"\nBehold in Christ this grand desideratum!\n\n+V. The happiness of him who rests on this foundation.+ \"He that\nbelieveth shall not make haste;\" he shall not be thrown into\ndisquietude and agitation of spirit. Never has the strength of this\nfoundation been so well appreciated as when it was most tried, most\nneeded. When our flesh and our heart fail, then is the time to find\nin God the rock of our heart, in Christ the foundation of our soul!\n\nCONCLUSION.--But then we must possess the character defined in the\ntext; \"he that believeth,\" is he that amidst the wreck of nature\nshall be saved on this foundation. We must see to it that we have\nthat faith which is known by its fruits, which keeps the\ncommandments, purifies the heart, works by love, overcomes the world,\nresists the devil, rejoices in Christ.--_Robert Hall: Fifty Sermons,_\npp 68-86.\n\n\n+I. God's foundation for the stability of His Church.+ 1. _This\nfoundation was planned in the eternal counsels of Jehovah_ (1 Pet.\ni. 20; Luke xi. 50; Rev. xiii. 8). 2. _This foundation was actually\nlaid in the incarnation and sufferings of Jesus Christ_ (2 Cor.\nv. 21; Gal. iii. 13; 1 Pet. ii. 22). 3. _This foundation is\nproclaimed in the preaching of the Gospel_ (Luke xxiv. 47; Acts\nxiii. 38, 39).\n\n+II. The peculiar qualities by which this foundation is\ndistinguished.+ 1. It is a _stone, denoting strength._ 2. It is a\n_living stone._ Possessing life in Himself, He is able to communicate\nit (John i. 4, v. 26; Rom. viii. 2). 3. A _tried stone._ The Father\ntried it, earth tried it, hell tried it. 4. A _precious\ncorner-stone._ Corner-stones are generally placed for three purposes\nfor (_a._) union; for (_b._) beauty; for (_c._) direction or example.\n5. A _sure foundation._\n\n+III. The safety and blessedness of all those who depend upon this\nfoundation.+--_J. Sherman: British Pulpit,_ ii. 185-193.\n\n\nWhatever subordinate reference there may be in these words to the\nJews, the principle reference is to the Messiah. For this view we\nhave apostolic authority. St. Paul says: \"As it is written.\" Where?\nIn our text. \"Whosoever believeth in Him shall not be ashamed.\" And\nSt. Peter quotes from Isaiah the same text.\n\n+I. The Emblem of the Lord Jesus.+ \"A stone.\" Whether we consider Him\n\"a stone\" for solidity, or for strength, or for duration, He is all\nthese; for whatever changes may take place among men, with Him \"there\nis no variableness nor shadow of turning.\" Peter calls Him--1. A\n\"living stone,\" meaning that He has life in Himself, that He procures\nand dispenses it to others. So Paul (Col. iii. 4). 2. He is a _tried\nstone._ Everything in regard to Him was tried in the days of His\nflesh: His wisdom, His meekness, His love. 3. He is a _precious\nstone._ Precious to God the Father, to angels, to Christians (1 Pet.\nii. 7). 4. A precious _corner-stone._ The corner-stone stands to\nunite. He unites in His person deity and manhood. We see in Him\nunited the Old and New Testament dispensations. He unites Jews and\nGentiles (Eph. ii. 14).\n\n+II. His destination.+ \"Behold I lay in Zion,\" &c. 1. _Who lays this\nfoundation?_ GOD. 2. _Where does He lay this foundation?_ \"In\n_Zion._\" Jesus was a Jew, of the family of David. To the woman at the\nwell He said, \"Salvation is of the Jews.\" See Ps. cx. 2; and Isa.\nii. 2, 3, xxv. 6.\n\n+III. How well He answers the purpose and end.+ \"A sure foundation.\"\nHe is a sure foundation for all. Myriads have trusted in Him, and to\nthe whole world it may be said (Isa. xxvi. 4).\n\n+IV. The blessedness of those who make use of it.+ \"He that believeth\nshall not make haste.\" This declaration is not opposed to\n_diligence;_ now, for \"the King's business requireth haste.\" No (Ps.\ncxix. 60). But--1. To _impatience_ (see chap. v. 19). \"Blessed are\nthey that _wait_ on Him.\" 2. To _confusion._ Terror will overwhelm\nthe godless (Rev. i. 7). But believers (1 John ii. 28).\n\n+V. Observe the ushering in of the whole scene.+ \"Behold.\" Angels\npause before the great work of redemption, and \"desire to look unto\nthese things.\" \"Herein is His love made manifest.\" Behold He \"hath\ncommended His love, that while we were yet sinners Christ died for\nus.\" Be not of those who \"Behold and wonder and perish;\" but let the\ncommand inspire you with gratitude, admiration, obedience, and zeal.\n\"Hear, and your souls shall live.\"--_William Jay: Sunday Evening\nDiscourses,_ pp. 18-25.\n\n\n+I. The prominent idea of the text.+ Christ a foundation-stone.\n1. The _Builder_ is Jehovah Himself. He drew the plan of the\nspiritual building, determined the materials of which it should be\nconstructed, the stone on which it should rest, and then with His own\nhand laid that foundation. 2. The _Site_ of the building was \"Zion.\"\nThis is generally explained as referring to the Church. But is not\nthe Church the building? Is there not an incongruity in saying, I lay\nin the Church a foundation-stone on which the Church is to be built?\nIs there any reason why the passage might not be understood literally\nas referring to Jerusalem? Is there not a very appropriate sense in\nwhich it was true that the foundation on which the Church rests was\nlaid in Jerusalem? Was it not there that the Son of God offered up\nHimself as a sacrifice, and made atonement for man? Was it not there\nthat the Holy Spirit descended and gave effect to the finished work\nof redemption? Was it not there the gospel was first preached by the\napostles? And was not all this in accordance with the\npre-arrangements of God's plan? As Zechariah's fountain was to be\nopened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and as\nEzekiel's waters were to flow forth from the temple, so Isaiah's\nfoundation-stone was laid in Jerusalem. 3. The _building_ to be\nreared on this stone was to be composed of Christian men of all ages\nand all nations. They are being collected now; they will all as\nlively stones by gathered in, fitly framed together, and built upon\nthe foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself\nbeing the chief corner-stone.\n\n+II. The qualities attributed to this foundation-stone.+ 1. A _tried_\nstone. 2. A _precious_ corner-stone. How shall we estimate its worth?\nBy its intrinsic value? Precious beyond all price. By its scarceness?\nNo other stone like it in the universe. By the importance of the\nservice it renders in the building? Precious to the Builder, to the\nholy angels, to the redeemed before the throne, to believers on\nearth. 3. A _sure_ foundation. Firm, solid, safe.\n\n+III. The import of the promise annexed.+[2] 1. Shall not make haste,\nor be in haste. 2. Shall not be put to shame (Rom. ix. 33, x. 11, &c.)\n\nCONCLUSION.--If not on the foundation, get on it. If on it, keep on\nit. Be not content to build on it yourself, but try to induce others\nto do so.--_John Corbin._\n\n\n+I. Sinful, dying man needs a foundation on which he may securely\nrest his immortal hopes.+ Every man who studies his own nature and\ndestiny as immortal and accountable instinctively feels that he needs\nsomething to give him support under the trials of life, and peace and\nhope as he is about to enter upon the invisible world. This feeling\nmay exert no decisive influence over his conduct; it may be\ncounteracted by other influences; but it is in him; and he cannot get\nrid of it.\n\n+II. Such a foundation is laid for him in Zion.+ This foundation is\nour Lord Jesus Christ (1 Pet. ii. 4-6). It is described 1. as _a\nstone,_ indicating the solidity and durableness of that on which we\nare invited to rest our immortal interests. In rearing a building of\nany importance, we deem it essential that the foundation be laid in\nthe most enduring materials. How much more should we look for this\nwhen we build for eternity! 2. As _a tried stone._ It has been tested\nin every possible way, and in the severest manner, and therefore\njustly claims our full and unhesitating confidence.[3] Other grounds\nof hope have been resorted to by men--philosophy, infidelity,\nself-righteousness--but they have always failed in the day of trial.\nBut a countless multitude, as they have risen from earth to heaven,\nhave testified to the perfect safety of trusting in Christ. Hence it\nis called 3. _a precious stone._ How precious none can know but such\nas have made trial of it in their times of need--the sinner, burdened\nwith a sense of guilt, and sinking in despair; the believer,\nrejoicing in hope, and looking forward to heaven as his eternal home;\nthe dying Christian, as he closes his eyes on this world, in joyful\nhope of another and a better; the redeemed in glory, as they cast\ntheir crowns at His feet. Ask them what they think of Christ. 4. As\n_a corner-stone._ The principal weight of an edifice rests on the\ncorners; and hence, in building, the largest and firmest blocks are\nselected and placed there as best adapted to unite and support the\nwhole structure. This is the idea intended to be expressed when\nChrist is spoken of as a corner-stone. It is He who, by His truth,\nHis grace, and His spirit, converts and sustains the whole living\ntemple (Eph. ii. 20-22). 5. As summing up the whole--_a sure\nfoundation._ Hence it is said, \"He that believeth shall not make\nhaste.\"[4] The specific idea is that of a man on whose house the\ntempest beats, and who apprehends that the foundation is insecure, or\nfeels it to be giving way beneath him, and therefore makes haste to\nflee from his dwelling to seek a more safe position. The foundation\nlaid in Zion is so firm and secure that if a man trusts himself on\nit, he shall have no cause of alarm, however the storms may beat, and\nthe waves dash and foam around him. Amid the wreck of matter and the\ncrash of dissolving worlds, he shall not be confounded, but shall\ncome forth at last unharmed and victorious over all, and find in his\nJudge a friend, and in the kingdom of His Father and God an\neverlasting home.\n\n+III. It is the duty and privilege of all to build their hopes on\nthis foundation without delay.+\n\n--_Joel Hawes, D.D.: Sermons,_ pp. 307-317.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] _\"He that buildeth shall not make haste.\"_ The apostles\n     Paul and Peter, in citing this passage, quote from the\n     Septuagint, and accordingly they render it _\"he that\n     believeth shall not be ashamed\"_ (Rom. ix. 33), or\n     \"confounded\" (1 Pet. ii. 6). The Hebrew word properly\n     signified \"to make haste,\" and hence, according to one\n     lexicographer, \"to hurry hither and thither as persons in\n     confusion.\" The apparent discrepancy between the text as\n     given by Isaiah in the Old Testament and as quoted by the\n     apostles in the New vanishes at once when we consider the\n     nature of the future employed. Conceive the situation of a\n     man who has \"built his house upon the sand.\" The rains\n     descend, the floods beat upon that house, the foundations\n     begin to give way, the house totters to its fall, and the\n     frightened inmate, terrified and bewildered, \"makes haste\"\n     to escape to a place of safety. Another has built his house\n     upon the rock. Upon this also the rains descend and the\n     floods beat, but its firm foundations remain unmoved\n     because it is founded upon a rock, and its happy inmate, so\n     far from being obliged to \"make haste\" to escape, in\n     conscious security may smile at the storm. \"He that\n     believeth shall not make haste\"--\"shall not be\n     confounded\"--\"shall not be ashamed\" of his hope.--_John\n     Dowling, D.D._\n\n [2] A. V. _\"Shall not make haste.\"_ See translations by\n     Alexander and Delitzsch. Kay and Birks, _\"Shall not be in\n     haste.\"_ Cheyne, _\"He that hath faith shall not give way.\"_\n     The text reading does not suit the connection; it seems to\n     have arisen out of a confusion of the letters mem and\n     kheth. Sept., Tay., Pesh., feeling that something was\n     wrong, render freely \"Shall not be put to shame?\" But as to\n     the connection see preceding extract from Dowling.\n\n [3] If you had a bridge to cross which had stood for centuries\n     and over which thousands of people had passed every day\n     with entire safety, you would feel no hesitation in making\n     that of it yourself. So is Christ set before you--a\n     _tested_ foundation of hope.--_Hawes._\n\n [4] See note 1 above.\n\n\n\nOUR TRUST AND OUR TEST.\n\n     xxviii. 16. _A tried stone._\n\nThis phrase may be more literally rendered \"a stone for proof,\" and\nso rendered admits of two interpretations. The commonly received\nopinion, that it means a stone which has been tried and found\nsufficient is probably correct, and is more in harmony with the\ncontext; but Calvin understands by it a stone which was to be the\ntest or standard of comparison for others. However this may be, we\nhave inspired authority for saying that the stone is no other than\nour Lord Jesus Christ (1 Pet. ii. 6); and we may profitably consider\nHim in these two aspects, as our Trust and our Test.\n\nI. HE IS OUR TRUST, because He has been tried. \"Tried in the days of\nHis humanity by all the vehemence of temptations, and the weight of\nafflictions, yet, like gold from the furnace, rendered more shining\nand illustrious by the fiery scrutiny.\"--(_Hervey._) [For further\namplifications, see the other outlines on this text.--R.A.B.]\n\nII. HE IS OUR TEST. In Him we have the true touchstone of character.\nAll men naturally divide themselves into good or bad, saved or lost,\nby their acceptance or rejection of Him. By this touch-stone strange\ndiscoveries have been made in every age. The Pharisees and Scribes\nhad a high character for piety until this trying stone was applied to\nthem, and then it appeared what they were--the most inveterate\nenemies of God on earth. The reception which men gave to Jesus Christ\nis the great criterion of their character, as Simeon predicted (Luke\nii. 34). This is the supreme test by which God is trying _you,_ and\nby which your eternal destiny will be determined.--_Samuel Davies,\nA.M., Sermons,_ ii. 29-33.\n\n\n\nA TESTED SAVIOUR.\n\n     xxviii. 16. _A tried stone._\n\nThis is perhaps an allusion to the custom of builders who are about\nto lay the foundation for some massive structure. Before they raise\nthe edifice they test the character of the substratum on which they\nthink of building. Is not our blessed Lord in every way a tried, a\ntested, an approved Saviour! I. _Did not the Father try Him_ and find\nHim faithful in every way?--in His willingness, His obedience, His\nlove? II. _Did not Satan try Him_ and find Him upright? Tried by\ntemptations addressed to His natural appetite, to pride, and to\nambition. III. _Was He not tried by wicked and unbelieving men?_ By\nPharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians in His own day, and by sceptics\nin ours. IV. _By the afflicted, the poor, the destitute_ in His own\nday and in ours? and in each case only to bring out more clearly the\nmarvellousness of His resources. V. _By the contrite and\nbroken-hearted?_ VI. _By believers in every generation?_ And what has\nbeen their unanimous testimony? Is it not that they found Him more\nthan equal to all their wants and able to do for them all that they\ncould ask or think? Could so many millions of witnesses, in other\nrespects trustworthy, be mistaken on this point? VII. HAVE YOU TRIED\nHIM?--_R. Bingham, M.A.: Sermons,_ pp. 208-215.\n\n\n\nFALSE REFUGES.\n\n     xxviii. 17. _And the hail shall sweep away the refuge of\n     lies._\n\nNumerous are the stratagems of Satan to ruin souls. In some he\neffects this by hurrying them on in the broad way of open\ntransgression; in others, by rendering them the victims of some\npeculiar constitutional sin--pride, avarice, &c.; in others, by\ninciting a spirit of disbelief of the truth (Ps. xiv. 1); in others,\nby inducing inattention to the things of the soul. But our text leads\nus to contemplate _the false refuges to which he causes others to\nbetake themselves._\n\n+I. Sinners often feel the necessity of a refuge.+ This arises\nsometimes from--1. _An internal sense of guilt._ Unless in cases of\nutter obduracy, transgression and remorse are ever wedded together.\nEven pagans have these pangs of guilty torture. Under these, men sigh\nfor peace, long for rest, and earnestly desire a refuge. 2. _The\ncalamitous events of life._ Sudden adversity, domestic bereavement,\nvisiting the open grave of some friend, bodily indisposition, mental\ndisquietude, &c. 3. _The supposed nearness of death._ Men who mock at\nreligion in health, quail at the approach of death. Voltaire trembled\nin a storm, anxious then to have deliverance, to obtain a refuge.\n4. _Under the alarming influence of the preached word._ When the\ntruth has flashed across the mind and startled the conscience. Thus\nFelix, and thus thousands. How lamentable that these impressions and\nconvictions are often so fleeting; but still more so, when the\nconvicted sinner flees to sources of false security.\n\n+II. Sinners frequently betake themselves to refuges of lies.+ Of\nthese notice--1. _Partial reformation of life._ Giving up the grosser\nsins of which they have been guilty, intemperance, profanity, fraud,\n&c. When the whole body is diseased, the amputation of one member is\nfruitless. 2. _A general regard to Christian morality,_ to the\noutward acts of obedience, and the decencies of society. 3. _An\noutward profession of religion._ Punctual regard to public worship, a\nproper regard to ordinances, a name among the people of God. 4. _A\nprominent and public sectarian spirit._ Rigid adherence to party,\nsect, and creed; violent anathematising all others; great ardour in\nthe public events of the Church to which they belong. \"Come, see my\nzeal,\" &c. 5. _Distinguished generosity._ Liberality to the poor,\nworks of beneficence, co-operation with the compassionate and\nbenevolent. All these things are good in their legitimate sphere and\nextent, but they are all often only refuges of lies; they may engage\na man's anxious attention, while the root of the matter has yet no\nplace in his heart (1 Cor. xiii. 1-3; Matt. vii. 22, 23). 6. A still\nmore commonly frequent refuge of lies: _a general reliance on the\nmercy of God._ A kind of self-confident persuasion that God is good,\nthat He will not punish, an indefinite resting on His clemency,\nforgetting His righteousness, purity, truth, &c.\n\n+III. Such refuges of lies will be ultimately swept away.+ They will\nbe so--1. _In a dying hour._ Then the mental vision often becomes\npeculiarly acute, the moral sense keen and distinct, and the honesty\nof the spirit throws off the tinsel mask, which is now manifestly\nworse than useless. How poor and worthless is self-righteousness, in\nall its possible extent, to a spirit just stepping into the presence\nof the holy God. A queen of England, although professing to be\n\"Defender of the Faith,\" and having bishops at her control, felt\nthis, and died in circumstances of unutterable alarm. 2. _In the\nmorning of the resurrection._ Then all classes and distinctions will\nbe reduced to two. None but the righteous will have a part in the\nfirst resurrection. Others will rise with shame, confusion, and\nhorror to everlasting contempt. 3. _In the decisions_ _of the\njudgment._ God will judge all men in righteousness. The wicked and\nthe righteous will be separated (Matt. xxv. 32, 33); no pretence,\ndisguise, plea, stratagem, importunity, or effort, will avail. All\nrefuges of lies will be swept away.\n\nAPPLICATION.--1. Warn against these destructive schemes and wiles of\nSatan. 2. Exhibit the one only refuge, Jesus Christ, who delivers\nfrom the wrath to come. 3. Urge instant faith in Him. \"Count all\nthings but loss,\" &c. All who believe in Him are secure for both\nworlds. To this Refuge let _all_ repair, earnestly, and now.--_Jabez\nBurns, D.D.: Pulpit Cyclop\u00e6dia,_ iii. 153-156.\n\n\n\nTHE SHORT BED AND THE NARROW COVERING.\n\n     xxviii. 20. _For the bed is shorter, &c._\n\nOf all the striking images made use of in this chapter, none was so\nlikely to catch the ear, and impress itself on the memory, and become\na seed of useful reflection, as that embodied in this proverbial\nsaying. Epigrams have done much to guide popular movements. Lord\nBacon speaks of them as \"the edge-tools which cut and penetrate the\nknots of business and affairs.\" The adage before us is homely, but\nforcible and expressive. To a fastidious taste and a false refinement\nit may appear undignified; but where one has to deal with reckless\nfolly and obstinacy, he selects what best serves his purpose of\nexposing it. Lifted out of the occasions which gave the birth, these\npithy and sententious sayings admit of manifold applications. They\nrefute error, and make truth visible.\n\nI. Apply this aphorism to the _shifts of diplomacy._ This is the use\nwhich the prophet makes of it. No words could better expose the folly\nof the Egyptian alliance. The \"scornful\" politicians of Jerusalem\n\"had not only secured themselves by a treaty with that\npersonification of death and hell, the Assyrian, but they had\noutwitted him; for what chance could a mere barbarian soldier have\nagainst the deep-laid policy of an old, long-civilised state? They\nwere in communication with Egypt and Ethiopia, and at the proper time\nwould bring the armies of Tirhakah to free them from the power of\nSennacherib.\" This was the plausible but imprudent and deceitful\nscheme which the prophet denounced; and all such measures will in due\ntime land their short-sighted and dishonest authors in the short bed\nwith the narrow covering.\n\nII. Apply it to the _dishonesties of trade_ and the _reckless\nextravagance of living._ The rash speculator and the careless\nspendthrift will soon find out its truth. If they do not live within\ntheir means, and regulate dress and diet according to their income,\nthey will soon find themselves in the short bed, vainly seeking\nwarmth and comfort under a scanty covering. How much society has\nsuffered from reckless speculation! Many a promising youth has\nfoolishly squandered his means, and has grown so enormously in his\nluxurious habits, that he has no room to stretch himself on the short\nbed of his income. Visions of sequestration disturb his repose;\npinching poverty hinders his comfort.\n\nIII. The same imprudent miscalculation is seen in _the plans of\nworldly-minded men._ Their purpose is to make a fortune, and then\nretire to enjoy it. They imagine that thus they shall have\nconstructed an ample bed with abundant covering, in which they may\ncomfortably spend the evening of life's day. But they have made their\nbed without measuring its occupant at his full height. Providing for\nthe body, but neglecting the soul, they are cribbed and confined\nwithin the narrow boundaries of time, and it will be well for them if\nthey discover their mistake when the chill frosts of old age seize\nupon their uncovered limbs.\n\nIV. Apply it to the _expedients by which men seek spiritual rest._\nThere are many short beds on which they seek repose, and narrow\ncoverings in which they try to wrap themselves. What apologies do\nthey find for their sin!--how earnestly they work out a righteousness\nof their own in which to find shelter, forgetting that \"all have\nsinned and come short,\" and \"the one thing\" they lack is a fatal\ndefect! They will soon shiver with cold under this insufficient\ncovering. Nothing but the saving work of Christ can answer man's need\nas a sinful creature. Here is both room and warmth (Matt. xi. 28). As\nthe fond mother lays her child to sleep, so will He provide for our\ncomfort (Isa. lxvi. 13). The word \"hap\" is dear to a Scotch ear,\nexpressing \"the care with which the bed-clothes are laid upon the\nlittle forms, and carefully tucked in about the round sleeping\ncheeks.\" Seek rest in Christ. He will support you in sickness and\nsooth you in pain; and when laid down on your last bed, rejoicing in\nthe fulness and all-sufficiency of His grace, you will fall asleep in\nHim. A common proverb runs, \"He has made his bed, and now he must lie\non it,\" sometimes harshly used, yet expressing a solemn truth (Gal.\nvi. 7; Isa. l. 11).--_William Guthrie, M.A._\n\n\nAn end is proposed to be accomplished; the first consideration will\nbe the suitability and sufficiency of means. The kingdom of Judah was\ntrusting in inadequate defences against the Assyrians, whose approach\nwas feared. False gods. Words of false prophets. Alliance with Egypt.\nWarned against all these. True defence in faithful adherence to God\nas covenant God. If they continued to look elsewhere they would find\nthemselves in the position of a man in a bed too short for him, or\nwith a covering too narrow to wrap himself. Instead of comfort and\nrest, weariness, discomfort, unrest. The bed does not answer its end.\nIt is inadequate.\n\nThis thought is capable of another application. Men's religious\nbeliefs and practices may be inadequate. A religion for man must be\ntrue in itself, be evidenced as true, be adapted to and sufficient\nfor his religious necessities, capacities, and susceptibilities.\nOtherwise, it is inadequate.\n\nPoint out the inadequacy of some religious ideas that are in vogue.\n\n+I. Scepticism is inadequate.+ There is not only the unbelief that\ndenies the truth of Christianity, but the more subtle unbelief which\nrefuses to affirm while it does not exactly deny. It says we know\nnothing, and may act on the assumption that there is nothing--as to\nGod, Christ, a future state. Now we might show that there is\nsufficient evidence, but at present only show that this theory is not\nadequate to the demands of human nature. It is a fair inference from\nthe almost universal experience of mankind that the doctrines of God,\nconscience, responsibility, prayer, a future state of existence, are\ncongenial to human nature. Education does not account for them,\nalthough it may give them shape. Without them human nature is short\nof something which it needs. It is adapted to them. Without them its\ndeepest needs are inadequately supplied.\n\nThe religion of the Bible supplies the need of man in all these\nrespects. It reveals the Divine Being and character. It tells of a\nFather on whom, in his helplessness, man may call. It guides his\nconscience so that it may fitly guide _him._ It acquaints us with the\nnature of the life to come.\n\n+II. Self-righteousness is inadequate.+ There are necessities which\ndid not exist in man's original constitution, self-created\nnecessities. The state of sinfulness is a second nature, superinduced\non the original nature. Overlooking this, many imagine the Divine\nfavour can be won and the religious life prosecuted by obedience to\nGod and kindness to man. They proceed on the supposition that it is\nonly necessary to continue such a course from any given commencement.\nIf the sinful part is recognised, it is assumed that it will be\ncondoned in consideration of the new service. It is assumed that the\nlong-standing debt of former sin will be gradually paid by goodness\nin excess of ordinary demands, or that God, in some unknown way, will\nremit it.\n\nThis bed is too short. This covering too narrow. The religion for a\nfallen creature must deal seriously with the state of sin, guilt,\ncondemnation. The question meets you at the outset. If every farthing\nof your present income is absolutely required to meet your barest\nnecessities, how can you out of it pay back debts? Does not the law\nrequire a perfect obedience? Do you at present render more than it\nrequires? Do you ever, with your best endeavour, come up to the law?\n\nIt is hopelessly inadequate. The religion for man must provide a free\nforgiveness; one also honourable to God. It is not in our power. It\nis in God. And He has made such a provision. The Gospel of the Lord\nJesus Christ is that provision. His obedience, death, righteousness.\nFreely given without works to the believing sinner. This is the only\nadequate ground. This bed is long enough. This covering wide enough.\n\n+III. Ceremonialism is inadequate.+ Human nature is impure. It needs\ncleansing as well as pardon. Some imagine this is accomplished by\nsacramental grace, through baptism, which is supposed to regenerate;\nand the mysterious influence of the consecrated bread and wine. All\nthis is inadequate. No outward rite can effect an inward and\nspiritual change. There must be a new nature. There must be a love of\nholiness and a living growth into holiness. There must be a new\nbirth. There must be the conviction of sinfulness; the acceptance of\nChrist; the surrender to the authority of Christ. For this the Gospel\nprovision is adequate. There is the word of God which proclaims the\nmercy and offers the inducement. There is the Holy Spirit which\nchanges the heart.\n\nBe not satisfied with inadequate religion. Remember the solemn\nimportance of possessing an adequate religion.--_J. Rawlinson._\n\n\n\nIRRELIGIOUS MOCKERY.\n\n     xxviii. 22. _Now, therefore, be ye not mockers, lest your\n     bands be made strong._\n\nThe sense of the ludicrous is excited by words, ideas, images, or\nobjects in which unexpected resemblances are seen in things\npreviously considered incongruous, or in which incongruity is\nperceived where complete resemblance was supposed. The perception of\nthe ludicrous varies. Where it exists in connection with the ability\nto convey the ludicrous idea in language, it is called wit. It is one\nof God's gifts. There is no reason why it should not be exercised.\nThe evil is in untimeliness and excess. It is dispiriting and sad to\nbe with people who are always and only see the dismal side of\neverything. It is equally pitiable to observe people who are ever in\nsearch of something laughable. The latter is a present-day danger. We\nhave publications whose aim is to present the ludicrous side of\neverything. The popular taste encourages such writing. Even grand\nthemes are not exempt for this kind of treatment. Some mock\ndeliberately that they may injure; others thoughtlessly for the\namusement of the moment. Of all wit it is the most gratuitous the\neasiest, the most mischievous and dangerous.\n\nI. THE OBJECTS BY WHICH IT IS EXCITED.\n\nReligious persons; their peculiarities, especially their foibles.\nChristian ministers as to their style and manner. In their impatience\nof the warnings addressed to them by the prophet, the people of Judah\nmocked his teaching as characterised by the repetition that is only\nsuitable to children (9-13). Some find food for mockery in the\ndoctrines of the Gospel. Others in the demand of holiness (Prov.\nxiv. 9). Others in the observances of worship. Others find the\nlanguage of Scripture the most convenient point to their jests.\n\nII. THE MOTIVES IN WHICH IT ORIGINATES.\n\nMany do it from mere inconsiderateness. It is sometimes indulged in\nfrom the wish to please. Mockery of religious persons and things is\nso palatable to many that there is great temptation to it. More\nfrequently it originates in the rooted hostility of the carnal mind\nagainst all earnest religion. Mockery is the most annoying form of\nattack; it is most keenly felt; it is most difficult to answer. It\nserves the purpose when argument fails. One grinning Voltaire may do\nmore execution than many reasoning Humes. Many a time since the days\nof Nehemiah have Sanballat and his Samaritans mocked the builders of\nthe wall of Jerusalem.\n\nIII. THE DANGERS WHICH IT INVOLVES.\n\n1. To those who hear it. They become less susceptible of religious\nimpression. If the head of a family habitually refer to religious\npersons and subjects in a mocking and disrespectful manner, his\nchildren will probably grow up with a dislike of religion.\n\n2. To those who indulge in it. They lose their own respect for\nreligion, if they had any, by associating it with the ideas of a low\nand ludicrous nature. They lose the elevating mental influence of\nhaving their minds in earnest contact with its grand truths. They\nlose the spiritual improvement which might have been the result of\nsuch contact.\n\n3. And the warning of the text points to direct punishment. The\n\"consumption determined.\" It points to the bands of captivity which\nwould be more strong because of their unbelieving mockery. The mocker\nis preparing strong bands of distress for his conscience, if the day\nshould ever come when he is awakened to a sense of sin and an earnest\ndesire for salvation. How bitterly will he repent the injury his\nlevities did to his own mind and the mind of others. Still more\nsaddening is the thought that the mocker is likely so to harden his\nheart into insensibility to serious impression, that even on the bed\nof death, and with the solemnities of eternity before him, it will be\nimpossible to awaken serious concern.\n\nFollow the mocking soul to the bar of God where it must answer for\nits mockeries, and for all the state of mind which rendered it\npossible to mock. +There will be no mockery in hell!+\n\nDo not brave these bands. Young men, do not sit in the seat of the\nscorner. Do not be among the mockers. Let the mocker hear the solemn\nwarning of the text, and repent and seek mercy through the cross, and\nrelinquish his folly.--_J. Rawlinson._\n\n\n\nTHE PARABLE OF THE HUSBANDMAN.\n\n     xxviii. 24, 25. _Doth the ploughman plough all day to sow?\n     &c._[1]\n\nMeans adapted to the end must be used if any end is to be\naccomplished. The physician knows this. So does the general. So does\nthe manufacturer. So does the farmer. He is not always ploughing. Nor\nalways sowing. Nor always threshing. Nor does he treat every kind of\nproduce in the same way. And God employs various methods in dealing\nwith men. He aims to turn them from evil, and He adapts His methods.\nThe teaching of the text may be applied to the Divine dealing with\nmen generally.\n\n+I. God intended to open a way of salvation.+ Man needs salvation\nbecause he is a sinner. Can conceive a state of things in which he\nwould not need it, as of one who needs no physician. If he had\ncontinued holy and obedient. But that is not his case. He is a\nsinner, characterised by impurity, and exposed to perdition.--Now\nGod, in His pitying love, would save us. How shall He proceed? Shall\nHe, by His arbitrary will, sweep away the facts? Such a procedure\nwould be entirely inconsistent with the existence of moral government\nand the rectitude of the Divine character. 1. One part of the case to\nbe dealt with was the condemned state of man under the Divine law.\nForgiveness could not righteously be given without some satisfaction.\nMan could not make it. God in Christ, in His whole personality and\nwork, has made the satisfaction. The method adopted is exactly\nadapted to the nature of the case. 2. But the other part of the case\nwas also to be dealt with. Sinfulness is deep-seated in man's nature.\nHe loves it. Until he is changed, he is not even inclined to sue for\nmercy, still less to escape from sin. The Lord Jesus Christ was sent\nto turn us from our iniquities. How does He do this? (1.) _By moral\nmotive._ The law was inadequate. He introduces a new motive. Not only\nthe mercy, but the fact that it has been procured at such a cost,\nthat the love was equal to such a sacrifice. It appeals directly to\nthe heart, as well as to the judgment, for a condemnation of sin.\n(2.) _By spiritual influence._ The influence of the Holy Spirit\nstrives with those to whom the gospel is preached, with a view to the\novercoming their indifference, reluctance, and sin.--The method is\nadapted, in both its sides, to the end in view. It only requires the\nsinner's consent. Hence--\n\n+II. God intended the way of salvation to be made known to men.+ If\nconsent to it and faith in it is requisite to participation of its\nblessings, it must be understood--1. The information might have been\nimparted in a separate revelation by the Holy Spirit to every man.\nWould supersede all evidence, and all exercise of human faculty.\nWould not be adapted to man as a reasonable being. 2. Angelic\nministry might have been employed. Open to similar objection. Would\nhave made miracle the rule instead of the exception. It would have\nchanged the order of nature. 3. The method adopted is the simple\narrangement that those who are acquainted with it, believe it,\nconsent to it, make the Gospel known. A method exactly adopted to the\nnature of the case. According to the constitution of human nature,\nthe Gospel thus approaches it for the purpose of gaining the\nunderstanding, the heart, and the will. Bear in mind the power of\nsympathy between human beings. He who has received a truth desires to\nimpart it. He who has experienced the salvation pities those who need\nit as he did. He who speaks from his own experience speaks with\ntenderness, and earnestness, and influence. The sick heed the\nrecommendation of a physician by those whom he has cured. On this\nprinciple of adaptation the Lord Jesus instituted the living ministry\nof apostles, evangelists, pastors, parents, all Christians. He\ninspired some to put on permanent record the truth as He revealed it,\nas a standard of appeal. They are to study it. They are to use the\nsame principle of adaptation. There is youth, age, different measure\nof instruction, different classes, spheres, circumstances.\n\n+III. God intended to train those whom He saved.+ Believers are\nalready saved, because pardoned and sanctified. But they require\ntraining into riper holiness, greater usefulness, greater fitness for\nthe future heaven. Therefore the Saviour instituted such means as are\nadapted to secure these ends. Church fellowship, public worship,\npastoral teaching, Christian habits of watchfulness, thoughtfulness,\nprayer. All these are adapted to the training of the spiritual plant.\n\nAre you in sympathy with God's end? In yourselves? In the world? Then\nadapt yourselves to its realisation.--_J. Rawlinson._\n\n\nIn these verses there are three kinds of seed mentioned; fitches,\ncummin, and corn. The fitches and cummin were small seeds like the\ncaraway or chickpea. When these smaller herbs had to be threshed,\nthis was done by hand; but when the corn had to be threshed, that was\nthrown on the floor, and men would fasten horses or oxen to a cart\nwith iron-dented wheels; that cart would be drawn round the\nthreshing-floor, and so the work would be accomplished. And so the\nidea expressed is different kinds of threshing for different products.\n\n+I. We must all go through some kind of threshing process.+ The fact\nthat you are devoting your life to honourable and noble purposes will\nnot win you any escape. Wilberforce, the Christian Emancipator, was\nin his day derisively called \"Doctor Cantwell.\" Thomas Babington\nMacaulay, the advocate of all that was good long before he became the\nmost conspicuous historian of his day, was caricatured in one of the\n_Quarterly Reviews_ as \"Bubble-tongued Macaulay.\" Norman McLeod, the\ngreat friend of the Scotch poor, was industriously maligned in all\nquarters. As the small wits of London took after John Wesley, the\nfather of Methodism. If such men could not escape the maligning of\nthe world, neither can you expect to get rid of the sharp, keen\nstroke of the tribulum. All who will live godly in Christ Jesus must\nsuffer persecution. +II. It is not compliment to us if we escape\ngreat trial.+ There are men who suppose they are the Lord's\nfavourites, simply because their barns are full, and their bank\naccount is flush, and there are no funerals in the house. It may be\nbecause they are fitches and cummin, while down at the end of the\nlane, the poor widow may be the Lord's corn. You are little pounded,\nbecause you are little worth, and she bruised and ground, because she\nis the best part of the harvest. By carefulness of the threshing, you\nmay always conclude the value of the grain. (H. E. I., 186-196,\n3692-3695). +III. God proportions our trials to what we can bear.+\nThe rod for the cummin, the staff for the fitches, the iron wheel for\nthe corn. (H. E. I., 179-188, 3674-3695). +IV. God continues trials\nuntil we let go.+ As soon as the farmer sees that the straw has let\ngo the grain, he stops the threshing. We hold on to this world with\nits pleasures, riches, and emoluments, as though for ever. God comes\nalong with some threshing trouble, and beats us loose. Oh, let go!\nDepend upon it that God will keep upon you the staff, or the rod, or\nthe iron wheel until you _do_ let go. +V. Christian sorrow is going\nto have a sure terminus.+ \"Bread corn is bruised, because _He will\nnot be ever threshing it._\" So much of us as is wheat will be\nseparated from so much of us as is chaff, and there will be no more\nneed of pounding. \"He will not ever be threshing it.\" Blessed be God\nfor that! (Rev. xxi. 4).--_T. De Witt Talmage, D.D._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] In this parable the mystery of the Divine Providence is\n     laid open, its secret disclosed. _All ploughing is for\n     sowing; all threshing is intended for the preservation of\n     the grain._ When God chastens us, it is not that He means\n     to destroy us, but because He has set His heart on saving\n     us, because He has appointed us to life and not to death.\n     He works with discrimination. He employs various methods,\n     sends sorrows of all sorts and sizes, that He may adapt\n     Himself to every man's needs, and to all our varieties of\n     place, time, and circumstances. Just as the husbandman\n     varies his treatment of the soil, and allots to each kind\n     of seed a soil and place suitable to its kind; just as,\n     after the harvest has been gathered in, he employs only\n     such instruments as are best adapted for separating the\n     different kinds of grain from the straw and the chaff. With\n     like wisdom and discretion God deals with us, assigning to\n     each of us our proper station and lot, and, when we sin\n     against Him, adapting His judgments to our several needs.\n     The sorrows, losses, bereavements which befall us are but\n     as the sharp edge of the share, or the keen teeth of the\n     harrow, and are intended to prepare us to receive the good\n     seed, and to bring forth much fruit. Or again, they are\n     like the stroke of the flail, or the keen pressure of the\n     sledge, or the ponderous oppression of the waggon-wheel, or\n     the swift rattle of the horses' hoofs; and are designed to\n     separate the chaff from the grain, the worthless from the\n     worthy, the evil from the good in us, that we may be made\n     meet for the garner of God. \"Cure sin and you cure sorry,\"\n     say the reason and conscience of the world: _and the sorrow\n     comes that the sin may be cured,_ adds the prophet; the\n     very miseries that spring from evil are intended to\n     eradicate the evil from which they spring. The weeds call\n     for the plough; and the plough comes at their call; but it\n     comes and cuts up the weeds and the ground to which they\n     have taken root, only that the seeds of wholesome herbs and\n     the herbs of grace may be sown in the furrows. The chaff\n     calls for the flail, and the flail is sent, but sent only\n     to beat out the nourishing grain. Would that this\n     conception were as assured, and as familiar to us as to the\n     old Hebrew prophets! For, sooner or later, we shall all\n     have to endure sorrows, which rend our hearts as the\n     ploughshare rends the ground, or which bruise our hearts as\n     the flail bruises the corn.--_S. Cox, D.D.: Expositor,_\n     vol. i. pp. 89-98.\n\n\n\nA FEAST FOR FAITH.\n\n     xxviii. 29. _This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts,\n     which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working._\n\nThe sentiment of the text is that _the art, and science, and skill of\nman are the gifts of God._ The prophet instances only agriculture,\nbut the same principle applies to all the arts and manufactures, and\nin a higher degree still to those sublimer sciences which elevate the\nhuman mind, and make us acquainted with the majestic and mysterious\npowers of nature. The drift of the writer of the text is this, _if\nGod thus instructs man in wisdom, how wise must He be Himself!_ If\nthe mere rays which come from Him convey to us so much light that we\nare perfectly astonished at what man can do, what must be the\ninfinite wisdom in counsel and the excellence of working which are to\nbe discovered in God Himself! There are two things which shall occupy\nour attention. The first is, _the vision of God which the text\npresents to us;_ and the second is, _the lesson which such a vision\nis calculated to teach us._\n\n+I. The vision of God which is presented to us in the text.+ The\ngreat principle of the text is that _God has a plan, and that this\nplan is wonderful in itself, and is found to be excellent when it is\ncarried out._ This is illustrated 1. _in nature._ All creation is\nfull of traces of design. \"He weighed the mountains in scales, and\nthe hills in a balance.\" Nothing was made without the most accurate\ncalculation. The stars seem cast about on the floor of heaven as men\nmight fling at random gold-dust from their hands; yet there is not a\nsingle star whose place might be altered without mischief to the\nwhole arrangement. In the meanest animal and minutest insect there\nare the most admirable contrivances to suit its habits and make its\ncondition happy. And apparent irregularity is only undiscovered\norder. 2. _From providence._ The great providential operations of God\nare all the results of His foredetermined purpose and decree. All\nthrough human history every lover of the Lord will see that the awful\nwheels of providence have worked with excellent regularity. Empires\nhave fallen, but the truth has risen. Dynasties have perished, but\nimmortal principles have conquered. 3. _Your own personal experience\nof that providence_ goes to prove this with equal clearness. How\noften have you seen that God overrules all things for your good!\n(H. E. I. 4015-4022). 4. The wonderful planning of the excellent\nWorker is seen in _the great economy of Redemption._ How marvellous\nthat God, the Mighty Maker, should appear in human flesh and become a\nman, that so fallen, sinful, miserable man might be lifted up and\nbecome the son of God! When I see this great sight these words of\nIsaiah's ring with a bell-like music in my ears, \"He is wonderful in\ncounsel.\" 5. Then turning from Redemption itself, look at _the\nGospel._ That Gospel is just the reverse of what human wisdom would\nadvise. It is not \"do and live,\" but \"believe and live.\" 6. Then I\nmight speak of God's plan and God's work _in inward experience._ The\nexperience of every Christian is in some respects different from that\nof another, but it is always the result of God's plan. 7. Another\nillustration will be found _in the use of instrumentality._ It is a\nwonderful design of God to use one man in the conversion of another.\nThe one is benefited while the other is blessed. 8. The grandest,\nillustration of all will be when, at last, _God's counsels shall be\nperfectly fulfilled._ Man shall burst forth into one mighty song,\n\"Hallelujah! Hallelujah! the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth!\" (Rev.\nxix. 6).\n\n+II. Some of the lessons from it.+--1. To the unconverted: seeing His\ncounsel is so wondrous, I would to God _you would agree to it!_ 2. To\nthe people of God: I want you _to agree to this in your own\nparticular case._ 3. Brother workers, let us have a well-formed plan,\nand _let it be God's plan._ 4. When we know God's plan we _must\nremember to carry it out._ 5. When you are resolved to carry out\nGod's plan, _joyfully expect singular assistance._--_C. H. Spurgeon._\n\n\n\nARIEL.\n\n     xxix. 1. _Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David\n     dwelt._\n\nThe word \"Ariel\" properly means \"the Lion of God,\" and is elsewhere\nused of the great brazen altar on which the sacred fire blazed, and\nwhich might be said to devour as a lion the sacrifices presented on\nit to God. In our text, however, \"Ariel\" is used as a name for\nJerusalem. The fact that David had dwelt in it is mentioned, not by\nway of historical reference, but as aggravating the guiltiness of the\ncity, and as in some way proving that it might expect to be visited\nwith more than common vengeance. In what way is the fact that\nJerusalem could be described as \"the city where David dwelt\" a\njustification of the woes which the prophet was about to denounce\nagainst it? The answer is easy: _We are answerable to God for every\nblessing received at His hands, so that we cannot possess a single\nprivilege which will not, if neglected or abused, be brought against\nus as a charge and heighten our condemnation._ This is as true of\ncommunities as of individuals: and the fact that Jerusalem had\nprofited so little, morally and spiritually, from David's residence\nin it was a clear aggravation of its guilt.--1. +David had dwelt in\nJerusalem as a king.+ As such, his authority and his example might\nhave been expected to have made a deep impression on the religious\nlife of the people. Consider how powerful is the example of men in\nexalted stations.--2. +David had dwelt in Jerusalem as a poet.+\nConsider how powerful is the influence of song on national character,\nand how truly David's psalms were national songs. As every English\nchild is taught loyalty by the notes of \"God save the Queen,\" every\nJewish child was instructed in piety by the well-known strains of the\nsweet singer of Israel. Surely if anything could have kept religion\nalive in Jerusalem, it would have been this writing it into the\npoetry this weaving it into the music of the nation. It was like\ntaking possession of the strings of a nation's heart, and providing\nthat their vibrations should respond only to truth.--3. +The memory\nof David had long been a blessing to Jerusalem.+ For his sake evil\nhad been averted from it (2 Kings xix. 34). To pronounce a woe upon\nthe Jerusalem or the city where David had dwelt was to tell the Jews\nthat the conservative influence of that monarch's piety would no\nlonger be of any avail for them; that even as children, though long\nspared in recompense by the righteousness of their fathers, may reach\na point at which they have filled the measure of their guilt, and at\nwhich, therefore, they can receive no further favour as the offspring\nof those whom God hath loved; so their iniquity had reached such a\nheight that forbearance, long manifested for the sake of the most\npious of kings, was at length wearied out, and there remained no\nfurther place for intercession.\n\nThe principle involved in this passage is applicable alike to\n_communities_ and _individuals._ 1. It is made the charge against\nJerusalem that it was the city where David had dwelt--the plain\ninference from this being that it was a great aggravation of the\nnational wickedness that so righteous a prince, so zealous a\nsupporter of true religion as David, had sat for years upon the\nthrone of Judah. By parity of reasoning, if there have been raised up\nin our own country men mighty in the exhibiting and establishing\ntruth, and if in the lapse of time we grow indifferent to the truth,\nand perhaps even half inclined to the errors which were exposed and\nexpelled, will it not be made a matter of accusation against us that\nours is the land in which those worthies dwelt? Suppose, for example,\nwe were to undervalue the Reformation, suppose we were to think\nlightly of the errors of Popery, then might our text be regarded as\ndenouncing special woe on ourselves--woe to England--to England, the\ncountry where Wickliffe, and Cranmer, and Ridley dwelt! For is it not\nto be questioned that we shall have much to answer for it, after God\nhad raised up Reformers, and they, with incalculable labour and at\nincalculable cost, had cleansed our Church from the abominations of\nPopery, we should in any measure let go the truth and make alliance\nor truce with the tenets or practices of Rome. This same principle is\napplicable 2. to many a parish in which some devoted minister of\nChrist has laboured, and 3. to many a household in which the example\nand teaching of godly parents have been set at naught.--_H. Melvill,\nB.D.: Sermons Preached during the Latter Years of his Life,_ vol. i.\npp. 125-140.\n\n\n\nDREAMING.\n\n     xxix. 7, 8. _Shall be as a dream of a night vision, &c._\n\nThe reference in these two verses is to the threatened attack on\nJerusalem by the Assyrian invasion in the reign of Hezekiah. They\ntake us to the time the invader had taken all the other fortified\nplaces in the kingdom; and now his general, Rabshakeh, was encamped\nbefore the capital, with the confident expectation of easily taking\nit. It would seem as if, the requisite preparations having been made,\nthat immense army had retired to rest, with the intention of making\nthe assault on the next day. We can imagine them in their dreams\npicturing to themselves the scenes of the approaching capture, the\nshouting, the onset, the slaughter, the devastation, the prisoners,\nthe booty, the triumph, the glory--scenes, however, _these_ which\nthey were destined never to witness! For, in the dead of night, the\nDestroying Angel went forth, and in the morning nothing remained of\n185,000 of them but their lifeless corpses. So ended their dreams!\n\nEven as the army of Sennacherib was dreaming of a conquest which had\nno real existence, _so are there multitudes of persons now dreaming\nthat they are accomplishing the great object of their existence who\nare no more doing so than if they lay wrapped in the slumbers of the\nnight._ I propose to speak of such persons under three heads of\nPLEASURE, WORK, RELIGION.\n\nI. PLEASURE. I am not condemning pleasure. Pleasure has its place in\nevery human life, just as truly as work and religion. I am speaking\nof a life _devoted_ to pleasure. Nor do I speak of the grosser\npleasures--these shock us at once, others delude us--but of those\nwhose great aim in life is to please _themselves:_ who, in respect to\nany proposed course of action, never think of asking, \"Is it my\n_duty?_\" But what is there to show that such a life is only a\ndream-like substitute for real life? 1. _It leaves our best faculties\nunused._ Can it be believed that God made us \"a little lower than the\nangels\" that we might spend our lives in pursuits which hardly\nrequire the faculties of a man? 2. A life of pleasure is a _selfish\nlife._ Where pleasure is the habitual object of pursuit there _must_\nbe selfishness. Wherever pleasure is the great object of life, _the\ninterest of others will be held in low esteem._ 3. A life of pleasure\nalso exposes to temptation. 4. It unfits men for another world. We\nshall never be ready for heaven if we never think seriously about it;\nand pleasure pre-eminently withdraws our thoughts from that world\n(H. E. I., 5059).\n\nII. Another form of the dream is the impression that WORK, _i.e.,\nsecular occupation, is the great business of life._ Work is not to be\nspoken of without respect. 1. The _Bible praises work._ \"Six days\nshalt thou labour.\" 2. _It keeps us from dependence on others._\n3. _It benefits those dependent upon us._ 4. It is good as enabling a\nman _to help his neighbours._ 5. Good as giving a man _influence_ by\nmeans of the wealth it produces. 6. Good _as keeping us out of much\nevil._ Intemperance is usually the vice of the idle. So of other\nvices. But still it has its dangerous side. It shuts out the other\nworld by the undue prominence it gives to this. It diminishes our\nsympathy with the suffering, and makes us unconcerned about the\nkingdom of Christ. Noble as work is when compared with idleness, it\nis not the great business of life. God did not endow us with\nintellect, heart, and spirit, with relations to Himself, to our\nfellows, and to immortality, that we might spend our lives in a\npractical denial of them all. A life of mere work is a dream as truly\nas a life of pleasure.\n\nIII. Another thing which men are apt to consider the great business\nof life is RELIGION. In many cases \"religion\" is little more than\namusement; in others superstition; in others mere sentiment. There is\na \"religion\" which is merely an affair of the intellect; another\nwhere it is hereditary, where a man follows a form of religion\nbecause his fathers did so before him. It is forgotten that religion\nis a life. Religious knowledge, beliefs, feelings, exercises are but\nthe scaffolding and not the building; means to an end, not the end\nitself. The great end of life is not to be _religious,_ but to be\n_good._ True religion has two sides: it first puts us right with God\nand then with our fellow-men. We love God first, and only then do we\nlove man and work for his good.\n\nThe prophet tells us how the dreams of these Assyrians vanished. Even\nsuch will be the disappointment of those who are dreaming away the\ngrand possibilities of the present life.--_B. P. Pratten, B.A.:\nChristian World Pulpit,_ vol. iii. pp. 187-191.\n\n\n\nAWAKENED FROM THE DREAM.\n\n     xxix. 8. _It shall be even as when an hungry man dreameth,\n     and behold he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is\n     empty._\n\nThis passage describes the disappointment of the Assyrians, whose\nimagination had feasted on the conquest of Jerusalem. The simile is\nstriking. A man in extreme hunger or thirst will dream that his\ncraving is satisfied. He awakes to feel the privation more acutely.\nThe text may be applied to the case of a man disappointed with the\nworld, awakened to a sense of its emptiness, concerned for his soul.\nThere is a sense of sin, danger, need. On the day of Pentecost the\nawakened cried, \"What shall we do?\" Thus the Philippian Jailor. We\nwill address this state of mind--\n\n+I. In words of sympathy.+ The awakened solicitude is justified\nby--1. the value of the soul; 2. the fact of sin; 3. the reality of\ndanger; 4. the provision of the gospel; 5. the call of God; 6. the\nunsatisfactoriness of neglect; 7. the flight of time.\n\n+II. In words of caution.+ 1. Beware of relapsing into indifference\n(H. E. I., 1479-1490). Many are awakened and anxious, but it does not\nendure. Herod heard John gladly and did many things. Transient\nimpressions are like Ephraim's goodness (Hos. vi. 4). Some are\nexcitable but fickle. When the charm of novelty departs, their\nenthusiasm departs. Religion experiences similar treatment. Nor is it\nfrom yourself alone that you are exposed to this peril. You will meet\nwith those who will endeavour to repress your earnestness. They will\ncommend a moderate attention to religion, but will counsel you to\nwait until you are older, &c. A quiet, sober, decent attention to\nreligious duties is well enough, but they cannot see the necessity\nfor making religion the primary concern. Beware of such advisers.\nThis is a matter in which earnestness is demanded. Keep fresh and\nvigorous in your mind the considerations by which you were first\nawakened. Salvation is either the supremely important thing the\ngospel declares, or it is nothing. Is the sick man too anxious for\nhealth, too attentive to the physician's directions? When the\nstarving man has dreamed of food, does any one repress his eagerness\nfor the reality when, on awaking, he finds it was only a dream?\nBeware lest either unsympathising friends or your own weakness\nadminister the opiate that will send you back into the slumber of\nindifference from which you have been awakened. 2. Beware of assuming\nthat you are converted because you are awakened. Awakening is not\nconversion. Conviction is not conversion; it does not necessarily end\nup in it. Pharaoh said, \"I have sinned.\" It is a hopeful\ncircumstance; a step on the road; attention called to the disease;\ndisappearance of the dream. The awakened on the day of Pentecost were\ndirected respecting conversion. 3. Beware of finding comfort anywhere\nelse than in the gospel. Performance of religious duties; prayers;\npeaceful feeling, you know not why; impression that you are forgiven.\nIt is untempered mortar; it will not bind the walls. Nothing less\nthan faith in Jesus.\n\n+III. In words of counsel.+ Comply at once with the call of the\nGospel. Christ's work is all-sufficient. Faith and repentance is\nsubmission at both points. The call is--1. Gracious. 2. Immediate. Do\nnot delay; do not wait for the Spirit nor anything else. You are a\nman, not a machine. You must obey the Gospel. The Spirit is working\nwith the Gospel.--_John Rawlinson._\n\n\n\nTHE FUTILITY OF FIGHTING AGAINST MOUNT ZION.\n\n     (_Missionary Sermon._)\n\n     xxix. 8. _So shall the multitude of the nations be that\n     fight against Mount Zion._\n\nNothing tends to inspirit exertion in any great enterprise so much as\nthe certain prospect of success. Hope is the spur of action, the very\nlife of enterprise. Hence to encourage the fearful and animate the\nbrave in the culture of their own piety, and especially in their\nefforts to extend the kingdom of the Redeemer, there are given in\nGod's Word the amplest promises of Divine help and assurances of\nultimate success. But for \"the sure word of prophecy,\" the servants\nof God would long since have trembled for the ark of the Lord, and\nhave despaired of the salvation of the race. But delays to us are not\ndelays with God. Long ago He has declared, \"Yet have I set my King on\nmy holy hill of Zion.\" \"But we see not as yet all things put under\nHim.\" The foot of His Providence falls too soft for mortal ear to\nmark. While He walks on the great ocean of human affairs as Jesus\nwalked on the Galilean sea, His footsteps leave no traces behind. But\nyet He never stands still. \"My father worketh hitherto.\" His progress\nis certain. In reference to the spread of His Gospel it may be said,\n\"In such an hour as ye think not the Son of man shall come.\" At His\napproach all opposition is fruitless, all resistance vain. Every\nobstacle shall vanish, as a dream is forgotten when the dreamer\nawaketh.\n\nThis passage suggests--\n\n+I. The number and might of the enemies of the Gospel.+ It is always\nunwise to underrate the forces of the enemy. Injury has been done to\nthe cause of missions by this action. Good men in the ardour of their\nzeal seemed to speak as though heathendom was to be won by one new\ncrusade, and that the walls of Satan's kingdom would fall flat at a\nsingle blast of their rams' horns. But Scripture takes opposite\nground, and intimates that there must be a continuous and persistent\nstruggle. Our great General does not conquer in a single campaign; He\ngoes forth \"conquering and to conquer.\" These numerous and powerful\nenemies of Christ's kingdom arise from our own corrupt nature; from\nthe peculiar circumstances of the heathen world; from every class of\nsociety, and are perpetually set in motion by the powers of darkness.\nThough they are \"the multitude of all the nations,\" they have one\nprince, \"the prince of the powers of darkness.\" To prevent our\nforming exaggerated pictures of success, let us remember: 1. _That\nthe original enmity of the human heart is always and everywhere the\nsame._ Every sinful passion of the human heart starts up an armed\nenemy against Christ and His truth. If at home after centuries of\nChristian work, the obstacles to the gospel are so great, how much\nmore formidable must they be in pagan lands! 2. _The power of Satan\nis at all times the same._ And if here he rules supreme in the\nchildren of disobedience, what must his power be in those heathen\nlands where he is so strongly entrenched in superstition, idolatry\nand prejudices, crimes and passions of men confederated with him\nsince Adam fell! 3. _The world at large, in its spirit and pursuits,\nis decidedly hostile._ Even in our own country, how few can be looked\nupon as the genuine disciples of Christ, the true soldiers of the\nCross! How mighty the forces sent out even here against the Lord and\nagainst His anointed! This part of the earth is still in the hands of\nthe wicked.\n\n+II. The utter futility and certain overthrow of their projects.+\n1. _Their schemes are all fallacious and visionary._ \"It shall be as\nwhen a hungry man dreameth.\" What more delusive than a dream!\n2. _Their disappointment is certain._ The history of the past is\nagainst them. Past history has verified the words of the Master, \"And\nthe gates of hell shall not prevail against it\" (Matt. xvi. 18). The\nprophecy of the covenant of grace, the very progress of civilisation,\nbut more than all the very existence of God, is against them. \"The\nLord reigneth; let the earth rejoice\" (Ps. xcvii. 1).\n\n+III. The glory that shall rise from thence to Zion's King+ (Ps.\nlxxii. 10, 11, 15). His wisdom will baffle all their designs, His\npower crush every hostile force, and His kingdom rise on the ruin of\ntheir dark confederacies (1 Cor. xv. 25).--_Samuel Thodey._\n\n\n\nLIP-SERVICE INSTEAD OF HEART-WORSHIP.\n\n     xxix. 13, 14. _Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this\n     people drew near to Me with their mouth, &c._\n\nThe charge against the people is clear; it is that of a heartless\nreligion, formal and full of hypocrisy. \"Their fear toward me is\ntaught by the _precept of men._\" That is, their religion is a\nmechanical following of human directions, instead of the spontaneous\nuprising of a heart inspired with the fear and love of God.\n\n+I. The charge against the Jews in Isaiah's day.+ It is twofold--the\nremoval of the heart and the substitution of a lip-service. _The\nremoval of the heart._ God demands the service of the heart (Prov.\nxxiii. 26; Jer. xxix. 13). The Psalmist felt how reasonable was this\ndemand when he said, \"I will praise Thee, O Lord, with the _whole\nheart_\" (Ps. ix. 1). A man may do some things with a slack hand and\nyet be blameless, but to steer an Atlantic steamer in a storm, he\nneeds the whole force of both hands. Unless our whole soul be in\nGod's service, our worship will be thrown back upon us with the\nwithering words, \"Who hath demanded _this_ at your hands?\" This\nworthless thing! \"Bring no more vain oblations.\" How strikingly our\nLord put this principle of supremacy (Luke xiv. 26): \"In every man's\nheart I must be supreme, or therein I cannot dwell.\" Infidels must\nignorantly misread this passage. One of their counts against\nChristianity is that it frowns on family joys; while every day's\nfacts prove that the truest Christian is the best husband, father,\n&c. God being first in a man's heart, that heart is humanised, its\ngenerosity enlarged, so as to take in, not only the family, but \"all\nmankind.\" But some, after having given their hearts to the Lord,\nwithdraw them from His service (Matt. xiii. 22; 2 Tim. iv. 10).\n\n+II. This charge has been true in every generation.+ The heart's\nweakness and the world's force are ever the same. This evil existed\nin our Lord's day (Matt. xv. 8, 9). For long years before the\nReformation whole nations of Christendom presented to God a mere\nformal worship. And to-day, of how many congregations may the words\nof Ezekiel be said! (Ezek. xxxiii. 31).\n\n+III. The worthless substitution presented to God.+ \"And with their\nlips do honour Me.\" The instinct of worship is so strong within the\nsoul that men everywhere worship something. It may be the hideous\nfetish of the African or the artistic statue of the refined Greek,\nbut something the Greek and the barbarian must have. When that young\nmother, in the days of Solomon, arose in the morning and found a dead\nchild by her side instead of her own living one, how severe must have\nbeen the shock! Had there been no child by her side, no dead\nsubstitute, she might have thought that her own child lived somewhere\nand might sometime be found. But that dead substitute at first nearly\nkilled her by despair. It is bad to withdraw a living heart from the\nLord, but to substitute a dead one is first to rob God and then\nwickedly insult Him (H. E. I., 5066-5070).\n\n+IV. The threat+ (ver. 14). The threat is that of _cherished\nexpectations bitterly disappointed._ In times of extremity, full of\nconfidence in the wisdom of their leaders, they shall seek light and\nleading, and behold nothing but darkness and folly. How often have\nthe leaders of a nation been stricken with folly, and, like a blinded\nsteersman, have driven the ship to destruction! \"The wisdom of their\nwise men shall perish.\" Disappointment! It is only another expression\nabout the foolish man disappointed in his false security, his house\nresting on the sand, and of those who \"make lies their refuge, and\nunder falsehood hide themselves.\" The threat is that \"the hail shall\nsweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the\nhiding-place.\" Though men may not admit that their worship is mere\nlip-service, and their neighbours not see their hypocrisy, yet to the\neye of God\n\n        \"The painted hypocrites are known\n         Through the disguise they wear.\"\n\n                                    --_William Parkes, F.R.G.S._\n\n\nTwo conditions under which religion is in a declining state. 1. When\nthe ordinances of Divine worship are generally neglected. 2. When the\nattendance on worship, however large, does not represent a religious\nstate of mind, but is simply an outward performance. The latter was\nthe state into which religion had fallen in Judea. The religious\nobservances of the people were not inspired by knowledge of God's\nWord, but by human authority. The text--\n\n+I. Describes a great privilege.+ \"This people draw near me.\" God\nspeaks after the manner of men. When we desire to speak closely to a\nfriend we get near him. This is coming close to God (Ps. lxxiii. 28;\nHeb. x. 22; Heb. vii. 19; James iv. 8). Is it not a wonder that the\nAlmighty permits us to draw nigh to Him? Men make it difficult for\ntheir inferiors to obtain access; but the Infinite and Eternal One\nmakes Himself accessible to His creatures. Not only so; He has made a\nway for creatures stained by sin. The Lord Jesus Christ stands\nbetween God and man by virtue of His atoning death and interceding\nlife. The guilty, condemned, utterly impure, have only to renounce\ntheir sinfulness and avail themselves of this new and living way. If\nthere is truthfulness and sincerity, they will be welcome. In the\nsanctuary, in meeting for prayer, in the family, in the closet, in\nthe round of daily duty, we may draw near to God. Do you know\nanything of the blessedness of this privilege? Enjoyment, comfort,\npurity, fitness for intercourse with men, for the battle of life, for\nthe work of the world, do they not all come through this privilege?\n\n+II. Points out a serious abuse+ (ver. 13). Their sin was not the\nabandonment of worship. That is a measure of ungodliness not reached\nwithout a long process. Unsettled faith, indifference to spiritual\nblessings, habits of sinful indulgence, conduct to it. What\nmultitudes have reduced themselves to this predicament? But it was\nnot their case. They had not relinquished the ordinances of worship;\nthey observed them. But there was a twofold defect: the heart was\nabsent and the motive was wrong. 1. _Something was present that ought\nto have been absent._ \"Their fear toward Me is taught by the precept\nof men.\" Their piety was only out of respect for some human\nauthority. Our Lord quoted this part of the text in His exposure of\nexternalism as exemplified by the Pharisees of His time (Matt.\nxv. 9). Human authority in religion is here distinctly denounced. One\nman may hand the Word of God to another, but no man must impose his\nnotions of religion on another by his mere authority. A man's\nreligious service must be the result of his personal conviction. If\nhe is religious because some one else is, or because it is\nrespectable, or because it may promote his worldly interest, or\nbecause it is recognised and imposed by the authority of the state,\nit is not really the honour and worship of God at all, but of man.\n2. _Something was absent that ought to have been present._ \"But have\nremoved their heart far from Me.\" God must be worshipped with the\nheart. Apart from the outward expression of inward reality, the\nmovement of the lips and the utterance of the mouth are nothing. Real\nworship is the consent of the understanding, will, affections, to the\nhomage which is paid by the lips. Without this they are mockery, as\nwhen one who stands in the king's presence is alienated from his\nallegiance.\n\n+III. Utters a solemn warning+ (ver. 14). Their religion was only the\ncounsel of man. It was unavailing for its purpose, and would come to\nnothing (1 Cor. i. 19). Such worship is: 1. _Unacceptable._ God is\nnot deceived. Realise the terribleness of being rejected. He says,\n\"It is not the kind of worship I require.\" After all your wisdom\n(Isa. i. 11-15). 2. _Unsuccessful._ The prayers offered only by the\nlips are not heard. No answer comes, no blessing descends. This comes\nof the policy which followed the precepts of men. 3. _Unstable._\nAfter such religion reaction may be expected. There is no inward life\nto sustain the outward exercises. Does not the test point to that\ndeeper spiritual blindness which follows the attempt to put the\nwisdom of man in the place of the wisdom of God?\n\nIn religion and at its worship take care: 1. That there is\n_sincerity._ See that the heart is right with God. \"Ye must be born\nagain.\" 2. That there is _simplicity._ Let there be no superfluous\nexternalism in worship; only what is necessary to the suitable\nexpression of the heart's worship. 3. That there is _earnestness._\n\nAnd if a merely formal worship is rejected, what is the predicament\nof those who do not even offer that, but who live without any\nacknowledgement of God?--_John Rawlinson._\n\n\n\nTHE JOY OF THE MEEK.\n\n     xxix. 19. _The meek also shall increase their joy in the\n     Lord._\n\nI. THE PERSONS HERE DESCRIBED.\n\nMeekness does not mean timidity (2 Tim. i. 7); not the craven spirit\nof the coward, but the quiet power of the strong man (Prov.\nxxviii. 1). It does not mean the absence of courage, but the absence\nof that ignorant and arrogant self-sufficiency which Peter showed\nwhen he said, \"Though all men forsake Thee, yet will not I.\" It is\nthat calmness of spirit which grows not out of reliance on self, but\nout of reliance on God. It is recorded of one whose courage at times\nhad flashed up like a consuming fire, \"Now the man Moses was very\nmeek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.\" His\nmeekness was not feebleness, but a calm strength; quiet endurance in\nthe doing of duty under difficulties. He was not provoked by the\nwrong-headedness or irritated by the ingratitude of the nation he\nwished to serve, but he quietly bore their stubbornness, and\npersisted in doing them good against their will. Hence a quiet doing\nand a quiet bearing of the will of God is one consistent in this\nquality of the mind \"meekness.\" It does not mean that equableness of\ndisposition which comes from nature, so much as that calmness of\nspirit which comes from grace. It is one of the fruits of the Spirit\n(Gal. v. 23). This quality of mind in God's people is shown: 1. _In\ntheir intercourse with God._ In His presence they manifest \"a humble,\nlowly, and contrite heart.\" Theirs is not the spirit of the Pharisee,\nbut the lowly contrition of the publican. Not \"Stand by, for I am\nholier than thou,\" but \"I am not worthy,\" &c. In a ready acceptance\nof the doctrines of grace and salvation through a Saviour crucified.\nNot like the Pharisees, who scorned the Saviour \"as a root out of a\ndry ground,\" but like those few elect souls, just and devout, who\n\"were waiting for the consolation of Israel.\" Christianity is a\ndiscipline of humility. In making men Christ-like it makes them meek.\nJesus was meek and lowly, and He promises to those like Himself rest\nof soul. 2. _In their submission to the allotments of Providence_\n(Job xiv. 14, xiii. 15; Micah vii. 9; Lev. x. 3; 1 Sam. iii. 18;\nH. E. I. 157, 158, &c.) 3. _In their deportment before their\nfellow-men._ They do not arrogate to themselves that superiority\nwhich despises and neglects others, but obey the apostolic\ninjunctions (1 Pet. ii. 17, iii. 8).\n\nII. THE BLESSINGS GOD CONFERS UPON THEM.\n\n1. _He saves them._ Often in outward troubles they become the charge\nand care of His providence (Zeph. ii. 3). How wonderfully was Moses\nsaved from the strivings and rebellions of the people! Leaving his\nvindication in the hands of the Great Judge, God took up his cause;\nand when the whole camp was against him, God delivered him. How\nwonderfully was Joseph delivered from the pit and the prison, and\nJeremiah in the siege! But always are they saved from\nsoul-destruction. \"Saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation.\"\n2. _He beautifies them._ \"He will beautify the meek with salvation.\"\nBy the robe of righteousness, the inward adorning of the soul in\nevery virtue, by the special manifestation of His mercy when most\nneeded (chap. lxi. 3), by giving them that esteem and commanding\ninfluence which often attracts and impresses their fellow-men. 3. _He\nmakes it appear that He delights in them._ \"The Lord taketh pleasure\nin His people.\"\n\nIII. THEIR GRATEFUL RESPONSE.\n\n\"The poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.\" They\nrejoice in His salvation; they praise Him in voice, and heart, and\nlife (Isa. lxi. 10).--_Samuel Thodey._\n\n\n\nRELIGIOUS JOY.\n\n     xxix. 19. _The meek shall increase their joy._\n\nIt is commonly said that while religion is man's duty and his\ninterest, it is not productive of enjoyment. Yet the Bible is full of\njoyful expressions, and of exhortations to joy. It even meets the\nsorrows of humanity and brings joy out of them. Its association of\njoy with conditions not joyful is remarkable (Matt. v. 3-5). Observe\nthe contrasts in our passage (vers. 18, 19). Circumstances are\nmentioned which amount to the removal of all alarm (ver. 20). From\nthe outward fact, the faith of the persons here described ruses to\nthe hand that accomplished it.\n\nOur subject is religious joy.\n\nI. THE SOURCE WHENCE IT IS DERIVED.\n\n\"The Lord. The Holy One of Israel.\" We rejoice in what we have\ndesired, hoped for, and obtained. This does not exclude enjoyment of\nthe blessings of the present life. They are closely associated with\nit. They suggest it. We ask whence they come. The habit of regarding\nearthly advantage as gifts from the hand of God keeps the Divine\ncharacter before us as that of a Being to be regarded with pleasure.\n\nThus, if we ascend to the spiritual region and contemplate the\nsalvation of man, it includes the compassionate love of God, which\ngave His Son to impoverishment, suffering, and death; full\nforgiveness of sin; the various influences of the Divine Spirit; the\nelevated spiritual privileges and hopes bestowed on fallen men. All\nthis came from the grace of God; it originated in His nature. \"God is\nlove.\" But the God whose nature can be read in this way is not a God\nto repel, but attract; not a god of whom to stand in terrified awe,\nbut a God in whom to rejoice.\n\nAnd this result emerges if we take a more direct look at the Divine\ncharacter. We are supplied with verbal asservations as well as\nhistorical illustrations. We read of the Almighty, the All-wise, the\nAll-righteous, the All-holy, as well as the All-loving. Power, even\nwith justice, would fail to produce joy. But a God of power, and\nlove, and holiness can be a delight, because He can be loved.\n\nBut no object of delight can be considered apart from its subject.\nNothing is universally delightful. Before you can enjoy anything you\nmust have sympathy with it, a taste for it. There are people who\ncannot enjoy the finest concert. There must be the heart that is\ncapable of joy in the Holy One of Israel, the heart of \"the meek, the\npoor among men;\" the heart changed by the grace of God.\n\nII. THE ELEMENTS OF WHICH IT CONSISTS.\n\nWe know our feelings better by experience than by analysis. We can\nimagine a father so utterly unsatisfactory in his character and\nconduct that his own children are ashamed to mention his name. We can\nimagine one whose kindness, whose faultless conduct, whose commanding\nintellect render them proud of his name. They think of him with\npleasure. Thus the poor among men rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.\n\nIf you attempt to examine, you will find that your joy in God is\ncompounded of several other feelings, which, like tributary streams,\nswell with the river of your pleasure. 1. _Gratitude._ For experience\nof the Divine goodness. It expresses itself in thanks and songs. You\nthink with pleasure of one for whom you are grateful. 2. _Affection._\nLove is closely akin to gratitude. And God has taken away all cause\nof alienation. The love of God in Christ possesses the heart. Love\ndelights in its object (Rom. v. 11). 3. _Confidence._ We trust Him\nentirely. In present distresses or future fears. If distrust crosses\nour minds, we dismiss it as inconsistent with the truth of which we\nhave satisfied ourselves. Now if there is perfect confidence in Him\non whom we depend, we cannot fail to rejoice in Him.\n4. _Approbation._ We find the Holy One of Israel a Being in whom we\ncan be infinitely satisfied. At no point, in no respect, could we\ndesire Him to be different from what He is. Nor is it the admiration\nsometimes expressed for characters there is no desire to imitate.\nChristians earnestly desire likeness to God. Putting all these\ntogether, there must be joy in the Lord.\n\nIII. THE AUGMENTATION WHICH IT RECEIVES.\n\n\"The meek shall increase their joy in the Lord.\" Earthly joy is\nshort-lived. The objects from which it proceeds are liable to change\nand perish. Many of these, even if they continue, fall. They become\nflat by satiety and continuity. We outgrow them as a child outgrows\nhis toys. But Christian joy is permanent and tends to increase,\nbecause its object remains the same for ever, while His fulness is\never unfolding itself. Knowing and experiencing more of God, there is\nmore joy in Him. Thus there is a constant increase--in the _present_\nworld, and in the _world to come._\n\nWould you enjoy this privilege? Then make it possible. Possess the\ncharacter. Ye must be born again. Do not indulge sin. Keep Christ in\nyour thoughts. Thus you will be superior to earthly\nenjoyments.--_John Rawlinson._\n\n\n\nTHE ORIGIN AND THE END OF SIN.\n\n     xxx. 1-3. _Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord,\n     that take counsel, but not of Me, &c._\n\nThe policy inculcated by the Divine Ruler on the Jewish nation was a\npolicy of isolation. Now, this would be a self-destructive policy.\nBut the circumstances of that nation were peculiar. It was not a\nmissionary to the world, but it was a witness. When it formed\nalliances with surrounding nations, its witness became indistinct. It\noften dropped its testimony and adopted the idolatries against which\nits protest should have been uniform. This prophecy is against the\nalliance with Egypt. Assyria was about to invade that country. It was\nfeared she would take Judea on the way. Now, the Lord was its\ndefence; there was therefore no need to seek assistance from any\nother power whatsoever. It was a rebellious and unbelieving spirit\nthat sought this alliance. The politicians sought a covering from the\nimpending storm; but they did not seek it by Divine counsel. They\nwere adding another sin to the number against them. It would be shame\nand confusion at the end. Egypt would be unwilling or unable to help.\n\nHuman nature is ever the same. Here is a representation of the way in\nwhich sinners act, and of its consequences.\n\n+I. All sin proceeds from neglect and defiance of God's counsel.+\n\n1. It is implied that God has counselled or may be consulted\nrespecting human conduct. By the prophet He had declared against the\nalliance with Egypt. In the written word we have His will. It does\nnot deal with our modern life and circumstances in detail.\nImpossible. But we have what is better; principles of action which we\nare to apply to circumstances. No one ever long in a moral\ndifficulty, if he honestly apply these principles. Every act which is\nof the nature of evil is forbidden. Many sinful acts are forbidden by\nname. We have the example of the Son of God. We have the most\ninspiring motives; gratitude, love, hope, fear. A revolution of our\nnature in the direction of God's holiness is demanded. The ministry\nof the Word expounds and enforces these great principles. Men do not\nsin for want of counsel from God.\n\n2. Our text charges men with acting on other counsel than the Divine.\nThe charge is twofold. (1.) _Neglect of the counsel they ought to\nhave sought._ Sincere desire to be right would apply to the Divine\nWord in relation to all the conduct of life. How many adopt and act\nupon the principle that it shall guide everything? Is not its\nauthority discounted? When tempted to the questionable or sinful, but\nadvantageous, how many, with steady clearness of moral vision, look\nstraight at God's counsel? As to the ministry of the Word, one part\nof the function of which is to keep men's moral perceptions clear,\nhow many absent themselves from it entirely! (2.) _Seeking the\ncounsel they ought not to have sought._ They sought counsel of their\nown inclinations. It was a foregone conclusion. They _wished_ to go\ndown into Egypt. If they consulted, it was, as often happens, with\nthose inclined in the same way. Men are secretly conscious of\nalienation from God, which instinctively dislikes His\nrecommendations. Man's moral nature is unhinged; and he turns from\nGod anywhither. The maxims of the world, the opinions of associates,\nconsiderations of worldly interest, conspire to the rejection of His\ncounsel. Micaiah must be imprisoned if he prophesy evil, although it\nbe true.\n\n+II. Sin is cumulative and growing.+\n\n\"That they may add sin to sin.\" Sin is rarely single (H. E. I.,\n4507-4509). A rope is twined from many threads. The Jewish people\ncommitted one sin by forsaking the counsel of God, another in\ntrusting to the help of Egypt. Some substances have an affinity for\neach other. So have moral elements. Sins have a fearfully attractive\nand accumulative power. The youth wanders from the house of God.\nConscience is stifled. Amusement is sought. Loose companions are\ncultivated. Restraint is gradually thrown off. Fraud is necessary.\nFraud requires falsehood. One falsehood requires another. Sin is\nadded to sin. Soon as a sin is committed it drops the seed of\nanother, and so onward in terrible progression. Add grain of sand to\ngrain until it becomes a mountain. Money is scraped together by care\nand labour, but sins rush to each other with mutual attraction. If\nyou could have foreseen the growth of your own sins, surely you would\nhave refrained. Count the sins of your life. They are added up in\nGod's book.\n\n+III. Every sin contains the germ of its own punishment.+\n\n\"Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust\nin the shadow of Egypt your confusion.\" Sin makes promises which it\nfails to perform. You are disappointed. This is part of the\npunishment. Punishment is often appropriate, growing out of the sin.\nSometimes this is palpable, as in the case of sensual lusts. Oftener\nsubtle. Punishment accumulates, as sin does. There is a treasuring up\nof wrath (H. E. I., 4603-4614). Will you continue to accumulate it?\nor will you pause, cease? You must repent. Do not hug your chains.\nYou must cry for mercy. You must yield. You must repair to the\ncross.--_John Rawlinson._\n\n\n\nSTRENGTH IN QUIETNESS.[1]\n\n     xxx. 7. _Their strength is to sit still._\n\nThere is a sense in which \"sitting still\" is not our strength, but\nour destruction. To sit still in sin and unbelief is the practice and\nthe ruin of the unconverted. To such men, exhortations of a precisely\nopposite character must be addressed. There is a sense too in which\nthere is to be no \"sitting still\" even for the righteous (Phil.\nii. 12, 13; 2 Pet. i. 5-10; Heb. iv. 11). To understand our text, we\nmust acquaint ourselves with the circumstances which gave occasion to\nit. The Israelites were under the special protection and guardianship\nof God. Many and great were the deliverances which He wrought for\nthem. Yet, when in difficulty and danger, they thought more of man's\narm than of His. Now threatened by the Assyrians, where did they turn\nfor help? To Egypt--to that very people who had once so cruelly\noppressed their forefathers! To make sure of having it, they sent to\nEgypt large sums of money. It was in rebuke of such foolish\ningratitude to God that our text was written. \"Their strength,\" said\nthe Lord, \"is to sit still,\"--to forbear, that is, from sending off\nfor help to man, and to \"sit still\" quietly at home, relying on the\nhelp of God. This was their strength, for let them but do this and\nthen they had a stronger with them than all that were against them.\n\nTo-day the believer in Christ Jesus is often tempted to a sin very\nsimilar to that of Israel, and to him this admonition is equally\napplicable and important. In a more especial manner than Israel of\nold he is hidden under the shadow of his Lord. And yet _he_ also is\nstrongly tempted, in more ways than one, to make flesh his arm,\nwhilst his heart departeth from the Lord. He is often tempted thus to\ndo in reference--+I. To the everlasting salvation of his soul.+ Satan\ntempts him to look off to other confidences, as if Christ were\ninsufficient; to look out for something in himself, which he may\nboast of and depend upon. But in Christ there is everything the\nsinner wants (Col. ii. 10; 1 Cor. i. 30). +II. To temporal\ndifficulties and dangers.+ The Christian is authorised to use all\nproper means for his deliverance. It would be tempting God, not\ntrusting Him, to neglect those remedies or those precautions which He\nhas placed within our power, and expect to be delivered by a miracle\n(H. E. I., 169, 170). Yet he must, in a sense, \"sit still.\" He must\nplace his whole dependence on his God, and not on any plans which his\nown prudence may suggest to him; nor must he resort to any means of\nsafety or deliverance which would be inconsistent with the rule of\nduty laid down for him in Scripture (H. E. I., 171-178). _Asa,_\n2 Chron. xiv. 11; _Jehoshaphat,_ 2 Chron. xx. 12; _Hezekiah,_\n2 Chron. xxxii. 7, 8. Let these worthies of old teach us what a\nblessed thing it is, in times of difficulty and of danger, to wait\ncalmly upon God; using means, indeed, such as God may put within our\nreach, yet not abusing them by making them our staff. +III. To\nseasons of affliction.+ Then it is most eminently true that the\nbeliever's strength is to \"sit still.\" How is he to do so? By\nsubmitting himself patiently and humbly to the chastening rod without\na murmuring word upon his lips, or a murmuring thought within his\nheart; by acknowledging the faithfulness and wisdom of the\ndispensation; and by waiting the Lord's time for the removal of it.\n_Job,_ Job i. 21; _Eli,_ 1 Sam. iii. 18; _David,_ Ps. xxxix. 9. Not\nto \"sit still\" under the chastening rod will only make our case the\nworse; but he who waits upon God has a way of comfort and deliverance\nopened to him (Isa. xli. 10, xxvi. 3). +IV. To time of provocation.+\nHe is affronted and injured. Shall he turn himself about to see how\nhe may revenge himself? No; his strength is to \"sit still,\" to\nforbear for recompensing evil with evil, and to commit his cause\npatiently and calmly to his God. David did so in more instances than\none; and the Lord took up the quarrel of His servant, avenged him of\nhis adversaries, and set him up on high above them (Rom. xii. 19-26).\n\nIn regard to all these things we must \"sit still\" in faith, in hope,\nin resignation to the blessed will of God. For the grace that is\nneeded to enable us to do so, let us have recourse to Him who can\nteach us \"quietness and confidence,\" to the Spirit who gives faith\nand consolation, who can make the soul to rest in Christ, and say to\nall its troubled feelings, \"Peace, be still!\"--_Arthur Roberts, M.A.:\nPlain Sermons, Second Series,_ vol. i. pp. 31-39.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] See also CHRISTIAN QUIETNESS, verse 15.\n\n\n\nDISLIKE TO MINISTERIAL FIDELITY.\n\n     xxx. 9-11. _This is a rebellious people, &c._\n\nMany wish to be deceived. They have made truth their enemy and shrink\nfrom the light, desiring present relief and peace, even at the\nexpense of future happiness. Many a man does not like to be told the\ntruth about his business or his health. The Jews did not like to be\ntold the truth about their national prospects. The incessant\nreference of the prophets to the holiness of God was offensive to\nthem, and they tried to silence their faithful monitors. Faithful\nministers of Christ meet with the same reception from many of their\nhearers. These cannot bear to have their consciences roused, their\nfears alarmed, and their minds rendered uneasy.\n\nI. THE TRUTHS WHICH ARE USUALLY OBNOXIOUS TO SUCH PERSONS. The\nspirituality and unbending strictness of the Divine law, the deep\ndepravity of human nature, the exceeding sinfulness of man's conduct,\nthe universal necessity of regeneration, the inefficacy of works for\njustification, the indispensable obligation to a separation from the\nworld, the holiness of God, His irreconcilable hatred to all sin, and\nHis irrevocable purpose to punish it, and the awfulness and\ninterminableness of the doom of the impenitent. Such subjects call up\nthe enmity of the carnal mind. They distress those who are wrongfully\nat ease in Zion, and they demand that the preacher shall leave them,\nand discourse on more pleasing themes.\n\nII. THE CAUSE OF THE DISLIKE OF MINISTERIAL FIDELITY. 1. _Unbelief._\nMultitudes who admit in gross the authority of the Bible deny it in\ndetail. Its unpalatable truths are rejected. 2. _The refinements of\nmodern society and taste._ It is allowed that the curses of a\nviolated law may be uttered in barns or churches for the poor, and\nmay fall on the rude ears of the multitude, but the doctrine and\nstyle of preaching to the congregations of rank and fashion must be\nsmooth and soft. 3. _Wounded pride._ Persons of outwardly blameless\nlife hate the doctrine which disturbs their self-complacency, and\nrevile the man who attempts to sink them in their own esteem.\n4. _Painful forebodings of future misery._ Resolutely cleaving to\ntheir sins, they do not like to be reminded of the doom to which they\nare hastening.\n\nIII. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THIS DISLIKE OF MINISTERIAL FIDELITY.\n1. It is _foolish._ Is it wise in the victim of vice to ask the\nphysician to tell him that he is in good health, and is carrying on a\nharmless course of indulgence, &c., &c.? No concealment of the\nsituation of the sinner can alter his condition in the sight of God\nor change the relation in which he stands to eternity. 2. It is\n_sinful._ (1.) In its origin. It springs from a determination to go\non in sin. (2.) In its nature. It is a love of falsehood, a desire to\nconfound the distinction between sin and holiness. Nor is this all;\nin aiming to suppress the voice of warning, he acts the part of that\ninfatuated and cruel wretch who would bribe the sentinel to be silent\nwhen the foe is about to rush into the camp, or would seduce the\nwatchman to be quiet when the fire had broken out at midnight and was\nraging through the city. The attempt to induce the preacher to utter\n\"smooth things,\" is an attempt to induce him to destroy himself and\nto contribute to the destruction of them that hear him. (3.) In its\nconsequences. Notwithstanding the most faithful warnings, they are\nhurried on by it to ruin. Like infatuated Balaams, they force a\npassage to destruction. 3. It is _dangerous._ It leads men to close\ntheir ears to what it concerns them especially to know. It is only by\na faithful disclosure of their situation that they can escape, but\nthey will not hear it.\n\nAPPLICATION. 1. _To ministers._ (1.) The guilt of ministers who do\nnot discharge the duties of their office with uncompromising fidelity\nis indescribable. They are mere pulpit agents of the devil, receiving\nthe wages of the sanctuary while they do his work; keeping all still\nand quiet among his slaves, preventing all attempts to throw off his\nhateful yoke by flattering them with the idea that they are the\nservants of God. (2.) The conversion of sinners should be the chief\nobject of every minister of Christ. They constitute the majority of\nevery congregation; they will soon be beyond the reach of salvation.\n(3.) The conversion of the impenitent must be sought by suitable\nmeans. What may be called the alarming style of preaching is most\nadapted to convert the impenitent. Not gross and revolting\ndescriptions of eternal torment; these are offensive and disgusting,\nand generally defeat their purpose, especially when done in a harsh,\nunfeeling manner. But a minister's habitual preaching should be so\ndiscriminating as to leave no unconverted sinner at a loss with whom\nto class himself, whether with believers or with unbelievers; and it\nshould not unfrequently contain those allusions to and descriptions\nof the wrath of God which, like the distant rumblings of the\ngathering and approaching storm, should drive men to the refuge\nprovided by infinite mercy in the cross of Christ. (4.) It is at our\nperil that we soften down the terror of the Lord to please any man;\nwe must not shun to declare the whole counsel of God; we must stand\nclear of the blood of the rich as well as of the poor. Did Paul\nregard the feelings of Felix? 2. _To professing Christians._\n(1.) Many would have the preacher confine himself to words of\ncomfort, and object to everything searching and practical as legal.\nUpon their principles, all parts of God's Word but the promises are\nunnecessary; they are useless to believers, for they are above them\nby privilege; useless to sinners, for they are below them in respect\nto obligation. What is this but a requesting that the Holy One of\nIsrael may cease from before His people? (2.) Inconsistent professors\nare likewise anxious that the preacher should confine himself to\nconsolatory topics. Hypocrites! he gives you that which belongs to\nyou. Consolation would be to you a deadly poison, a fatal opiate.\n(3.) Sometimes even those who have only the ordinary imperfections of\neven the best men wish to hear less of the alarming parts of Divine\ntruth. But have you no concern for the salvation of others? Besides,\nwho can tell but what you dislike may be necessary for keeping you\nawake? (4.) Let those who cannot bear to hear the descriptions of\nfuture punishment think with themselves how they shall be able to\nendure it.--_John Angell James, Sermons,_ ii. 181-214.\n\n\n\nCHRISTIAN QUIETNESS.[1]\n\n     xxx. 15. _In quietness and in confidence shall be your\n     strength._\n\nThe principle of our text is, that \"strength,\" safety, success,\nhappiness, is the fruit of self-control and of reliance upon God.\n\nI. It requires little observation to perceive that this is so in\noutward things (Eccles. ii. 11). Look out upon life, and see who, in\nthe long run, are the most successful. Is it the stirring and\nexcitable, those who are most conspicuous in its busy competitions?\nNo: it is for the most part the tranquil and retiring; those who make\nno display, and have the least reliance upon their own powers. The\nsurest gains and the most certain advancement usually attend those\nwho go on quietly and steadily, without grasping at what is beyond\ntheir reach, or wasting their energies in unnecessary exertion. The\ngodly who, when they cannot engage on fair terms in the rivalry of\nthe world, keep aloof from it, preserving peace with men, and\nexercising faith in God, are provided for, and not unfrequently even\nraised to conspicuous prosperity. In \"quietness and confidence\" in\nGod's providential care \"is their strength.\"\n\nII. Still more important is the application of this sacred principle\nto what goes on in the Christian's soul. We can further the great\nwork of our sanctification only by acting upon it. Excitement and\nself-dependence can do nothing. The work which has been begun by\nDivine mercy must be carried out by Divine agency. We are to take\nheed not to throw any obstacles in the way by our rashness or\ndespondency. If under a feeling of importance of the work we have to\ndo, we act about doing it _in any way of our own,_ we only invite\ndisappointment, and peril the object we have in view. Only in a\ndutiful and patient waiting upon God can we obtain a blessing. Not\nall the will-worship which was ever contrived by human ingenuity can\nbring us nearer heaven.\n\nIII. These words should be our guide in every difficulty and\nemergency of the spiritual life. They bid us give place to no anxiety\nor alarm. Those who act upon them cannot be fanatics, nor will they\ndespair. They will not seek what God sees fit to deny, nor even to\nattain to what is excellent by equivocal means. No real strength is\nto be got by ferment and agitation. We may not do evil that good may\ncome; we may not distrust God's power and willingness to help us; we\nmay not seek help from Egypt.\n\nIV. These words should be our guide in view of the changes and\nexcitements of our times. Because of them many are filled with\nunreasonable fears. But are we to lose our patience and steadfastness\nbecause irreligious speculators and worldly religionists are in an\nuproar? No; let them follow their own course; let us act upon the\nprinciple of our text. Truth is safe; the Church is founded upon a\nRock; nothing can harm it, _but our attempting to defend it with\ncarnal weapons._ Our weapons are the Word of God and prayer. In the\nuse even of _them,_ we must take heed what spirit we are of, that we\nuse them not in a worldly or angry spirit. Let God do His own work.\nLet us not venture to step beyond ours. It is not our work to keep\nthe world in order. With the eye of our faith fixed upon Him who with\nunerring wisdom and omnipotent might controls all the changes and\ndevelopments of human affairs, let us quietly pursue the duties which\nHe has assigned us, and we shall be safe, and strong, and\nblessed.--_J. G. Dowling, M.A.: Sermons,_ pp. 55-75.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] See also STRENGTH IN QUIETNESS, verse 7.\n\n\n\nTHE VANITY OF EARTHLY HELP IN TIME OF TRIAL,\nAND THE PROFIT OF PATIENT WAITING.\n\n     xxx. 15, 16. _For thus saith the Lord God, &c._\n\nThe history of the Jews a striking proof of human depravity. That\npeople at once the most favoured by God, and the most obstinate in\nrebellion against God. Ever hankering after some new idol, and\nfalling into some new sin. Burden of the prophets was to reprove\ntheir pride and hardness. Isaiah no exception. In this chapter there\nis a solemn warning, the last remonstrance previous to Sennacherib\nand his army coming upon them.\n\nFirst, _the insufficiency of all human dependencies._ Chronic failing\nof the Jews was dependence on the arm of flesh. In national\ndifficulties they went to Egypt for horses, or turned to Assyria for\nhelp, thinking that these would insure defence. But these devices\nalways failed. God, from the first, placed His people in such\ncircumstances that they could not fail to see that it was not human\nmight which delivered them. Illustrate this by the Exodus, Gideon,\nDavid and Goliath. In all this instruction for us, God is jealous of\nHis honour. He brings to nought the works of the wise who ignore Him,\nand crowns with success the efforts of the weak and foolish who trust\nHim.\n\nThese words were _especially addressed to the Ancient Church,_ and\nconsequently their teaching is for God's people now. We are too apt\nto be discouraged when earthly powers are arrayed against us, and to\nbe elated when they are for us, in both cases placing our chief\ndependence on them. To do this is to lose sight of the true dignity\nand glory of the Church of God. The Church is the Spouse of Christ;\nshe is gifted and dowried by Him; and does not depend for success\nupon the State, or any form of human help. The first preachers of\nChristianity were poor and unlearned men, owing all their success to\nthe power of the Holy Ghost. We must rely upon the same force.\n\nGod teaches this lesson of dependence on Himself, not only to the\nChurch as a whole, but to individual members. Hence He sends personal\naffliction, domestic trials; brings men into circumstances where\nhuman aid is of no avail. They can do nothing for themselves; nothing\ncan be done for them. Trust in God is their only resource.\n\nThis leads to the second thought, _the profit of patient waiting on\nthe Lord._ \"Their strength is to sit still.\" \"In returning and rest\nshall ye be saved.\" In returning from endeavours to obtain help from\nearthly sources. God suffers us to lean on the aid of man that we may\nrealise its futility. Faith finds its best exercise in trial; it is\nalso strengthened and confirmed by affliction. In such conditions,\ntoo, faith produces its richest and rarest fruit. Faith must evidence\nitself by works. Days of sorrow and chambers of sickness bear witness\nto the heroism of the believer. There are no heroes like those who\nsuffer calmly and in secret. Many such will at the last be exalted\nhigher than even martyrs and confessors.\n\n_The secret of patient waiting is trust in God's promises._ Our\nwaiting must be on the Lord. Such waiting disciplines and chastens\nus. Evil tempers are subdued. Attachment to the world is destroyed.\nGod's Word becomes our daily bread; His presence as the breath of our\nlife; and gradually the character is perfected, and made meet for the\ninheritance of the saints in light.--_Rev. S. Robins, M.A., Dale:\nMiscellaneous Sermons,_ p. 415.\n\n\n\nDIVINE SALVATION REJECTED.\n\n     xxx. 15-17. _For thus saith the Lord God, &c._\n\nThe subject treated is the proposition to seek help from Egypt\nagainst the Assyrians. Here is the Divine remonstrance. It\nillustrates the Gospel, its treatment, and the retribution that will\nfollow.\n\nI. THE GRACIOUS ASSURANCE.\n\n\"In returning and rest shall ye be saved, in quietness and confidence\nshall be your strength.\" God was the defender of His people. Their\nstrength was to trust in Him. It is so still. He is the only Saviour.\nA Divine salvation is--1. _Needed._ As much as when Sennacherib\nspread his hosts before Jerusalem; as much as when the children of\nIsrael in the wilderness needed the manna, without which they must\nhave perished, &c; for man is sinful; and because sinful helpless.\n2. _Proclaimed_ (Isa. xlv. 22; Acts xiii. 38, 39). God pitied the\nworld, and sent His son. Jesus died and rose again. His death\nsatisfied for sin. Therefore He is able to save to the uttermost. And\nwilling. In the ministry of the gospel He invites every sinner to\ncome to Him. 3. _Conditioned._ \"Return--rest.\" There must be a\ncomplete change from sin; from wrong confidence to simple faith. Many\nexamples in the Old Testament show that believing reliance on God was\na surer way to deliverance than the power of man. Apostolic preaching\npoints to faith as the link of connection between the sinner and the\nSaviour. The salvation is by faith, that it may be free.\n\nII. THE FOOLISH DETERMINATION.\n\nVer. 16. They had no faith. They looked to human helpers. It is the\ntendency of man. And thus the gospel is set aside. 1. By\n_negligence._ Because of prevailing unbelief spiritual blessings are\nundervalued. Sin is loved. There is little moral earnestness.\nAcceptance of the Gospel is postponed as if it were some disagreeable\nduty. 2. By _contempt._ The horses on which they said they would ride\npoint to Egypt as their strength. It was contempt of God's help. Thus\ntheir fathers had turned to the golden calf. Thus some turn to money,\nsome to earthly pleasures, some to the Church, some to the priest for\nsalvation. Anywhere rather than to the Saviour Himself. 3. By\n_self-confidence._ Ceremonies of religion are performed; prayers\noffered; obedience rendered; alms given with a view to propitiate the\nDivine favour and obtain salvation as a debt. It rejects the truth of\nthe Bible. It proceeds from ungodliness, pride, and unbelief.\n\nIII. THE DREADFUL CONSEQUENCE.\n\nVer. 17. All your confidence will break down. You will be utterly\nruined. It will be as when a great power collapses. So shall it be\nwith sinners (Ps. lii.; Jer. xvii. 5, 6). So with sinners who reject\nthe Gospel. There will be--1. _Complete failure._ You will be left in\nyour original helplessness; at the mercy of the enemy: at the mercy\nof your sins. 2. _Signal punishment._ For the criminality is most\naggravated. You will have insulted God by flinging back His offered\nhand. Mark _the means_ by which punishment will come. By the very\nthings you have trusted. Mark _the manner_ in which punishment will\ncome. It will be utter ruin. Mark _the end_ your punishment will\nserve. It will be a beacon to warn others against your fate. Instead\nof trusting in any other help, fly to Jesus. Believe in Him. He gives\nthe weary rest. You shall be saved, now and for ever.--_J. Rawlinson._\n\n\n\nWAITING, DIVINE AND HUMAN.\n\n     xxx. 18. _Therefore will the Lord wait._[1]\n\nA promise clear and precious in itself may gain in force and value\nwhen it is viewed in its surroundings. The diamond may be sparkling\nand brilliant, but we prefer it in its setting. The rose by itself is\nlovely, but we would rather have it with the green leaves around it.\nWe have an instance in the first chapter of this book, where, after\nexposing the hypocrisy, formality, and wickedness of the people in\nthe most withering words, God suddenly exchanges the stern tone of\nthreatening for the sweet accents of mercy, _Come now, and let us\nreason together._ Another example is found in Matt. xi., where our\nLord, after pronouncing His solemn woes, and asserting the Divine\nsovereignty, in the very next sentence utters His tender invitation,\n_Come unto Me._ The still small voice of mercy is all the sweeter and\nmore welcome because of the thunders by which it is preceded. The\nsame rapid transition may be observed in the passage before us. Cast\nyour eye over the preceding context, and you find the saddest picture\never drawn of human perversity. What a heavy indictment (vers. 9,\n10). How terrible that sentence pronounced (vers. 13, 14, 17). Is it\nat once carried into execution? No. _Therefore will the Lord wait._\nWait for whom--for the humble, the repentant, the submissive? No; for\nthe sinful, the trifling, the scoffing. This mingling of grace and\ntruth is very striking. As the play of the lightning is more\nbrilliant during the darkness of the night, so God's mercy shines out\nmore gloriously through the murky night of man's sin. As the colours\nof the rainbow are most vivid when it rests on some black cloud or\nfrowning cliff, so heaven's grace is seen to best advantage on the\nbackground of human guilt.\n\nI. GOD'S WAITING FOR MAN. 1. His waiting is _real and earnest._ It is\nwaiting--it is not a passive loitering; but carries with it the idea\nof earnest expectation and desire. And so while God waits, He plies\nyou with warm entreaties and loving invitations, with stern\nthreatenings and glowing promises; He seeks to win you by the shadow\nas well as the sunshine which He throws alternately across your path.\n\"_God_ waiting?\" you ask. Why does _He_ wait? Can He not subdue\nsinners by His power and compel them to serve His purpose, as the\npotter moulds the plastic clay? You forget that you are a free agent.\nSpirit is not matter. God will not shatter the door closed against\nHim, and if He is to enter it must be with your consent. It is true\nthat the Lord opens the heart, but a forced submission would be no\nsubmission at all. God's waiting, then, is real; it is no figure of\nspeech; and when we think of it, is He not far greater in His\nmarvellous patience than in ruling countless worlds?\n\n2. God waits as a _God of grace,_ \"that He may be gracious unto you.\"\nGrace is free, unpurchased favour, conferred independently of\nanything in us, or anything we can do (H. E. I., 2303; P. D. 1524).\n\n3. God waits as a _God of law._ \"The Lord is a God of judgment.\"\nThere must not only be grace, but truth as well. God can only forgive\nsin in consistency with His justice. In our ignorance we think of\npardon as the removal of a grudge, the overlooking of an insult, but\nthis loose view keeps justice out of sight. Would you accept a pardon\nwhich would degrade the character of God, represent Him as a lawless\nbeing conniving at the very sin He forgives, shake the foundations of\nHis throne, and subvert the interests of truth and holiness in the\nuniverse? Sin is no such light thing lightly forgiven. Only through\nthe sacrifice of Christ can remission of sin be righteously bestowed.\n\"The Lord is a God of judgment.\"\n\n4. This waiting is _God's highest exaltation._ \"He will be exalted\nthat He may have mercy upon you.\" In showing mercy to the sinful,\nGod's glory is made great, and the sin which is so hateful and\ndeplorable has furnished occasion for the rich display of His mercy.\nWar is a great evil, but where would be the courage of the soldier,\nand the heroic deeds which have been enshrined in song, if there had\nbeen no war? And so, had sin never existed in the world, we could\nnever have witnessed those marvellous exhibitions of God's mercy that\nfill us with wonder and praise. Where sin abounded grace much more\nabounded.\n\nII. MAN WAITING FOR GOD. \"Blessed are all they that wait for Him.\" We\nhave seen how He waits for us to be gracious unto us, to be exalted\nin having mercy upon us, and we should wait in humble faith to\nreceive these priceless blessings, bringing our empty vessels that\nthey may be filled. The _blessedness_ of so waiting is set forth in\nnumerous passages of Scripture. What entire satisfaction and peace do\nthey enjoy who take this attitude of soul described as waiting on the\nLord! In waiting for man we are often disappointed and deceived, but\nhow can we ever exhaust the Divine mercy and goodness? O happy soul\nthat waits for God, and rejoicing in the plenitude of His goodness\nsings,\n\n        \"I must have all things and abound\n         Since God is God to me.\"\n\nIf God had not first waited for us, we never would have waited for\nHim. He took the initiative. Why should any of us keep God waiting\nlonger? Are your sins too great? Have you been proud and rebellious?\nIt is precisely to such the promise is made. God is waiting _now_ to\nbe gracious, but the day of grace will soon be past.--_William\nGuthrie, M.A._\n\n\nAmidst the severest threatenings of Divine punishment of sin we find\nassurances of Divine willingness to exercise mercy. Here is still the\nquestion of the alliance with Egypt. In the foregoing verses the\nprophet points out its real weakness and danger. In the text he\nassures the people of the Divine readiness to forgive and restore if\nthey will return to God as their true confidence and defence.\n\nThis truth is brought out more fully when the light of the Gospel is\nthrown upon it. Man is sinful. Some scarcely see this, because they\nhave never examined the law. Some admit the truth of universal\ndepravity, but lose themselves in the crowd. Some have a sense of sin\nwhich causes anxiety, from which they see no escape. Others find rest\nand comfort on inadequate and delusive grounds. Now we need not\nmerely peace. That solicitude is put to rest does not prove that a\nman is safe. He may sleep when his house is burning. He may have\ntaken what he considered precautionary measures without informing\nhimself as to the measures that were necessary, or even in disregard\nof competent advice on the subject. We should find peace in God's\nway. Consider the text in the light of the Gospel. It is full of\nencouragement, but it implies a caution.\n\n+I. It intimates that there is a provision on account of which God\ncan exercise grace.+ 1. It is not His arbitrary will which pardons\nsin without regard to anything beyond His own pleasure in the\nhappiness of His creatures. He considers the whole race. If He\nexercise mercy toward one without an adequate satisfaction, why not\ntoward all? But this would amount to condonation of all sin--would\nannihilate the distinction between the consequences of good and evil.\nIf God is gracious, it must be in such a way as that no injustice is\ndone.\n\n2. Well then, you say, we must reform; there must be a repentance.\nAnd this is true when properly understood. But it is not true if it\nmeans that God may be gracious to men on the ground of their\nrepentance and reformation. The analogy between an earthly father and\nGod as a Father is often drawn so as to overlook the fact that He is\na moral governor, and that public justice is concerned in His\ntransactions with men. A father may forgive his child's offence on\nhis repentance, because it is a matter purely between themselves.\nWhen the offender repents, the demands of the case are met. But an\noffence against public law is different. A thief or a murderer\nconfesses his guilt, professes repentance and determination never to\nrepeat his crime; is the law satisfied? Would any one say he ought to\nbe forgiven? Now, sin is not only an offence against God, but against\npublic law, for which repentance is no satisfaction (H. E. I.,\n4225-4228).\n\n3. Nor is present obedience a ground to rest upon for the\nobliteration of past sins. The best obedience of the best fails to\nsatisfy the present. \"How can I tell when I have done enough?\" asked\nDr. Johnson on his dying bed. And even if you did enough to satisfy\nthe present demands of the law, how could that avail for the removal\nof previous criminality? Something more satisfactory than human\nexpedients is required (H. E. I., 375, 376).\n\n4. That something is found in the Gospel, in the gracious provision\nGod has made for the exercise of mercy without infringing on the\nrectitude of His government. It is in the gift of His Son. The love\nof God sent the Son of God in human flesh to obey and suffer. On the\nground of His vicarious offering as the atoning sacrifice, pardon and\npeace may be obtained. With it justice is fully satisfied.\n\n+II. The text intimates that God is desirous to exercise grace.+\n\nIt is not simply willingness. He is profoundly desirous of this\nresult. \"He wishes all men to be saved.\" \"He is not willing that any\nshould perish.\" This truth may be gathered:\n\n1. _For His revealed nature._ He does not delight in the infliction\nof punishment, even when it is required by the ends of justice. His\ntender love longs to see the sinner avail himself of the opportunity\nthat is afforded, and seek the offered grace (Exod. xxxiv. 5-7).\n\n2. _From the provision of the Gospel._ There was no obligation on Him\nto provide this grace. It was His love. It was provided at a cost\nthat was the best possible guarantee of sincerity. Having made such a\nprovision at such expense, will He be indifferent to the issue?\n\n3. _From the invitations of the Gospel._ The way of salvation is\nproclaimed as a royal messenger of grace to all mankind. It is not a\ncold statement of the fact that a channel of grace has been opened.\nIt is accompanied by calls and invitations. Will God mock them by\ninvitations of which He does not desire their acceptance?\n\n4. From the attitude which He here represents Himself as having\nassumed, He waits for sinners that He may be gracious. He is like the\nfather of the prodigal son, who doubtless waited long and anxiously\nfor the prodigal's return because he wanted to forgive him (H. E. I.,\n2328-2340).\n\nAnd this is the answer to the question, For what is He waiting? Why\ncannot He be gracious at once?\n\n+III. The text implies that grace can only be exercised when its\nconditions are accepted.+\n\nShould He bestow it on all? In their sins? The case stands thus: God\nhas done His part in providing mercy; there is a part for man. What\nis it? To consent. To confess the sin with conviction, humility,\nsorrow. To accept the mercy by sending up the believing cry. To\nsurrender to God as the rebel submits to his prince and returns to\nhis allegiance (H. E. I., 240).\n\nThis is what He waits for. When it occurs He is gracious. And how\nlong will He wait? Not for ever. He is in the attitude of one who has\ndetermined to wait a given time, during which the opportunity is\nafforded. \"Seek ye the Lord _while He may be found._\" Why should you\nnot? Why so unwilling?\n\nLet not the love of sin nor deadness to spiritual things hold you\nback. Refusal to seek His grace is determined resistance of His\nauthority and His love (H. E. I., 4247, 4248).--_J. Rawlinson._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] In these outlines the Authorised Version has been followed,\n     but the translations in which Delitzsch, Kay, and Cheyne\n     substantially agree is noteworthy and worthy of study.\n     _\"And therefore_--because your sins require this\n     chastisement--_the Lord will wait,_ in resolute\n     self-withdrawal, looking for the time when your penitence\n     will permit Him to be again _gracious unto you: and\n     therefore will He be exalted,_ in judicial severity (ch.\n     v. 16; Ps. xlvi. 10), _that_ ('when He seeth thy power is\n     gone,' Deut. xxxii. 36) _He may have mercy on thee_ (Deut.\n     xxx. 3).\"--_Kay._\n\n     _\"And therefore will Jehovah long till He can be gracious\n     unto you, and therefore will He wait in stillness [or, be\n     on high] till He can have compassion upon you, for Jehovah\n     is a God of righteousness; happy are all those that long\n     for Him!\"--Cheyne._\n\n     Mr. Birks thus comments: \"Vers. 18-26. These verses, from\n     the whole context, refer to the Assyrian deliverance. The\n     connection is direct and forcible, though some have thought\n     it obscure. However severe God's discipline, its design was\n     gracious. His dealings are full of wisdom, like our Lord's\n     absence during the sickness of Lazarus, to make the\n     blessing afterwards more glorious and Divine. There is, on\n     His part, no slackness or indifference, but the calm\n     waiting of an ever-patient love. Even in the hour of\n     judgment God will be exalted, not to crush His people with\n     the terrors of His majesty, but only _'that He may have\n     mercy'_ upon them. He knows how to temper their\n     afflictions, that they may yield the peaceable fruits of\n     righteousness. Since He waits in patient love to show the\n     favour at the last, they also are bound to wait, in faith\n     and patience, until the blessing shall come.\"\n\n\n\nWAITING FOR THE LORD.\n\n     xxx. 18. _Blessed are all they that wait for Him._\n\n+I. What is meant by waiting upon the Lord?+ Not that sitting still\nand biding our time, like a man waiting for a coach. Not that we are\nto sit in quiet, idle supineness, expecting the Lord to come and fill\nour souls with joy and peace, as He used to fill the tabernacle with\nHis glory. Yet, because they cannot convert their own souls, and\nsanctify their own hearts, thousands rashly conclude that they must\nquietly wait until the Lord work a miracle for them and save them.\nThe Bible declares our helplessness in order _that we may be stirred\nup to seek help from God_ (Eph. v. 14; Phil. ii. 12, 13; 2 Pet.\nii. 10). What do we mean when we engage a servant to wait upon us?\nNot that he is to compose himself to sleep until we signify that we\nwant him; but that he should attend upon us, hold himself in\nreadiness to do our bidding, make himself acquainted with our rules\nand conform to them, and with our wishes, and do his best to obey\nthem with all readiness, cheerfulness, and faithfulness. So when the\nLord bids us \"wait for Him,\" He means that we should diligently seek\nHis face, inquire into His laws, keep His statutes, and walk in His\nordinances, expecting to receive, in His own good time, the blessings\nwhich He has promised to those who \"wait upon Him.\"\n\n+II. How are we to wait for the Lord?+ 1. We must wait upon God _with\nthe heart:_ we must be in earnest. _We_ have no respect for the\nattentions and fair speeches of our fellow-men when we have reason to\nbelieve them mere idle compliments: will God accept from us what we\nhave scorn to receive from one another? (Jer. xiii. 13). 2. We must\nwait _entirely_ upon God, whether we are in search of peace, strength\nor happiness (Ps. lxii. 1-5). 3. We must wait upon the Lord\n_patiently_ and _perseveringly._ He is the rewarder of all them \"that\n_diligently_ seek Him;\" but He has never pledged Himself either to\nthe time when, or the mode in which, He will answer our prayers. He\nmay put our sincerity to the test by keeping us waiting for some\ntime; but we shall never wait in vain (Ps. xl. 1). Remember how long\nAbraham had to wait for the fulfilment of the promise of a seed; but\nin the end, through faith and _patience,_ he inherited the promise\n(Gal. vi. 9).--_E. Crow, M.A.: Plain Sermons,_ pp. 120-136.\n\n\nChange and uncertainty mark all things here. The wisest plans often\nbaffled, the fairest prospects blighted. But the truths and blessings\nof the Gospel are not subject to this law or uncertainty. God's\nschemes are never frustrated; His promises never broken.\n\nI. THAT DEVOUT EXERCISE OF MIND HERE COMMENDED. \"Waiting for God.\"\n1. His people wait _in the exercise of earnest and believing prayer._\nThey seek Him in the means of His own appointment; by that sort of\ndiligent seeking which is opposed to that of the slothful (Prov.\nxiii. 4). 2. His people wait _in holy expectation of blessings in\nprovidence and grace._ It is the patient waiting for the performance\nof the promise in the exercise of faith. It implies a knowledge of\nGod,--a confidence in Him,--a rest in His promises, as of a child in\na father; a servant in a master (Ps. cxxii. 1, 2). 3. _They wait for\nthe clearing up of perplexities in the Divine Government._ Oftentimes\nin their own history and in the history of others, God's providence\nbears a mysterious and perplexing aspect. But the believing soul\nsays, \"All will come right at last. What we know not now we shall\nknow hereafter.\" (H. E. I., 4043-4048).\n\nII. THE BLESSEDNESS OF SUCH WAITING FOR GOD. 1. The very exercise of\nprayer, faith, and patience is _a culture of the soul._ In such\nculture there lies \"Blessedness.\" 2. Theirs shall be the _blessedness\nof satisfaction._ Disappointment meets man in every walk of life, but\nthose who trust in the Lord's Justice, Wisdom, and Goodness shall\nnever \"be ashamed.\"--_Samuel Thodey._\n\n\nI. God's appearances on account of His people are sometimes delayed.\n1. In answering prayer. 2. In relieving them in their afflictions.\n3. In explaining Himself in regard to their afflictions. 4. In\naffording the joys of His salvation and the comfort of the Holy\nGhost. II. Your duty in the meantime: it is to wait for Him calmly,\npatiently, expectantly. III. The blessedness that will attend the\nexercise of waiting for Him.--_William Jay: Sunday Evening Sermons,_\npp. 319-324.\n\n\n\nGOD'S READINESS TO LISTEN TO THE NEEDY.\n\n     xxx. 19. _He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice\n     of thy cry._\n\n+I. There are persons before me for whom this gracious assurance is\nparticularly suitable.+ It is most comforting--\n\n1. _To all afflicted people._ You are depressed; things have gone\namiss; you do not prosper in business, or you are sickening in body,\nor a dear one lies at home pining away. In your straits possibly you\nmay be ready to try some wrong way of helping yourself out of your\ndifficulties. Yield not to Satan. There is help in God for you now.\nThe Lord is not now visiting you in wrath; there is kindness in His\nseverity. By yielding yourself to God, and trusting Him in this your\nevil plight, you will obtain deliverance (ver. 15).\n\n2. _To those who are troubled on account of sin._ In order to escape\nfrom sin and punishment, the very first thing with you is to come\nback to your God whom you have offended, since He alone can pardon\nyou. There must be a turning of the face in repentance, and a looking\nof the eye by faith unto God in Christ Jesus, or you will die in your\nsins (H. E. I., 1479-1484). The natural tendency of your heart, even\nwhen under a sense of sin, will be to keep from the Lord. Alas! you\nwill look at your sin again and again till you are ready to pine away\nin despair, but you will not look to Christ Jesus and be saved.\nPossibly you may conclude that there is no hope for you in better\nthings, and that therefore you had better enjoy such pleasures as may\nbe found in sin, and take your swing while you may. Do not believe\nthis lie of Satan. There is hope; you are in the land of mercy still.\nYou need do nothing to make the Lord propitious, He is love already;\nyou need not undergo penance, nor pass through grievous anguish of\nspirit in order to render God more merciful, for His grace aboundeth.\nTherefore we say to you, go to Him and test Him, for He will be\ngracious to the voice of your cry.\n\n3. _To backsliders filled with their own ways,_ who are alarmed and\ndistressed at their grievous departures from God. You may well be\ngrieved, for you have done much dishonour to the name of God amongst\nthe ungodly; you have pierced His saints with many sorrows. If you\nwere cast off for ever as a traitor and left to die as a son of\nperdition, what could be said but that you were reaping the fruit of\nyour own ways? Yet the text rings in your ears at this time like a\nclear silver bell, and its one note is grace. \"He will be very\ngracious unto thee\" (Jer. iii. 14; H. E. I., 424).\n\n4. _To all believers in Christ who are at all exercised in heart;_\nand we are all in that condition at times. Even when by full\nassurance we can read our title clear to-day, we become anxious as to\nthe morrow. If trials multiply, how will faith be able to stand? When\nthe days of weakness arrive, what shall we do in our old age? Behind\nall stands the skeleton form of death. \"What shall we do in the\nswellings of Jordan?\" We recollect how we ran with the footmen in our\nformer trials, and they wearied us, and we ask ourselves, \"How shall\nwe contend with horsemen?\" When standing, as we shall, on the brink\nof eternity, will our religion thus prove a reality, or will our hope\ndissolve like a dream? Such questions torment our souls. Let all such\nfears vanish. In child-like confidence come to God, and go no more\nfrom Him. Let this verse smile on you, and beckon you to your\nFather's heart.\n\n+II. The assurance here given is very firmly based.+ It rests--1. _On\nthe plain promise of God_ as given in the text, and in many similar\ndeclarations scattered all over the Scriptures. 2. _On the gracious\nnature of God._ It is His nature to be gracious. Judgment is His\nstrange work, but He delighteth in mercy. Nothing pleases Him more\nthan to pass by transgression, iniquity, and sin when we lie humble\nand penitent before Him. 3. _On the prevalence of prayer._ This we\nknow, an experience of eight-and-twenty years has proved that God\nheareth prayer; therefore we say to you, go to Him and test Him, for\nHe will be gracious to the voice of your cry.\n\n+III. The well-confirmed assurance of the text should be practically\naccepted at once.+ 1. _Let us renounce at once all earth-born\nconfidence._ What is your confidence? Your wealth? Your strong\ncommon-sense? Your stalwart frame? What are you relying on? Will it\nsupport you in death? Will it stand you in good stead in eternity? It\nwill not if it be anything short of the love of God in Christ Jesus\nour Lord. Let us flee from all creature-confidence as from a filthy\nthing, for it is base to the last degree to be trusting in another\ncreature and putting that creature into the place of the Creator.\n2. _Refuse despair._ 3. _Try now the power of prayer and child-like\nconfidence in God._--_C. H. Spurgeon: Metropolitan Tabernacle\nPulpit,_ vol. xxiv. pp. 337-348.\n\n\n\nTHE BREAD OF ADVERSITY.\n\n     xxx. 20, 21. _And though the Lord give you the bread of\n     adversity, &c._[1]\n\nI. DIFFICULTIES SUPPOSED.\n\n\"The Bread of Adversity\" was a proverbial expression among the Jews\n(1 Kings xxii. 27; Ps. lxxx. 5). The _Lord_ gives: He who gave the\ncup of salvation gives the cup of affliction. He who gives the bread\nof life gives also the bread of adversity (Heb. xii. 6). Recollect\nthat the Lord who gives you the bread of adversity gave His own Son\nno better fare, no richer diet.\n\nII. CONSOLATIONS PROMISED.\n\n\"Yet shall not thy teachers be removed,\" &c. He will compensate\ntemporal troubles by spiritual blessings. Numbers have found that as\ntribulation abounded, consolation abounded by Christ (2 Cor. i. 5).\nSuch consolations are threefold. 1. _A free access to God's throne._\n\"He will be very gracious to thee at the voice of thy cry.\" Prayer\nrelieves distress. 2. _A faithful administration of God's word and\nordinances._ Religious instruction shall be continued, \"thy teachers\nshall not be removed.\" 3. _A gracious direction of God's providence._\n\nIII. INSTRUCTIONS SUGGESTED.\n\n1. _Guard against whatever may endanger Christian privileges._\nNeglect of prayer; absence of love; seductions of the world.\n2. _Recollect what is needful to give this promise full effect_--the\ninfluence of the Spirit. Pray for and expect a baptism of the Holy\nGhost. 3. _Commend to others the consolations you receive._ Visit the\nsick; remember the widow and the fatherless. In comforting others,\nyour own bread of adversity shall be made sweet.--_Samuel Thodey._\n\n\nI. A CALAMITY ANTICIPATED.\n\nAffliction may be continuous and severe. Bread and water are the\nprominent things in the sustenance of life. Day by day reserved. Few,\nif any, are entirely exempt from affliction. Periods of difficulty\nand privation, when weeks and months of consuming anxiety are\nexperienced. Losses which seriously incommode and cripple their\nbusiness. Troubles in the family, sometimes from the conduct of those\nmost loved. Bereavements which rend the heart. Sickness, accident,\nconsuming disease, and excruciating pain wear life slowly away.\n\nThe godly are not exempted. The infected atmosphere may poison the\nsaint as well as the sinner. If a good man falls over a precipice he\nwill be killed. \"The same hurricane may equally swamp the vessel\nwhich is filled with pirates and that which is filled by a band of\ndevoted missionaries.\" If a Christian neglect his business, or\nconduct it on unsound principles, he must expect insolvency. He may\nconduct it with perfect commercial wisdom and care and yet be\novertaken by disasters from causes beyond his control.\n\nBut it does not happen by chance. There is no such thing as fate. We\nrecognise the hand of the Lord. \"Though _the Lord_ give you the bread\nof affliction and the water of adversity.\" In this truth is help for\nbelievers perplexed by the mystery of sorrow. It throws their\nthoughts on God. And they have such confidence in Him that is a\nresting-place. We do not know, we never can know, the evils He\nprevents. When He permits or sends trouble we may rest assured that\nthere is a sufficient reason (Lam. iii. 33).\n\nWhat are the reasons?[2] We may mistake their application, but they\nare such as these: 1. It is sometimes _punitive._ God has established\na connection between sin and suffering. The former always works\ntowards the latter. The chain of connection may be so subtle, and may\nextend so far back, that we cannot follow it. Yet such a chain there\nis. When affliction comes, it is useful to trace the chain, and\nascertain, if we can, wherefore the Lord is contending with us. 2. It\nis sometimes _corrective._ He deals with us as men deal with their\nchildren (Heb. xii. 5-11). It is not that He may vent His anger, but\nrecall them to their better selves. He means it as the refiner means\nthe fire into which he casts the gold (Ps. cxix. 67). 3. It is\nsometimes _auxiliary._ The means to an end. The dark way into light.\nIt is necessary to some advantage which could not be reached without\nit. Joseph's slavery and imprisonment were the steps to his\nsubsequent greatness. Jesus reached the crown by the cross. Perhaps\nyou can illustrate from your own experience.\n\nMeantime, here is\n\nII. AN ANTIDOTE PROMISED.\n\nTheir teachers had been removed. The prophets were persecuted (verses\n9, 10). Jeremiah, Zedekiah, under Jezebel's persecution. Obadiah had\nhid a hundred in caves. Persecution usually fastens on the teachers\nas most prominent. Thus Apostles. Thus the Nonconforming clergy in\nEngland. Thus the missionaries were driven from Madagascar. But the\npromise here in that they shall regain their liberty. And this will\nbe not only a relief to themselves, but an antidote to the people's\ncalamities. It will secure: 1. _Instruction._ \"Thy teachers.\" Truth\nis the basis of everything in experience or practice. It is their\nbusiness carefully to unfold and apply the truth.[3]\n2. _Consolation._ Christian ordinances are consolatory. There are\ntruths that bear on troubles. The views of the Divine character and\nof the course of Providence exhibited in the Gospel sustain and\ncomfort. 3. _Direction._ There is danger of turning to right or left.\nSo many allurements, from ignorance, misguidance, temptation. By the\nministry you hear the voice which points out the way, invites\nsteadfastness, warns against divergence.\n\nGod provides guidance in the journey to the better land. Value the\nministry of the Word. Attend it. Follow its teaching.--_J. Rawlinson._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] The Authorised Version, upon which these outlines are\n     founded, is supported by Mr. Cheyne, who translates: _\"And\n     though the Lord give you bread in short measure and water\n     in scant quantity,\"_ &c. But Delitzsch, Kay, and Birks\n     render the first clause: \"And the Lord will give you bread\n     in your adversity and water in your affliction.\" Mr. Birks\n     adds: \"These words form part of a promise, not its\n     limitation. Here they are assured that, although besieged,\n     they will not be given over to famine. The path of duty\n     will be made plain by God's prophets, and speedy\n     deliverance be given.\"\n\n [2] H. E. I., 56-115.\n\n [3] The Christian Church requires a teaching ministry. Not only\n     must the Gospel be proclaimed to the world, the Church must\n     be trained into knowledge, experience, holiness, activity.\n     Individual study of Scripture is largely useful. But\n     regularly recurring religious services, of which careful\n     instruction is a part, are universally necessary. Godly men\n     must be released from secular business, trained, set apart\n     to the study and ministry of the Word. The living voice of\n     the preacher helps, guides, confirms, and gives greater\n     practical influence to the private reading of Christians.\n     Even under the old dispensation, large use was made of this\n     method. There were schools of the prophets. A few were so\n     eminent that they have left their words behind them. But\n     there were many whose names have not survived their time.\n     Jesus trained His disciples for their future work. After\n     His Ascension, He gave various gifts to men for the work of\n     the ministry. He continues them. While one could wish that\n     all the Lord's people were prophets, and that He would put\n     His Spirit upon them, so that they would work to the full\n     extent of their ability for the world's salvation, it\n     remains true that the strength of the Church is an able,\n     well-instructed, godly, and earnest ministry.\n\n     Among the blessings here promised to the ancient Church is\n     the restoration of the silenced teachers to their work\n     after its period of discipline.--_Rawlinson._\n\n\n\nTHE GUIDING VOICE.\n\n     xxx. 21. _And thou shalt hear a voice behind thee, &c._\n\nThis may be a promise to God's people of the continuance of the\nservices of the ministry, or of the additional blessings of spiritual\nsuggestions to guide them in the path of duty.\n\nI. It may be continuance of the promise in the preceding verse: \"Thy\nteachers shall not be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes\nshall see thy teachers, _and_ thine ears shall hear a word behind\nthee.\" The Word of God proclaimed by faithful ministers follows men.\nSometimes, as they listen to it, they reject it, but it pursues them,\nand gives them no rest until they obey it. When they are bent on a\nwrong course, it haunts them until they are recalled to duty. Or it\nstimulates them to the performance of duties they are neglecting or\nperforming sluggishly. Thus understood, we may see that in this\npromise God compares Himself as it were to a shepherd, who puts his\nsheep before him; or to a schoolmaster who will have his scholars in\nsight, that so he may the better keep them in order.\n\nThus understood, we see our duty. It is to give reverent heed to the\nWord of God as proclaimed to us by His ministers. Food, however\nchoice, is no blessing to us unless it be eaten and digested; and the\nWord of God is no blessing to us, except there be an ear to hearken\nto it, a spiritual taste to relish it, and a heart to close and\ncomply with it. Well is it with those who imitate Lydia (Acts\nxvi. 14). But neglect of God's Word shuts against us even the throne\nof grace (Prov. xxviii. 9). To those who disregard what they know to\nbe the voice of God, there comes a time when they discover that the\ngreatest of all calamities is to have their voice disregarded by Him\n(Prov. i. 24-26).\n\nII. But the promise may be that of an additional blessing, the inward\nmotions and suggestions of the Holy Spirit. His voice may be called\n\"a word behind us,\" because--1. Of its secresy (Job iv. 12).\n2. Because it follows us always, as constantly as our shadow.\nParallels to this promise we find in 1 John ii. 20, 27; John xiv. 26,\nxvi. 13.\n\nIII. This voice His people hear when they are about to wander, or\nhave wandered from the way of righteousness. From that way it is easy\nto depart; but God loves His people, and cannot abide to see them\nmiscarry, and therefore He counsels them. \"This is the way, walk ye\nin it,\" is sometimes a word of correction and reformation, in case of\nerror; sometimes a word of instruction and direction, in case of\nignorance; sometimes a word of strengthening and confirmation, in\ncase of unsettledness.\n\nIn all these respects God's people hear the \"word behind them,\"\nsometimes giving them very gracious hints concerning the affairs of\nthis present life, but more frequently concerning the spiritual life.\nThose who wait upon God shall not lack counsels concerning the manner\nin which they are to serve Him. He answers the prayers of His people\n(Ps. xxv. 4, 5; lxxxvi. 11; cxliii. 8).\n\nWhat a great comfort and encouragement we have here! If we really\ndesire to serve God amid all the labyrinths and uncertainties of this\npresent life, we shall be safe, for He will guide us.\n\nIV. But how may we know whether the word behind us is the voice of\nGod, and not merely one of our own fancies, or a suggestion of\nSatan's? There are several touchstones by which every \"word\" may and\nshould be tested. 1. The word within is to be compared with the Word\nwithout. Every suggestion is to be examined by the rule of Scripture.\nGod never speaks in the conscience contrary to what He speaks there,\nfor He is unchangeable and cannot contradict Himself (Isa. viii. 20).\n2. God's \"words\" are orderly and regular; they keep men within the\ncompass of their callings, and the place in which God has set them.\nThey incite us not to forsake our duty, but to be faithful in it.\n3. They are ordinarily mild, gentle, seasonable; they are not\nordinarily raptures, but such as leave a man in a right apprehension\nof what he does, and capable of reflection upon it. 4. They are\ndiscernible also from their effects, and the ends to which they tend.\nAll the hints and motions of God's Spirit tend to make us better, and\nto carry us nearer to Himself in one way or another. Honestly using\nthese tests, we shall learn promptly and surely to discern the voice\nof God's Spirit when He says to us, \"This is the way, walk ye in it.\"\n\nV. From all this two duties plainly arise. 1. _Thankfulness._ A\nfaithful monitor is a very great advantage; it is so betwixt man and\nman, and we should bless God that He condescends to be this to us.\n2. _Obedience._ To His infallible, loving counsel we should give\nprompt heed, especially as He not only points out the way, but is\nalways ready to help us to walk in it; and the way in which He would\nhave us go is the only one that leads to true happiness and lasting\npeace. Disobedience exposes us to manifold dangers, such as\n(1.) God's future silence; when His counsels are repeatedly rejected,\nHe will cease to speak. What a terrible calamity (1 Sam. xxviii. 5).\n(2.) Those who hearken not to the voice of God in them are often\ngiven up to Satan, and their own corruptions bear away within them\n(Ps. lxxxi. 11, 12).--_Thomas Horton, D.D.: 100 Select Sermons,_ pp.\n298-304.\n\n\n+I. Our need of the guidance here promised.+ We are ignorant of the\nway to true happiness, and we have not always daylight. The path is\nnarrow, and is sometimes very intricate. It lies through an enemy's\ncountry. Many as wise as we have lost their way, and, after years of\nsorrow, have perished miserably. We need this guidance in youth, in\nmanhood, in old age, even unto death (P. D., 952, 2388).\n\n+II. Some of the means by which God guides His people.+ The promise\nin our text suggests a traveller in doubt as to the course he should\ntake, pausing perplexed at cross roads, and in danger of choosing a\nwrong one, when a friendly voice behind him is heard, saying, \"This\nis the way, walk ye in it.\" God thus speaks to His people. 1. By His\n_providences._ Afflictions are often monitions and instructions\n(H. E. I., 66-70). 2. By His _Word._ It clearly marks the path to\nheaven. 3. By our _conscience_ (H. E. I., 1291, 1304, 1308-1312).\n4. By His _Spirit;_ by Whom conscience is quickened, our\nunderstanding cleared of delusions, our attention fixed on the happy\ncareer of the righteous, and the disastrous end of the wicked.\n\n+III. What is needed to enable us to profit by this promise.+ 1. A\nprayerful spirit (ver. 19). 2. A studious eye that will look for the\nwaymarks, especially for the footprints of Jesus. 3. A listening ear.\n4. An obedient habit of mind (1 Sam. xv. 22; P. D., 1656). Disregard\nof the Guiding Voice will involve us in present disaster and misery,\nand in eternal woe. Heedfulness of it will ensure for us present\nsafety and peace, and eternal blessedness.--_Samuel Thodey._\n\n\n\nRIVERS OF WATERS.\n\n     xxx. 25, 26. _And there shall be upon every high mountain,\n     &c._\n\nThese are symbolic of the blessings God will confer upon His people\nwhen He returns to them in mercy. These are vivid presentations of\ntwo characteristics of these blessings, their copiousness and their\nuniversality. 1. To express their COPIOUSNESS the prophet speaks not\nof streams merely, but of rivers; \"rivers and streams of water;\" and\ndeclares that they shall be poured forth, not merely as the light\nfrom the sun, but as if the light of seven days were concentrated in\none.[1] 2. To express at once their copiousness and their\nUNIVERSALITY, He declares that the rivers and streams shall run on\nthe hills and mountains, yea, upon _every_ hill and mountain.[2] The\nidea of universality is involved also in the future of sunlight.[3]\n\nHave these promises been fulfilled? Yes. 1. _When the Gospel was\ngiven to the world._ Its messengers were sent forth into every land,\nand it is a small thing to say that the light it gave was sevenfold\nthat which the most enlightened of the heathen had possessed. 2. _In\nthe experience of every believing soul._ The Gospel reaches many who\nseem utterly beyond any saving influence; and when it does really\nreach a man, is received into his heart. It gives him a light of more\nthan sevenfold brightness and value as compared with the best of the\nlights he before professed--reason and conscience.[4] 3. It is\nfulfilled in our own day _by the remarkable increase of religious\nknowledge._ God's Word is being carried into every land, and the\nchildren in our daily and Sabbath schools have a fuller acquaintance\nwith Scripture than many men and women of the last generation. There\nis to be a yet more complete fulfilment of these promises in that\nglorious era of which we speak as the Millennium.[5]\n\nIt rests with ourselves to determine whether the fulfilment of these\npromises shall be to us a blessing.[6]--_John Packer: Warnings and\nConsolations,_ pp. 256-271.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] We can conceive of nothing more bright, pervading, and\n     universal than the light of the sun. At its rising the\n     whole face of nature is displayed, every object is brought\n     out to view; the grandest or loveliest features of the\n     scene are presented to us in all their extent and\n     magnificence, while the most delicate tints of the smallest\n     flower are seen in all their softest shades and richest\n     hues. Still the glorious object in its full splendour, the\n     sun itself is too dim, too dull, too feeble to represent\n     the grace and love of our God; it must be multiplied\n     sevenfold. And even then it but indistinctly shadows forth\n     the unspeakable mercy of the everlasting God.--_Packer._\n\n [2] _\"Rivers and streams of waters.\"_ But where is their\n     current? Upon every high mountain and upon every high hill.\n     Now, there can be no rivers and streams on the summit of\n     the mountain range, nor upon the high hill top. Rivers and\n     streams are fed from these lofty elevations; they take\n     their rise amid these towering heights, but they do not\n     find a channel there. Thus you see that to typify the\n     effluence of the Holy Spirit, these flowing waters of the\n     text are described as being in unusual localities, to\n     intimate that the blessings will be in such abundance and\n     profusion as to outrun expectation and surpass all\n     experience. And this not in some highly favoured regions\n     only, but the blessing shall be universal, even upon\n     _every_ high mountain and upon _every_ high hill.--_Packer._\n\n [3] This, like the air, cannot be excluded; it penetrates the\n     gloomiest caverns, can enter even through a cranny. So\n     there is no soul out of reach of the all-pervading Spirit.\n     Those that are inaccessible to man can be reached, and\n     enriched, and blessed by the mighty energy of the Holy\n     Ghost.--_Packer._\n\n [4] When we attempt to compare the boasted light of natural\n     reason with the light which the Spirit alone can impart, it\n     is not simply that the former is as the light of the moon,\n     and the latter as the light of the sun; but the one is as\n     Egyptian darkness, and the other as the splendour of the\n     meridian sun, without even one small fleecy cloud\n     intervening. Jesus Christ is the light of life (2 Cor.\n     iv. 6). All that we can know of God, of His attributes and\n     perfections, of His plans and purposes, He has revealed\n     unto us by His Son. To those who are in Christ all is\n     light, and harmony, and peace; to those who are without\n     Christ all is gloom, and confusion, and terror. By faith in\n     Him we see that all God's dealings wear an aspect of mercy,\n     love, and wisdom. Corrections are inflicted for our profit;\n     disappointments are sent to wean us from the unsatisfying,\n     perishing things of time and sense. Surely, in this\n     respect, the promise in the text is made good to the\n     believer; he enjoys sevenfold light in his soul compared to\n     that which he had in the days when he knew not the true God\n     and Jesus Christ, whom He had sent.--_Packer._\n\n [5] But these mercies will be preceded by the convulsions of\n     the moral earthquake. The very terms in which the promise\n     is couched convey the idea of trial and suffering. There is\n     a breach which the Lord binds up, and there is the stroke\n     of a wound to be healed, implying previous\n     violence.--_Packer._\n\n [6] What shall the universality and copiousness of the \"rivers\n     and streams of water\" profit us, if we will not drink of\n     them? In the natural world a man would be nothing\n     benefited, though the light of the sun was augmented\n     sevenfold, if he studiously closed and sealed every opening\n     by which it entered his dwelling, or if he placed an\n     impervious bandage tightly over his eyes whenever he went\n     abroad (John xii. 36).--_Packer._\n\n     [See also Outlines, RIVERS OF WATER IN A DRY PLACE,\n     xxxii. 2, and ENRICHING RIVERS, xxxiii. 21.]\n\n\n\nTHE EARTHLY SONG AND THE HEAVENLY VOICE.\n\n     xxx. 29-33. _Ye shall have a song . . . and the Lord shall\n     cause His glorious voice to be heard, &c._\n\nThe fulfilment of this prophecy is recorded in Isa. xxxvii. 36. The\nAssyrian power, hitherto unopposed in its march of conquest,\nsustained a severe check when it assailed Jerusalem. The great\ndeliverance is here foretold. Inside the walls there would be song\nand gladness; outside, swift destruction. \"The holy solemnity\" was\nprobably the Passover which Hezekiah and his people observed; and the\n\"song\" in that case would be the Paschal Hymn, comprising Ps.\ncxiii.-cxviii. There is a tradition that Sennacherib's army was\ndestroyed on the night of the Passover; and thus while the people\nwere recalling their great national deliverance, a further and\nsomewhat similar Divine interposition was about to be made in their\nbehalf. Mark how grandly, as if in response to the songs and gladness\nof the Passover night, the voice of Jehovah comes in. It is\nimpossible not to see the connection between the two voices. Songs of\npraise and gladness have still an echo in heaven, and call forth a\nDivine response to quell the church's foes. Look, then, at the two\nvoices, the human and the Divine, in relation to each other.\n\n1. _A voice of confidence on man's part responded to by a voice of\npower on God's part._ It showed no small faith in Hezekiah and his\npeople to observe the Passover in the circumstances. How could the\nlittle kingdom of Judah oppose the mighty conqueror? How could\nJerusalem standout against the assailants encamped in such numbers\naround its walls? God was their defence. To Him in this emergency\nthey raised their songs of confidence. Nothing could more\nappropriately express their faith than the Passover hymn. That night\nreminded them of the rescue from Egypt, and would inspire them with\nconfidence in God. They were on the eve of another great deliverance,\nand their song was well fitted to prepare them for it, containing\nsuch passages as these, Ps. cxv. 1-11, cxviii. 6-13. Nor was their\nconfidence disappointed. Without any human help, God overthrew their\nbesiegers, but it was the song of faith that called forth the\npowerful voice of God. When faith appeals to God, the appeal is heard\non high (Exod. xiv. 13; Ps. xlvi. 10). Two prisoners once prayed and\nsang praises to God at midnight. Their testimony for Christ had been\nsilenced, but from the dark dungeon the song of confidence rose to\nheaven. \"And the Lord caused His glorious voice to be heard,\" an\nearthquake shook the foundations of the prison, and God gave His two\nwitnesses an opportunity of bringing the Gospel to bear upon hardened\nhearts. Do you wish to see the arm of the Lord revealed? then sing\nyour song of faith. Does the Church in these days sit powerless, sad,\nand despairing through the gloomy night of unbelief and prevailing\nungodliness? Let her know that man's extremity is God's opportunity.\nIn the darkest night of seeming failure she has her God-given song,\nand if only she can sing it in spite of all that is black and\nthreatening in her prospects, \"the Lord shall cause His glorious\nvoice to be heard, and shall show the lighting down of His arm\" in\nrebuking scepticism and indifference, in softening hard hearts, and\nin making friends of foes.\n\n2. _A song of gladness and joy in God responded to by a voice of\ncomplacent affection._ All the Jewish feasts were occasions of\ngladness, and the Passover must have been so, when we consider the\nevent it commemorated, the communion with God to which it invited,\nand the future salvation it foreshadowed. The Paschal Hymn resounds\nwith notes of gladness, _e.g.,_ Ps. cxviii. 14, 15, 24. If our song\nof joy in God is hearty and sincere, we may expect a corresponding\nresponse. If we rejoice in God, He will rejoice over us (Zeph.\niii. 17; Isa. xxxi. 4, 5).\n\n3. _A song of self-dedication answered by a voice of recognition._\nThe song breathes the spirit of consecration to God's service (Ps.\ncxvi. 12-19). Do we thus consciously and spontaneously lay ourselves\non the altar as living sacrifices? If we own God, God will own us.\nThe destruction of Sennacherib's hosts was a proof to all the world\nthat God owned Israel as His peculiar people. You, too, will have the\ntoken of Divine ownership. For your sake God will rebuke the\ndevourer. In response to your song of dedication, \"the Lord shall\ncause His glorious voice to be heard,\" giving success to your efforts\nand enterprises, blessing you and making you a blessing.\n\n4. _A song of security calling forth a voice of preservation._ Within\nthe walls the people marched in procession \"to the mountain of the\nLord, to the rock of Israel.\" That rock of ages was their defence.\nThey felt secure in God's faithful keeping (Ps. cxv. 17, 18,\ncxviii. 16-18). Have you entered into this element of the Paschal\nsong? You shall hear God's protecting voice, and see the acts of His\npreserving care. However strong the foes that muster against you,\nthey shall not prevail, for all the Divine resources are engaged for\nyour support (Col. iii. 3).\n\n5. _A song of thanksgiving for past mercies answered by a voice that\ncommanded new mercies._ This element was very prominent in the\nPassover observance, and it enters largely into the Lord's Supper,\ncalled on this account the Eucharist. How can we remember Christ\nwithout thankfulness and praise? When He took the bread and the cup\nHe \"gave thanks,\" and He and His disciples sang the Paschal Hymn.\nWhat strains of high thanksgiving it contains! It begins with praise\n(Ps. cxii. 1, 2). It retells the Exodus (Ps. cxiv.) It rises to\ngrateful recognition of God's goodness (Ps. cxvi. 7, 8, 17). When\nsuch a song rises from human lips, God will give fresh occasions for\nthankfulness.\n\nLet the subject teach us the importance of sacred song. Prayer and\npreaching are Divinely appointed means of grace and instruction, but\nwe cannot dispense with song. God fights for His people, but it is\nwith the accompaniment of tabrets and harps (ver. 32).--_William\nGuthrie, M.A._\n\n\n\nTOPHET ORDAINED OF OLD.\n\n     xxx. 33. _For Tophet is ordained of old, &c._\n\nSome of us have often admired the expression, \"Knowing the terrors of\nthe Lord, we persuade men;\" implying that the law of persuasion\nshould be the law of the Christian pulpit. Some would _alarm_ men,\nsome would bitterly _rail,_ and others _thunder_ at them; as though\nthe human heart could never be prevailed upon to capitulate, but must\nalways be taken by storm. Paul shows us the more excellent way. When\nhe proclaims \"the terrors of the Lord,\" it is \"to persuade men;\" to\npersuade them to escape the ruin and to accept the remedy. Observe,\nhe does not hide them, for the truth must be told, sin must be\ncondemned, the wicked must be warned.\n\n+I. Let us examine the local allusion and literal meaning of this\nverse.+ \"This allusion to Tophet is the earliest which appears in the\nScriptures. Additional particulars appear in the history of Josiah's\nreformation (2 Kings xxiii. 10; Jer. vii. 31). The prophet Isaiah\nhere represents Tophet as a place prepared for the burning of the\nAssyrian king. Made deep and large, with fire and wood in abundance,\nprepared for the king, and he being thrown into it, the breath of the\nLord kindles it into fearful conflagration. This is, of course, a\nfigurative description, Tophet being made the central point in the\nfigure because it was a well-known place, a valley just outside the\ncity, the valley of Hinnom, used for burning all the offal and filth\nof the city of Jerusalem.\" Isaiah was commissioned to utter this\nprophecy of the overthrow and consuming of the Assyrian army, in\norder to inspirit Hezekiah and the people against the threatened\ninvasion. \"Tophet is ordained of old\" as that fiery place which would\nconsume the dead bodies of these unjust invaders. Hence the Chaldee\nparaphrase says, \"It was called the valley of the carcases and of the\nashes or of the dead bodies for this reason, because the dead bodies\nof the camp of the Assyrians fell there;\" to which Josephus gives\ntestimony when he relates that the place was called the Assyrian\ncamp. What force these recollections would give to our Lord's\nthreatenings of hell to the Jews who saw the smoke of this valley\nalways rising before their eyes (compare Isa. lxvi. 24 with Mark\nix. 43-48).\n\n+II. Note some of those solemn and awakening truths suggested by this\nverse.+ 1. _The same record which provides for the security of the\nChurch, provides for the final overthrow of its enemies._ This was\nthe time of Jacob's extremity; he was saved and his enemies consumed.\n2. _In the enjoyment of our highest privileges, we are surrounded by\nthe most solemn terrors._ Tophet lay not only _near,_ but at the very\nfoot of Mount Zion. From the heights of Zion might be seen the smoke,\nthe fire, and the worm in the valley of Tophet! A dreadful thought\nthis! Hell is set full in our view when worshipping in Zion (1 Pet.\niv. 17, 18). Bunyan says, \"So I saw a man may go by profession to\nheaven's gate and yet be cast away.\" Our Lord (Luke xiii. 25).\n3. _While no combination of power can shield the wicked, the believer\nhas always a source of safety and a song of joy._--_Samuel Thodey._\n\n\n\nTHE ONLY COUNSELLOR.\n\n     xxxi. 1-3. _Woe to the rebellious children, &c._\n\nThese words were spoken by the prophet at a time when the Jewish\nnation was in great and imminent danger. They were addrest to the\nrulers of the nation, who were endeavouring to ward off the danger:\nand their purpose is to rebuke those rulers for the measures they\nwere taking with that view, by entering into alliance with Pharaoh,\nking of Egypt, in the hope that he would deliver them out of it. But\nwe should make a great mistake if we imagine that there is nothing in\nthem that concerns our duty as individuals. God's reproofs of nations\nare such as we may all take home to our hearts, ponder, and learn\nfrom; for they contain principles of righteousness which, like the\nsun which shines at once on half the world and ourselves, are\nintended for the guidance both of nations and of individuals. Of this\ntruth a striking example is afforded by our text. Its object is to\nrebuke the Jewish rulers for the line of policy which they were\ntaking with the view of defending their country from her enemies.\nSennacherib, king of Assyria, was marching against Judah, with the\nintent of conquering it, and reducing the people to slavery, as\nIsrael had already been conquered and enslaved a few years before by\nShalmaneser. The danger was very great. What was King Hezekiah to do?\nHow was Judah to stand against Assyria? If you were to ask any of the\npoliticians who are wise in the wisdom of this world, they would all\nsay, there could be no question about the matter; that the only way\nof saving Judah was to obtain the alliance and aid of some powerful\nnation, whose succour might render her more nearly a match for the\narmies of the invader. This is exactly what the rulers of Judah set\nabout doing. They entered into an alliance with the king of Egypt,\nwith the view of gaining assistance from him, which might enable them\nto cope with Sennacherib in the field. This is just what a statesman,\nwho plumed himself on his wisdom in these days, would do. Yet it is\nfor doing this very thing that the prophet Isaiah in the text\nreproves and denounced woe against them. Their conduct, therefore,\nmust have been sinful. Let us try to discover in what their sin lay.\n\n1. They were making use of human means _alone,_ to ward off the\ndanger which threatened. It is not sinful to use such means; the sin\nlies in fancying they can help us without the blessing of God, and in\nnot seeking _that._ This was what Isaiah denounced, and what we do.\nWhen any danger threatens us, we forthwith take counsel--of\nourselves, of our friends, forgetting that all our counsel in the\nfirst instance ought to be taken of God, by searching His law with\nthe purpose of discerning what He wills us to do, and by praying Him\nto enlighten our understandings, that we may be enabled to discern\nHis will. So too we are ever seeking to cover ourselves with a\ncovering, to find some protection or other whereby we may be\npreserved from danger: only the covering we should cover ourselves\nwith is the covering of the Spirit of God. We should make Him our\nshield and buckler; and then we need not fear what man can do unto us.\n\nOur unwillingness to take counsel of God can only proceed from an\nevil heart of UNBELIEF,[1] and it is as unwise as it is undutiful.\nNone but God's counsel is infallible, and only His covering is sure.\nBut we choose to have a covering of our own making, and send up mists\nand clouds to hide the covering of God's Spirit from us, thus \"adding\nsin to sin.\"\n\n2. Observe, the princes of Judah were not merely taking counsel of\nman, instead of God, and covering with a covering which was not of\nthe Spirit of God: but the arm they were trusting to was the arm of\nEgypt. Now Egypt had from the first been the deadly enemy of the\nIsraelites, and of their God. Egypt was the source from which all\nmanner of idolatrous abominations flowed in upon them: out of Egypt\nthey had been called; and they were no longer to hold intercourse\nwith it. Therefore the prophet goes on to forbid their seeking help\nfrom Egypt, and to predict that the help of Egypt would end in their\nconfusion. If we are guilty of their sin, we shall not escape their\nwoe. When trials come upon men to-day, they are apt to listen to\nSatan's assurance that in that particular emergency he can help them\nbetter than God can. They listen; they sin, and the one sin leads to\nother sins; and ere long they are ruined (H. E. I., 173-175).\n\nStill it is woe to those who take counsel of anything earthly! In\ntimes of difficulty it is of God alone that we must seek and take\ncounsel. He alone can give us such counsel as will never fail us even\nin this life: and the wisdom of His counsel, which we now see only\nthrough a glass darkly, will become brighter than the sun at noon,\nwhen the veil of this world is drawn away from before it.--_Julius_\n_Charles Hare, M.A.: Sermons Preacht in Herstmonceaux Church,_ pp.\n305-323.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] From that unbelief which loses sight of and forgets the\n     Ruler and Lawgiver of the world, and which is prone to\n     worship whatever dazzles the senses and flatters our carnal\n     nature. What should we say if a child, in a time of doubt\n     or danger, would not run to ask its parents what to do, but\n     were to run away from its parents and ask a stranger, or\n     were to ask its own ignorance, or its own whims, or the\n     ignorance of its playfellows--yea, were to ask its toys?\n     Surely such conduct would bespeak a loveless, undutiful\n     heart and a silliness such as could only be excused during\n     the faint early dawn of the mind. So is it a proof of a\n     loveless, undutiful heart not to seek counsel of God; nor\n     is such conduct less unwise than undutiful. For what do we\n     want in a counsellor except wisdom and foresight--wisdom to\n     know the principles and laws of things, and foresight to\n     discern their consequences? Now, neither of these faculties\n     can we find in any earthly counsellor, except in a very low\n     degree. For, not to speak of the numberless accidents which\n     warp and bias our own judgments and those of our\n     fellow-men, and lead them awry, even at best man's\n     understanding, unless so far as it is enlightened from\n     above by a knowledge of heavenly laws, can only reckon up\n     what is wont to be, without any insight into what must be;\n     and his eyes are ever so hoodwinkt by the present that he\n     cannot even look forward into to-morrow. Whereas everything\n     that God ordains must be right and true, and must stand\n     fast for ever, even after heaven and earth have past away.\n     He knows what we ought to do, _and He will bear us through\n     in doing it._ Yet we choose rather to be led by the blind\n     than by the Seeing. . . . Herein the very heathens condemn\n     us. For they, though they know not the true God, yet\n     believed there were powers in the heavens far wiser and\n     longer-sighted than man; and so believing, they acted\n     accordingly. Rightfully distrusting themselves, they sought\n     to ascertain the will and purpose of those powers by\n     searching it out according to the means whereby they\n     imagined it would be revealed.--_J. C. Hare._\n\n\n\nTHE SPIRITUALITY OF THE DIVINE NATURE.\n\n     xxxi. 3. _The Egyptians are men, and not God; and their\n     horses flesh, and not spirit._\n\nAmong the sins to which the ancient Israelites were addicted, one of\nthe most prevailing was a disposition, in seasons of invasion or\ncalamity, to place confidence in the power of surrounding nations,\nand to seek the assistance of their sovereigns, instead of trusting\nin the living God. Egypt, being the largest monarchy in their\nimmediate neighbourhood, was frequently their refuge in times of\ndistress and difficulty. Remonstrance (vers. 1, 2).\n\nIn the text an important and infinite disparity between God and man,\nwhich rendered the Egyptian monarch infinitely inferior to Him in the\nqualities which entitle to confidence and trust. The spirituality of\nthe Supreme Being is the contrast.\n\nI. _The spirituality of the Deity is intimately connected with the\npossession of that infinite, unlimited power which renders Him the\nproper object of entire confidence._\n\nThere is a prejudice in favour of matter and against spirit, as if\nthe former were possessed of greater force than the latter. It arises\nfrom our mistaking secondary and remote effects for causes, instead\nof ascending to God the supreme cause. Thus we think of the elements\nof nature and of mechanical forces. We have no power of operating on\nthe objects immediately around us but by means of our bodies. But it\nis mind alone which is the seat of power. The power by which all\nchanges are effected through the instrumentality of the body resides\nimmediately in the mind. It is that mysterious principle called Will.\nWhatever motions the mind wills instantly take place. This is an\nillustration of the control which the Deity exercises over the\nuniverse. The Divine Being has only to will the most important\nchanges and they are instantly accomplished. It is impossible to give\nany account of innumerable changes continually taking place in the\nvisible world, without tracing them up to mind.\n\nII. _The spirituality of God stands in close and intimate connection\nwith His Invisibility._\n\n1 Tim. vi. 15, 16. Were He the object of sight, He must be limited.\nHe cannot, therefore, be figured out by any art or skill of man (Acts\nxvii. 24-29; Deut. iv. 15; Ex. xx. 4, 5). Hence the great impiety of\nthose who have attempted to paint and figure out the persons of the\nTrinity. The necessary effect of any attempt to represent the Deity\nto the human senses, by pictures or images, must be to degrade, to an\nincalculable degree, our conception of Him. Hence images of angels,\nthe Virgin Mary, and saints of inferior character.\n\nIII. _The spirituality of God is inseparably connected with His\nImmensity and Omnipresence_ (Jer. xxiii. 23, 24; Ps. cxxxix. 7-12).\n\n1. It is necessary that matter should have some figure. But figure is\ncircumscribed within a certain outline. To conceive of the Divine\nBeing as material would involve absurdity. 2. If matter were\nunlimited there would be no possibility of motion. 3. If the Divine\nBeing were material, He would render impossible the co-existence of\ncreated beings. Two portions of matter cannot occupy the same space.\nBut the infinite Spirit is present with every part of His creation.\n\nIV. _The spirituality of God enables His infinite Wisdom._\n\nThis seems a necessary property of that Being who is present to all\nHis creatures at all times. His infinite acquaintance with His\ncreatures is a necessary consequence of His presence. Every one is as\nmuch within His survey at one moment as at another. We judge of men's\ncharacter by their actions, He by their motives. And His judgment is\nalways according to truth.\n\nV. _The spirituality of God establishes an intimate relation between\nHim and all His intelligent creatures._\n\nTheir dependence on Him is absolute; their subjection to Him constant\nand incessant; but in a special manner is He the Father of spirits.\nThe body has a tendency to separate us from God, by the dissimilarity\nof its nature; the soul unites us to Him by those principles and\nfaculties which are congenial to His own. To estrange ourselves from\nGod is to be guilty of a most enormous kind of offence: it is\nforgetting our proper parent, the author of our existence. To love\nhim, to seek union with Him, is to return to our proper original.\n\nVI. _The spirituality of God renders Him capable of being the\nsatisfying Portion, the Supreme Good, of all intelligent beings._\n\nHe is the source and spring of all happiness (Lam. iii. 24, 25; Ps.\nlxxiii. 25, 26). 1. That which constitutes the felicity of the mind\nmust be something out of it. Whoever retires into his own mind for\nhappiness will be miserable. God is qualified to be the everlasting\nand inexhaustible spring of happiness. 2. He who can always confer\nhappiness on another being must be superior to that being. To be the\nsource of happiness is the prerogative of God. 3. That in which the\nhappiness of a rational and mental creature consists, must be\ncongenial to the nature of that creature. 4. That which forms the\nprinciple of our felicity must be something that is capable of\ncommunicating itself to us. God, as He is a Spirit, is capable of\ncommunicating Himself to the spirits of His rational creatures. These\ncommunications will constitute the felicity of heaven. Even while\nthey continue on earth, it is the privilege of the faithful to enjoy\nunion with the Father of spirits through His Son.\n\nIMPROVEMENT. 1. Let us raise ourselves, in contemplating the Divine\nBeing, above what is sensible, visible, and corporeal. 2. Since God\nis a Spirit, there must be an everlasting connection established\nbetween Him and us, on which will depend our destiny for ever. Hence\nJesus Christ has come. What movements are in your minds toward this\ngreat object?--_Robert Hall: Works,_ vol. vi., pages 1-32.\n\n\n\nA CALL TO THE REVOLTED.\n\n     xxxi. 6. _Turn ye unto Him from whom the children of Israel\n     have deeply revolted._\n\nHad mankind adhered to the Divine idea, no such word as this would\nhave been necessary. Divine communications would have consisted\nprobably of counsels, directions, predictions, progressive\nrevelations of truth. The demand that man turn shows that he has gone\nastray. All Divine communications suppose the existence of sin and\nthe need of salvation. Happily for us, they show the way in which\nsalvation may be obtained. The parts of the human race are as the\nwhole. The people God distinguished by separating them from the\nnations, with special connection to Himself, followed the universal\ntendency to wander from Him. They forsook His law. When trouble came,\nthey sought help anywhere. At the time of this prophecy they were\nlooking to Egypt instead of to the Lord. The prophet remonstrates,\nand invites them to make a friend of God against Assyria. The text\nmay be addressed to sinners now. Here is--\n\nI. A SERIOUS ACCUSATION.\n\nGod was the King of Israel. Departure from His laws was a national\nrevolt. Man's revolt from God consists in--1. +Disaffection.+ When\nlove to the sovereign departs, the way is prepared for any act of\nhostility circumstances may favour. The disaffection of man to God is\ninbred. From the original fall man derives a mysterious tendency to\ndepart from God (H. E. I., 3390-3397). Human nature dislikes the\nDivine holiness; dislike of the Divine holiness is the root from\nwhich grow men's evil deeds. So deep is the revolt that man has no\ndesire to return. 2. +Disobedience.+ You may say it is natural to\nsin, and we cannot be held responsible for it. Do you judge of, and\ndeal with your fellow-man in that way as to their conduct to you? If\nthey injure, defraud you, do you say they have a natural inclination\nto fraud and wrongdoing, and therefore are not responsible? When a\nson who has been carefully trained develops tendencies and\ninclinations to evil, attaches himself to bad companions, &c., do you\nexonerate him from blame because it is his nature? You say he ought\nto have resisted the evil inclinations and cultivated such as were\ngood. You are right. But why should there be a difference when the\nobject of the wrongdoing is God? The dislike of God's holiness\ninherent in human nature develops itself in the indulgence of sinful\npassions and disobedience to God's commands. Does the fact that it\nwas your nature free you from responsibility? Are you not possessed\nof reason and conscience? Do not these constitute responsibility? Is\nnot the fact that you decline the help God offers for the subjugation\nof evil sufficient to throw on you the entire blame of your continued\nrevolt? 3. +Distrust.+ A large part of the revolt of ancient Israel\nfrom God consisted in distrust. When man withdraws his love from God\nand abandons himself to disobedience, he is sure to lose faith. You\nwill soon cease to trust the friend whom you persistently wrong and\ndisregard. Is not this the explanation of much of the unbelief among\nmen? They are unhappy in their severance from God, yet unwilling to\nreturn. Then they expunge from their beliefs His declarations\nconcerning sin and its punishment. Truth after truth disappears. Then\nHe disappears. They persuade themselves that there is no need of Him,\nthen that He does not exist. The wish is father to the thought.\nBecause the heart and life have revolted from Him, the intellect\nlabours to sweep Him out of the world which He has made.\n\nII. AN EARNEST CALL.\n\n1. \"Turn ye unto Him.\" From the folly of the intellect; from the\nperversity of the heart; from the disobedience of the life in which\nyour revolt has manifested itself. God is. He is a living person,\nwith all the feelings of one, as well as a supreme ruler clothed with\ngovernmental authority. He is worth turning to. 2. In the Gospel, He\ninvites you to repent, to turn. It is a complete change of your heart\nand life. You can examine and reflect upon the truth. You can\nconsider the righteousness of His claim. You can consider the motive\nthat is furnished by His offer of a free pardon and a full salvation\nprocured for you by the death of His Son. 3. Do you feel yourself\nweak? He will help you to turn. 4. Turn from the wrong path to the\nright one. (1.) Turn to the trust which He encourages. Bring your sin\nand need to Jesus. (2.) Turn to the obedience He demands. There must\nbe a complete surrender. All sin must be relinquished, even the\ndearest. Choose the way of holiness. (3.) Turn to the love He\ndeserves. It comes indeed into the heart with submission and faith.\n5. Think of the danger of continued revolt; of the wrongfulness of\nrevolt; of the blessedness of return.--_J. Rawlinson._\n\n\n\nTHE FIERY ORDEAL OF THE CHURCH.\n\n     xxxi. 9. _The Lord, whose fire is in Zion, and whose\n     furnace is in Jerusalem._\n\nThere is a variety of purposes for which fire is used. One of them\nwas of old for the sacrifice, the burnt-offering; another was for\nincense, to keep it always smoking. Furnaces were used by the workers\nin metals.\n\nI. THE FIRE. \"Whose _fire_ is in Zion.\" Without the sacred fire there\nwould have been no burnt-offering, no clouds of incense; and\ntherefore God commanded that it should be kept ever burning. In this\nsense, the fire is the emblem of the life Divine, the Holy Spirit's\nwork. May it be for ever burning! Where it burns strongly, what\nclouds of incense of praise and prayer ascend to heaven!\n\nII. THE FURNACE. \"Whose _furnace_ is in Jerusalem.\" It is there for\nthe purpose of accomplishing God's designs with regard to His people.\nA furnace is nothing without fuel, and the fuel may be of various\nkinds. God heats His furnace with different kinds of fuel--sometimes\nwith bodily afflictions, sometimes with losses of various kinds,\nsometimes with bereavements, sometimes with persecutions, sometimes\nwith all these combined. Oh, the fast importance of viewing every\ntrial of a temporal kind as sent on purpose to constitute a little\nfuel for God's furnace! God is doing three things with His furnace.\nHe is melting, He is manifesting, He is making useful. 1. He is\n_melting._ We are so hard and stubborn, so full of dross, that\nnothing less than the fire will serve (Isa. i. 25). 2. He is\n_manifesting._ The fire tests both us[1] and our work (1 Cor.\niii. 13). In this way God manifests the difference between His people\nand the false professor, and shows who are His own (Zech. xiii. 9).\n3. He is _making useful._ Take a lesson from the very vessels you use\nat table every day; they would have been of no use at all, had they\nnot passed through the fire.\n\n_Conclusion._ The trials of God's people tend (1) To exercise and\ndevelop their spiritual excellence; (2.) To demonstrate the Divine\nlove and faithfulness; (3.) To prepare them for the enjoyment of\nHimself at last.[2]--_Joseph Irons: Thursday Penny Pulpit,_ vol. vii.\n109-120.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Upon one occasion, like the prophet Jeremiah, I visited the\n     potter's house. I admired the ingenuity and the beauty of\n     his work on the wheels. But after a little while, I found\n     there was really no reliance to be put on the results of\n     his labour and ingenuity. When put into the furnace, some\n     of the vessels were marred and rendered good for nothing;\n     they cracked and went to pieces. Did not the potter shape\n     them aright? Did he not make them of the same clay? Did he\n     not take the same pains with them? Then what was the\n     defect? They would not stand fire.--_Irons._\n\n [2] H. E. I., 116-142.\n\n\n\nTHE PRECIOUSNESS OF CHRIST.\n\n     xxxii. 2. _A man shall be as an hiding place, &c._\n\nThese figures all coincide in setting forth one great and blessed\ntruth--the truth that _in Christ there is suitable and complete\nrelief under every circumstance of distress:_ in distress\narising--1. from _temporal sufferings;_ 2. from _conviction of sin;_\n3. from _strong temptation;_ 4. from the _near approach of\ndeath._--_John Watt, B.D.: Sermons,_ pp. 92-108.\n\n\nJesus Christ--I. The refuge from all dangers; II. The fruition of all\ndesires; III. The rest and refreshment in all trials.--_A. Maclaren,\nB.A.: Sermons, Third Series,_ p. 135.\n\n\nThis prediction, uttered in the days of Ahaz, had a primary reference\nto Hezekiah, and to the relief from wicked magistrates which would be\nexperienced in his reign. But its ultimate reference was to the Lord\nJesus Christ. Here are three separate figures, very striking to an\nEastern ear, which admit of distinct illustration:--+I. \"A\nhiding-place from the wind and a covert from the tempest.\"+[1] This\nis but one figure, for the latter clause, as is common in Eastern\npoetry, is only the echo of the former. Jesus is found to be the best\nhiding-place and covert:--1. From the winds and tempests of\n_affliction._ 2. From the tempest of _an agitated conscience._ 3. He\nis the only hiding-place for the tempest of _Divine wrath._ +II. \"As\nrivers of water in a dry place,\"+--that is, Jesus conveys\nsatisfaction and refreshment to those who can find them nowhere else.\nHe alone satisfies the heart's thirst--1. for _happiness;_ 2. for\n_consolation;_ 3. for _reconciliation with God._ +III. \"As the shadow\nof a great rock in a weary land.\"+[2] Such a retreat does our\nRedeemer afford to those who are fainting under the labours and\ndiscouragements of this wearisome life (Isa. 1-4, Jer. xxxi. 25).\n1. Let us thank God for such a Saviour--the very Saviour we need.\n2. Let us abide in Him--we always need Him.--_E. Griffin, D.D.:\nFifty-nine Plain Practical Sermons,_ pp. 261-270.\n\n\n1. _There underlies this prophecy a very sad, a very true conception\nof human life._ The three promises imply three diverse aspects of\nman's need and misery. The \"covert\" and the \"hiding-place\" imply\ntempest and storm and danger; the \"rivers of water\" imply drought and\nthirst; the \"shadow of a great rock\" implies lassitude and languor,\nfatigue and weariness. Sad this is, but how true! Do we not need a\n\"covert\" from the tempests of adverse circumstances, of temptations,\nof God's anger kindled by our sins!\n\nII. _There shines through these words a mysterious hope_--the hope\nthat one of ourselves shall deliver us from all this evil in life. \"A\n_man,_\" &c. Such an expectation seems to be right in the teeth of all\nexperience, and far too high pitched even to be fulfilled. It appears\nto demand in him who should bring it to pass powers which are more\nthan human, and which must in some inexplicable way be wide as the\nrange of humanity and enduring as the succession of the ages. All\nexperience seems to teach that no human arm or heart can be to\nanother soul what these words promise, and what we need.\n\nIII. _This mysterious hope is fulfilled in Jesus Christ._ That which\nseemed impossible is real. The forebodings of experience have not\nfathomed the powers of Divine Love. There _is_ a man, our brother,\nbone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, who can be to all human\nsouls the adequate object of their perfect trust, the abiding home of\ntheir deepest love, the unfailing supply for their profoundest wants.\nBehind His protection they are safe, by His grace they are satisfied,\nbeneath His shelter they have rest.--_A. Maclaren, B.A.: Sermons,\nThird Series,_ pp. 136-147.\n\n\nI. We have here AN INSTRUMENT OF CONSOLATION.[3] +1. It was an\ninstrument of consolation to those who first heard it.+ The prophecy\nin which it occurs was given in the time of Ahaz, when justice was\nperverted, and the government, which should have been for the\nprotection of the people, was organised for their oppression.\nTerrible are the sufferings of men at such a time, and precious was\nthe hope which this prophecy held out of \"a man\"--a ruler--who should\nbe a defence and blessing to the poor of the nation. +2. It was an\ninstrument of consolation to devout men in all the centuries which\nintervened between its utterance and the coming of Christ.+ In due\ntime Hezekiah ascended the throne, and in him this prophecy had a\npartial fulfilment. But he passed away, and Israel needed such \"a\nman\" as much as ever. Devout men learned to look for him in the\nMessiah for whom they and their fathers had waited. In the midst of\nnational and personal humiliation and sufferings, they were sustained\nand cheered by the hope of His advent. 3. In due time He appeared.\nWhether in Him this prophecy was completely or only partially\nfulfilled, let any reader of the Gospels testify. +And since the days\nwhen Christ went about Jud\u00e6a, solacing human woes, and ministering to\nhuman necessities, this declaration has been still more full of\nconsolation to generation after generation down to our own day.+ It\nhas taught men to whom to flee in their distresses, and fleeing to\nHim they have found that it was with no vain hope that it had cheered\nthem. When you think what it has been to men ever since it was\nuttered, can you help looking upon it with love?\n\nII. OF THIS INSTRUMENT OF CONSOLATION ALL MEN HAVE NEED. There are\nsome portions of Scripture which have only a limited interest,\nbecause they are for special classes (_e.g.,_ kings, subjects,\nparents, children, &c.); but this is a portion for every one. The\nneeds of which it speaks will be felt by all men; and all men, at\nsome time or other, will long for the blessings which it promises.\nHence--+1. It should be stored up in the memory of the young.+[4]\n+2. The aged should count it one of their chief treasures.+[5]\n\nIII. TO THE PRESENT AND PERMANENT VALUE OF THIS INSTRUMENT OF\nCONSOLATION THERE ARE MILLIONS OF LIVING WITNESSES. The declarations\nof our text are very beautiful, but the important question is, Are\nthey _true? Is Christ to His people all that He is here said to be?_\n1. Our text says that +Christ is a refuge for His people.+ \"As a\nhiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest.\" Remember\nwhat kind of storms sometimes sweep across the Eastern deserts. [See\noutline: THE CHRISTIAN'S REFUGE, section I.] As you have pursued the\npilgrimage of human life, have any such storms burst upon you?--the\nstorm of adversity? of persecution? of an awakened conscience? of\ntemptations? The worst storms are those which rage _within_ a man! In\nsuch storms where did you find shelter? what did you find Christ to\nbe to _you?_ 2. Our text says that +Christ will satisfy the thirst of\nHis people.+ Picture the scene at Rephidim. To the multitudes who had\nalmost died of thirst, how welcome were the streams that burst from\nthe smitten rock! All men thirst for _happiness;_ the distressed for\n_consolation,_ the penitent for _reconciliation with God._ In these\nrespects, has Christ been to _you_ \"as rivers of water in a dry\nplace?\" 3. Our text says that +Christ will give rest to His\npeople.+[6]\n\nIV. Every truth is a call to duty. TO WHAT DUTIES DOES OUR TEXT CALL\nUS? If we have had a personal experience of the truth of its\ndeclarations, it says--1. PRAISE GOD. Would not a storm-driven\ntraveller give thanks for \"a covert,\" the thirst-consumed for \"rivers\nof water,\" the faint and weary for \"the shadow of a great rock?\" Let\nus remember what Christ has been to us, and give \"thanks unto God for\nHis unspeakable gift!\" 2. TAKE COURAGE. Usually as years increase\ntroubles multiply: but what Christ has been to you in the past, He\nwill be in the future--an all-sufficient Saviour! 3. To those who\nhave not yet had a personal experience of the truth of its\ndeclarations, my text says, COME TO JESUS. Its promises are\ninvitations. Is not a well of water in itself an invitation to a\nthirsty man? You need all that the text promises; and in the\nexperience of millions of men living _now,_ you have abundant\nevidence that its promises are worthy of your trust. Familiarise\nyourself with the \"hiding-place\" _before_ the tempests of life burst\nupon you, that in the day of storm you may know whither to flee.\nBlessed are they who have made the Man of whom our text speaks their\nfriend. According to His word (Matt. xxviii.), He is with them\n\"always,\" \"as a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the\ntempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great\nrock in a weary land.\"\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] We arose with the sun, and went out to saddle our\n     dromedaries, when we found to our great surprise that their\n     heads were buried in the sand; and it was not possible for\n     us to draw them out. We called the Bedouins of the tribe to\n     our aid, who informed us that the instinct of the camels\n     led them to conceal their heads thus, in order to escape\n     the simoom; that their doing so was an infallible presage\n     of that terrible tempest of the desert, which would not be\n     long in breaking loose; and that we could not proceed on\n     the journey without meeting a certain death. The camels,\n     who perceive the approach of this fearful storm two or\n     three hours before it bursts, turn themselves to the side\n     opposed to the wind, and dig into the sand. It is\n     impossible to make them stir from that position either to\n     eat or drink during the whole tempest, were it to last for\n     several days. Providence has endowed them with this\n     instinct of preservation, which never deceives them. When\n     we learned with what we were threatened, we partook the\n     general consternation, and hastened to take all the\n     precautions which they pointed out to us. It is not\n     sufficient to put the horses under shelter; it is requisite\n     also to cover their heads and stop up their ears, otherwise\n     they will be suffocated by the whirlwinds of fine\n     impalpable sand, which the storm sweeps furiously before\n     it. The men collect under their tents, block up the\n     crevices with the greatest care, and provide a supply of\n     water, which they keep within reach; they then lie down on\n     the ground, their heads covered with the mashlas, and thus\n     remain all the time that the tornado continues.\n\n     The camp was thrown into the greatest bustle, each bent on\n     providing safety for his cattle, and afterwards withdrawing\n     precipitately under his tent. We had scarcely got our\n     beautiful Negde mares under cover ere the tempest burst.\n     Impetuous blasts of wind buried clouds of red and burning\n     sand in eddies, and overthrew all upon whom their fury\n     fell; or, heaping up hills, they buried all that had\n     strength to resist being carried away. If, at this period,\n     any part of the body be exposed, the flesh is scorched as\n     if a hot iron had touched it. The water, which was intended\n     to cool us, began to boil, and the temperature of the tent\n     exceeded that of a Turkish bath. The hurricane blew in all\n     its fury for six hours, and gradually subsided during six\n     more; an hour longer, and I believe we had all been\n     stifled. When we ventured to leave the tents, a frightful\n     spectacle presented itself; five children, two women, and a\n     man were lying dead on the still burning sand, and several\n     Bedouins had their faces blackened and entirely calcined,\n     as if by a blast from a fiery furnace. When the wind of the\n     simoom strikes an unfortunate wretch on the head, the blood\n     gushes in streams from his mouth and nostrils, his face\n     swells, becomes black, and he shortly dies of\n     suffocation.--_Lamartine: Travels in the East,_ p. 213.\n\n     \"A hiding-place from _the wind,_ a covert from _the\n     tempest._\" Soon Red Sea and all were lost in a sand-storm,\n     which lasted the whole day. Imagine all distant objects\n     entirely lost to view,--the sheets of sand fleeting along\n     the surface of the desert like streams of water; tempest of\n     sand, driving in your face like sleet. Imagine the caravan\n     toiling against this--the Bedouins each with his shawl\n     thrown completely over his head, half of the riders sitting\n     backwards,--the camels, meantime, thus virtually left\n     without guidance, though, from time to time, throwing their\n     long necks sideways to avoid the blast, yet moving straight\n     onwards with a painful sense of duty truly edifying to\n     behold. . . . Through the tempest, this roaring and driving\n     tempest, which sometimes made me think that this must be\n     the real meaning of 'a _howling_ wilderness,' we rode on\n     the whole day.--_Dean Stanley: Sinai and Palestine,_ pp.\n     68, 69.\n\n [2] I was reading, a day or two ago, one of our last books of\n     travels in the wilderness of the Exodus, in which the\n     writer told how, after toiling for hours under a scorching\n     sun, over the hot white marly flat, seeing nothing but a\n     beetle or two on the way, and finding no shelter anywhere\n     from the pitiless beating of the sunshine, the three\n     travellers came at last to a little Retem bush only a few\n     feet high, and flung themselves down and tried to hide at\n     least their heads from those 'sunbeams like swords,' even\n     beneath its ragged shade. And my text tells of a great\n     rock, with blue dimness in its shadow, with haply a fern or\n     two in the moist places of its crevices, where there is\n     rest and a man can lie down and be cool, while all outside\n     is burning sun, and burning sand, and dancing mirage.--_A.\n     Maclaren._\n\n [3] When I was at Nuremberg, among the scenes of interest, I\n     visited the tower where are preserved some of the\n     instruments of torture which were used both by the\n     Inquisition and the Municipality in the Middle Ages. As one\n     looked at them, the heart grew sick at the thought of the\n     pain which by means of them had been inflicted upon\n     countless victims; and _as_ instruments by which human\n     beings had been tortured, they were hateful. On the other\n     hand, when one thinks what this verse has been to countless\n     human souls, what consolation and courage it has ministered\n     to those who were sick at heart in many generations, it is\n     impossible not to look upon it with love.\n\n [4] It is one of a large number of passages which I like to\n     think of as _Scripture's lamps._ Starting at mid-day from a\n     railway terminus, you wonder to see that the lamps in the\n     carriages are lighted; but very soon the train plunges into\n     a tunnel, and you perceive that they were not lighted a\n     moment too soon. So with these lamps of Scripture: get them\n     hung up in your soul at the outset of your journey in life.\n     Sooner than you think you will find yourself in some dark\n     tunnel of trial. It will be too late _then_ to think of\n     furnishing yourself with them. Blessed are those then in\n     whom they are brightly shining!\n\n [5] It is not to be expected that the young will fully\n     appreciate it. They have not had the experience necessary\n     to enable them to do so. At the outset of a voyage,\n     passengers are apt to think most about those things in a\n     ship which are comparatively unimportant--the size of their\n     berths, the elegant decorations of the cabin, &c.; but\n     before it is ended, especially if the voyage is a stormy\n     one, they come to think more about the staunchness of the\n     vessel, the strength of the rigging, the seamanship of the\n     captain rather than of his fitness or unfitness for a\n     drawing-room. So in dealing with the Bible: at the outset\n     of life, we are apt to give our whole attention to things\n     _comparatively_ unimportant, such as the possibility of\n     reconciling the first chapter of Genesis with the teaching\n     of modern science, &c.; but, by and by, trouble teaches us\n     to value the Scriptures as our only sure guide amidst\n     life's moral perplexities, as our only true comforter\n     amidst life's sorrows. It is trouble that teaches us that\n     the promises are \"precious promises;\" and therefore I may\n     fairly expect that the promise of our text will be prized\n     by the aged.\n\n [6] One day--one of the most beautiful and happy days I have\n     ever known--I and some friends visited the Valley of Rocks,\n     at Lynton, in North Devon. We had selected for our\n     dining-place the shaded side of one of the largest of the\n     rocks which have made that valley famous. Just as we were\n     finishing our repast, an aged gentleman approached us, and\n     asked to be permitted to share our resting-place. \"I should\n     not have intruded upon you,\" he said, \"but I am very\n     weary.\" Instantly my text recurred to my memory, and I saw\n     somewhat of its power and beauty: \"As the shadow of a great\n     rock in a weary land.\" In such a land, on such a day, how\n     welcome is the sight of a great rock! How sweet and\n     refreshing to rest in its cooling shade! Amid the toils and\n     troubles of life we often need rest and refreshment. _Have\n     you found them in Christ?_ Are the declarations of our text\n     true?\n\n\n\nTHE CHRISTIAN'S REFUGE.\n\n     (_For Christmas Day._)\n\n     xxxii. 2. _A man shall be as an hiding place, &c._\n\nThis is a very remarkable prophecy and promise, and at first sight\nmost strikingly at variance with almost every other declaration of\nthe Word of God, _e.g.,_ Isa. ii. 22; Ps. clxvi. 3; lxii. 8, 9; Jer.\nxvii. 5. \"A _man_ shall be as an hiding place from the wind!\" A poor,\nweak, helpless mortal, unable to protect himself from the wind and\ntempest, shall _he_ be our refuge? Shall God's own Word command us to\nleave the living Fountain, and betake ourselves in our necessities to\nthe broken cisterns of earth? Strange inconsistency, astonishing\ncontradiction to every other portion of God's Word? But who is this\nMan? He of whom it is also written (Zech. xiii. 7; Phil. ii. 6); and\nwho is thus spoken of by the Spirit of God Himself, when predicting\nthe event of this day (Isa. ix. 6). It is the Lord Jesus Christ,\nthen, who reveals Himself in the words before us under two striking\nsimilitudes; the first of which regards His people's safety, and the\nsecond their consolations.\n\n+I. As regards their safety:+ \"hiding place from the wind, covert\nfrom the tempest.\" Picture to yourself one of those scenes which\nEastern travellers paint, when they describe the passage of a caravan\nacross some dreary desert, where, throughout the long day's journey,\nthere is no house, no rock, no tree to afford a moment's shade or\nshelter. The wind suddenly rises, the lightning glares, and in the\ndistance are beheld gigantic columns of sand, raised and kept\ntogether in such vast masses by the whirlwind that drives them\ntowards the poor bewildered travellers, who behold in them at once\ntheir destruction and their grave. In vain do they attempt to fly; as\nvain were all thoughts of resistance. Before the shortest prayer is\nfinished, that multitude that was just now full of life and\nanimation, is hushed in silence; every heart has ceased to beat; the\nsimoom of the desert has passed over them, and the place they\noccupied is scarcely to be distinguished from the surrounding plain.\nThis is no flight of the imagination, but a simple statement of a\nfact of not unfrequent occurrence. Now imagine in such a scene with\nwhat feelings these alarmed and flying travellers would greet \"a\nhiding-place\" and \"a covert.\" If a rock of adamant, a barrier which\nneither sand, nor wind, nor tempest could beat down or overleap,\nshould suddenly spring up between them and those swiftly advancing\ncolumns of death, what would be their feelings of joy, their thoughts\nof gratitude, their language of praise! Who can imagine the heartfelt\ncry of thanksgiving to God which would arise from that vast multitude\nat so complete, so merciful, so unhoped-for a deliverance? With such\nfeelings should we \"behold the Man\" of whom I speak to-day. We stood\nin as great a danger. Our sins had raised a tempest of the wrath of\nGod, against which the whole created host of heaven would in vain\nhave attempted to erect a barrier. But our Lord has wrought a\ndeliverance for us as much needed, as unexpected, as complete. He has\ninterposed between us and the mighty \"wind,\" the appalling \"tempest,\"\nwhich justly threatened our destruction. Let us who have found\nshelter in Christ rejoice in Him, and be glad this day because of the\nquietness we enjoy. Let those who are still outside the great\n\"Hiding-Place,\" the wondrous \"Covert\" which God's mercy has provided,\nremember that an unapplied Saviour is no Saviour. Their peril has\nbeen in no sense lessened by His advent. In the gladness of this day\nthey can have no share.\n\n+II. His people's consolation.+ \"As rivers of water in a dry place,\nas the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.\" Before we had symbols\nof _safety;_ here we have symbols of _consolation._ 1. _God's people\noften feel that this world is a dry and barren place and thirst for\nconsolation and succour._ That which they thirst for, they may find\nin Christ. He is not merely a river, but (so abundant are His\nconsolations) \"rivers of water\" to them that are fainting under the\ntrials, anxieties, or distresses of the world. But it is not enough\nthat the river is running at your feet; you must know it is there,\nyou must drink of its waters, or they will not assuage your thirst.\nIn Hagar sitting down in utter hopelessness and helplessness, when\nnear her there was an abundant supply of water for herself and her\nchild (Gen. xxi. 15-19), we have an emblem of too many distressed and\nsorrowful Christians. \"_Rivers_ of water\" are flowing past you:\narise, and drink! (Rev. xxii. 17). 2. _God's people are often faint\nand weary as they pursue their earthly pilgrimage._ But during every\nstage of it they may \"renew their strength,\" and so be enabled to\npersevere until at length \"they stand in Zion before God,\" for Christ\nis \"as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.\" Don't be\nsatisfied with just coming _within the range of the shadow_ of the\nRock; there are in the Rock recesses where you may find a complete\nshelter and a sweeter rest. Enter into them. Cultivate a closer\nfellowship with Christ. So in every stage of your journey you shall\nhave not only strength, but joy (Isaiah xxxv. 10).--_H. Blunt, A.M.:\nPosthumous Sermons,_ pp. 23-42.\n\n\nThe \"Man\" here referred to is the Divine Redeemer--the one theme of\nthe Bible. \"Hiding-place\" and \"covert\" express substantially the same\nidea--shelter, defence, safety, deliverance from both actual and\nimpending evil. Jesus Christ in this broad and comprehensive sense is\nthe Refuge of His people. Fleeing to Him, men find protection, &c.\n\n+I. Christ is a refuge in the day of earthly disappointment.+ Human\nlife full of disappointments. Few of our anticipations of good\nrealised. Our fondest and most sacredly cherished hopes blighted. The\nworld deceives men: it is not what it seems to be, it does not\nsatisfy the desires it awakens. The god of this world is the master\nspirit of lying and deception, and he so manages the shifting scenes\nas to keep up the deception until the last. So with (_a_) the man of\nbusiness, (_b_) those who aspire to earthly honour, fame, power,\n(_c_) the student, (_d_) the pleasure-seeker. To these children of\ndisappointment, Christ is a refuge; He has Himself felt the ills of\nlife (Heb. iv. 15, 16). There is a \"hiding-place\" where the fury of\nlife's storms never comes; the God of mercy offers eternal life in\nthe Gospel. Forsaken, disheartened, disappointed men may still be\naccepted of Christ, and find peace and rest in Him.\n\n+II. Christ is a Refuge in time of affliction.+ This is a world of\nsorrow and suffering; men turn from it in disgust and anguish to seek\nrelief elsewhere, or to weep life away in sadness and darkness. Now\nChrist alone is available in just such an hour. When the world turns\nits back upon us, there is a Friend who sticketh closer than a\nbrother--one born for adversity--a shield and a deliverer in the day\nof affliction. We may not be able to explain the philosophy of the\nthing, but the soul that looks to Christ is so sustained as to\nrejoice in the tribulation, and the heaviest burden is lightened and\nmade a blessing.\n\n+III. Christ is a Refuge in the day of trial.+ It pleases the Lord to\nmake full proof of His people. He puts their love, fidelity, and\nintegrity to the test. God tries (_a_) our faith, (_b_) hope,\n(_c_) patience, (_d_) principles. And in His day of fiery trial our\nonly safety is in the \"hiding-place\" of Divine mercy--we need the\n\"covert\" of the Almighty wings. None but Christ is able to give the\nsoul confidence in such days and hours.\n\n+IV. Christ is a Refuge in the day of fear.+ Sin is darkness, and\nhence wherever there is sin there is gloom and fear. The wicked man\nis a slave to fear, and even the Christian at times suffers greatly\nbecause of it. The remedy for this gloomy experience is in Christ;\nand there is a power in the Gospel to lift the soul into a region of\nperpetual sunshine. In Christian experience, peace, joy, and hope are\nthe ministering angels (Hab. iii. 17, 18).\n\n+V. Christ is a Refuge from the torments of an accusing conscience.+\nThe day of self-convicted guilt always a day of memorable\nexperiences. Conscience upbraids, justice demands satisfaction; the\nsoul is ready to sink into hell. Whose arm can save you in such an\nhour? where shall he seek refuge? in that hour none but Christ can\nsave.\n\n+VI. Christ is a Refuge in the day of final wrath.+ The wrath to\ncome--the just, final, and eternal wrath of God--a reality, a fixed\nfact in thought and experience. Jesus Christ is a refuge from this\nimpending evil. The Cross lifted up on Calvary has received the\nthunder; God and the believer in Jesus Christ are reconciled. What,\nthen, have they to fear whose life is hid in Christ? Death cannot\nharm, the judgment-day need not terrify.\n\nGlorious Refuge! it never fails--is never shut against the penitent\nsoul--has never been shaken--and will yet resist the fire and deluge\nof the great day of wrath. This is the Ark, and they are eternally\nsafe who are therein.--_J. M. Sherwood: National Preacher,_ 1859, p.\n217.\n\n\n\nRIVERS OF WATER IN A DRY PLACE.\n\n     xxxii. 2. _As rivers of water in a dry place._\n\nThe surface sense of this passage may refer to Hezekiah and to other\ngood kings who were a means of great blessing to the declining\nkingdom of Judah; but its declarations are too full of meaning to be\napplied solely or primarily to any mere man. They are never fully\nunderstood until they are applied to Christ, the true King of\nrighteousness, who confers the highest blessings upon His people. In\nHim there is a fulness and variety of blessing such as the varied\nmetaphors of this passage fail to set forth. He is the true Man of\nwhom Isaiah speaks; the man in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwells\nbodily, and who therefore can be, and is, \"as rivers of water in a\ndry place.\"\n\nI. THE METAPHOR. This implies, 1. Great _excellence_ of blessing. How\nvaluable is a river to the land through which it flows! So Christ is\nthe source and the sustenance of the fertility, fruitfulness, and\nbeauty of His people. 2. _Abundance_ of blessing. Think of the vast\nfloods that flow through the Amazon, the Ganges, the Indus, the\nOrinoco. So in Christ there is grace sufficient for all mankind.\n3. _Freshness_ of blessing.[1] 4. _Freeness_ of blessing. Though\nindividuals may claim peculiar rights in rivers, all creatures drink\nof them freely, the dog as well as the swan. So may all, however\nvile, partake of the grace that is in Christ. 5. _Constancy_ of\nblessing. Pools and cisterns dry up, but the river goes on for ever.\nSo it is with Jesus; the grace to pardon and the power to heal are\nnot spasmodic powers in Him, they abide in Him unabated for evermore.\n\nII. A SPECIAL EXCELLENCE which the text mentions. \"Rivers of water\n_in a dry place._\" Only the residents in a tropical country can fully\nappreciate that phrase. But Christ came to such a place when He came\nto our race. So He does when with His salvation He visits the\nindividual soul. Were it not for Him, the souls, even of His people\nunder the influence of wealth or of poverty, of the cares or of the\npleasures of life, would be always dry. But He refreshes, sustains,\nand fertilises those who otherwise would utterly faint and fail.\n\nIII. PRACTICAL LESSONS. 1. _See the goings out of God's heart to man,\nand man's way of communing with God._ God's heart is an infinite\nocean of goodness, and it flows forth to us through Jesus Christ, not\nin streams and driblets, but in rivers of grace and mercy. These\nstreams we cannot purchase or merit, we have only to receive them;\nwhen we drink of the stream, we partake of God. 2. _See what a misery\nit is that men should be perishing and dying of soul thirst when\nthere are these rivers so near._ Some have never heard of them;\ntherefore help to the utmost the Missionary Society. Others who have\nheard of them are smitten with a strange insanity that leads them to\nturn away from them. 3. _Let us learn where, if we are suffering from\nspiritual drought and barrenness, the blame lies._ It cannot lie in\nChrist. 4. _If Christ is ready to be to us as rivers,_ drink of Him,\nall of you.[2] Live near Him. Live in Him.[3]--_C. H. Spurgeon:\nMetropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit,_ No. 1243.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] In a river we see not only excellence and abundance, but\n     _freshness._ A pool is the same thing over again, and\n     gradually it becomes a stagnant pond, breeding corrupt life\n     and pestilential gases. A river is always the same, yet\n     never the same; it is ever in its place, yet always moving\n     on. Filled to the brim with living water, even as in ages\n     long gone by, and yet flowing fresh from the spring, it is\n     an ancient novelty. We call our own beautiful river,\n     \"Father Thames,\" yet he wears no furrows on his brows, but\n     leaps in all the freshness of youth. You shall live by the\n     banks of a river for years, and yet each morning its stream\n     shall be as fresh as though its fountain had been unsealed\n     but an hour ago when the birds began to awake the morning\n     and the sun to sip the dews. Is it not so with our Lord\n     Jesus Christ? Is He not evermore as bright and fresh as\n     when first you met with Him?--_Spurgeon._\n\n [2] Is Christ a river? then _drink of Him,_ all of you. To be\n     carried along on the surface of Christianity, like a man in\n     a boat, is not enough, you must drink or die. Many are\n     influenced by the externals of religion, but Christ is not\n     in them; they are on the water, but the water is not in\n     them; and if they continue as they are they will be lost. A\n     man may be in a boat on a river and yet die of thirst if he\n     refuses to drink; and so you may be carried along and\n     excited by a revival, but unless you receive the Lord Jesus\n     into your soul by faith, you will perish after\n     all.--_Spurgeon._\n\n [3] If Christ be like a river, let us be like the fishes, _live\n     in it._ The fish is an ancient Christian emblem for Jesus\n     and His people. I sat under a beech-tree some months ago in\n     the New Forest; I gazed up into it, measured it, and marked\n     the architecture of its branches, but suddenly I saw a\n     little squirrel leap from bough to bough, and I thought,\n     \"After all, this beech-tree is far more to you than me, for\n     you live in it. It delights me, it instructs me, and it\n     affords me shade, but you live in it and upon it.\" So we\n     know something about rivers, and they are very useful to\n     us, but to the fish the river is its element, its life, its\n     all. So, my brethren, let us not merely read about Christ,\n     and think of Him, and speak of Him, but let us live on Him,\n     and in Him, as the squirrel in the tree and the fish in the\n     river. Live _by_ Him, and live _for_ Him: you will do both\n     if you live _in_ Him.--_Spurgeon._\n\n     [See also Outlines, RIVERS OF WATERS, xxx. 25, 26, and\n     ENRICHING RIVERS, xxxiii. 21.]\n\n\n\nCOMFORT IN CHRIST.\n\n     xxxii. 2. _As the shadow of a great rock in a weary land._\n\nThis chapter begins with a prophecy of the Messiah, and of the\nhappiness which the godly should enjoy under His reign (ver. 1). True\nas well as beautiful are its descriptions of Christ.\n\n+I. To the children of God this world is often \"a weary land.\"+\n1. _Because of the labours they have to undergo._ This is a laborious\nworld (Eccles. i. 8). Employment is in itself a blessing; it was\nprovided for man in Eden; but every day the sun sets upon millions\nwho are faint and weary, who are overwrought, and for whom there will\nbe no sufficient rest until they lie down in the grave. To God's\nchildren it is a special cause of weariness that they are compelled\nto devote so much time in labouring for \"the meat which perisheth,\"\nand that they have so little time for meditation and for communion\nwith God. 2. _Because of the troubles to which they are exposed_ (Job\nv. 7). Troubles attend every stage and condition of life. They are\nnational, domestic, personal. The pains and evils of life commonly\nincrease as its length is protracted. And there is nothing more\nwearisome than troubles. Many who can endure labour cannot endure\ntrouble. This makes the heart stoop, and weakens the mind as well as\nthe body. A troublesome world must be a wearisome world. 3. _Because\nof the perplexities by which they are harassed._ This is a dark\nworld. What is past, what is present, as well as what is to come,\nlies involved in darkness. Life is full of mystery. Strange and\nunexpected events are constantly happening, which disappoint the\nhopes and frustrate the designs of the wisest. Providence often\nbaffles the interpretation and tries the faith even of the most\ndevout. Wickedness is often triumphant, and virtue trampled under\nfoot. Good men are often tired of living in a world which subjects\nthem to continual anxiety and suspense. 4. _Because of the sin by\nwhich they are surrounded._ The moral atmosphere in which they live\nis uncongenial. The practices and principles with which they are\ndaily brought into contact fill them with disgust, with indignation,\nand with grief (2 Pet. ii. 7, 8; Ps. cxix. 139, 156, 158; Acts\nxvii. 16; Ezek. ix. 4).\n\n+II. Whensoever God's children are weary of the world, they may find\ncomfort in Christ.+ They may always find comfort. 1. _In the\ncompassion of Christ._ He knows what it is to be faint and weary. He\nknows the heart of a pilgrim and stranger. And He has the tenderest\ncompassion for His friends in distress or want. He is as pitiful\nto-day as He was when He tabernacled on earth. He feels all that His\nfollowers feel (Acts ix. 2; Heb. iv. 14-16). 2. _In the intercession\nof Christ._ As He prayed for Peter (Luke xii. 32) and for all His\ndisciples before His crucifixion (John xvii.), so He still makes\nintercession for His followers according to their necessities. And\nHis intercession is always prevalent (John xi. 42). 3. _In the\nstrength of Christ._ Weakness is the cause of weariness, and the\nweary may always find the strength they want in Christ (Phil. iv. 13;\n2 Cor. xii. 7-10). 4. _In the government of Christ._ He has promised\nto give them peace even in this world (John xiv. 27; xvi. 33; xiv. 2,\n3). These are great and precious promises, because they are sure\npromises.\n\nAPPLICATION.--Since the friends of Christ, when they are weary of the\nworld, may always find comfort in Him--1. _They should not regard the\nthings which make them weary of it as curses but as blessings._ It is\na good thing to have our hold of the world loosened. It is a good\nthing to be driven to Christ. All their trials and sufferings are\nsuited to prepare them to enjoy more peace and rest in Christ, than\nthey could otherwise enjoy. When a man finds a covert in a great\nstorm, he finds more pleasure in it than he does on a fine fair day.\nSo Christians enjoy more real satisfaction and happiness in adversity\nthan in prosperity, because while prosperity leads them to the\nenjoyment of the world, adversity leads to the enjoyment of Christ.\n2. _They enjoy more happiness even in this life than sinners do._\nSinners often seem happier than saints, but theirs is a loud and\ntransient mirth, whereas God's people have a deep and lasting joy.\nAutumn is oftener a pleasanter season than spring, but it deepens\ninto the gloom and vigour of winter; whereas after the storms of\nMarch and the rain of April come the bright joyous days of summer.\nThe life of the sinner is at best an autumn life, with autumn\nprospects, but the life of God's children is a spring life. And even\nhere and now they (and they only) are filled with that peace of God\nwhich passeth all understanding, affords joy in sorrow, and gives\nrest to the weary. 3. _They ought never to be heard murmuring or\ncomplaining under any troubles or afflictions in which they may be\ninvolved._ This world is full of murmuring; and when God's people\ncomplain, it is highly offensive to God (Ps. cvi. 25, 26). But why\nshould they complain? (Heb. xii. 11). And they have a present refuge,\neven Christ, in whom they may find \"strong consolation.\" 4. _They\nought never to be found depressed with anxiety as to the future_\n(Phil. iv. 6, 7).--_Dr. Emmons: Works,_ vol. iii. 352-365.\n\n\n\nCHRISTIAN LIBERALITY.\n\n     xxxii. 8. _But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by\n     liberal things shall he stand._\n\nThis prophecy relates to the time when the kingdom of Judah would\nrelinquish its foolish dependence on Egypt. The king would reign in\nrighteousness. Men and things would be called by their true names.\nSelfish injustice to the poor would contrast with considerate\nhelpfulness. When generosity begins to be exercised on a large scale,\nthe standard is raised. The raising of the standard tends to the\ngeneral enlargement of the scale of benevolence.\n\nOur subject is Christian liberality.\n\nI. THE QUALITIES BY WHICH IT IS DISTINGUISHED.\n\n1. _Sympathy._ It is the opposite of the disposition to act on the\nassumption that a man's own interest and happiness is the main end of\nhis existence. It is the disposition that looks out to others,\nimagines their case, feels for them, desires their happiness.\nDifference of race, nationality, church, opinion sinks to nothing in\nits presence. It asks, What is the need? Neither temporal nor\nspiritual need exhausts it. Spiritual need is the chief. It desires\nthe salvation of all men. And when compassion for men's souls is\ntenderest, compassion for their temporal sufferings is usually also\ntenderest. The heart is often larger than the purse; but the\npurse-strings will not be closed. Our hospitals and other\ninstitutions for the relief of suffering and distress owe their\norigin and support mainly to Christian sympathy.\n\n2. _Ingenuity._ \"_Deviseth_ liberal things.\" Many contribute to\nbenevolent objects when solicited, but never originate anything in\nsuch a direction. There should be a thoughtful, holy solicitude to\nknow what is needed, and how much of it we are able to do. Those act\na useful part who discover for themselves and suggest to others\nsuitable and feasible methods of usefulness. There should also be\nconscientious thoughtfulness as to the proportion to be established\nbetween what God gives to us and what we give to Him in return. As\nJacob (Gen. xxviii. 20-22).\n\n3. _Action._ Liberality does not terminate in feeling and thought\n(James ii. 15, 16; 1 John iii. 17, 18). It does not devise methods of\nusefulness and leave them to be carried out by others. The good\nSamaritan did not look at the man who had been robbed and half-killed\non the road and pass on (Luke x. 33, 37). The woman who brought the\nalabaster box of ointment and anointed the feet of Jesus showed her\nlove to Him more than if she had spoken a thousand endearing words.\n\n4. _Willingness._ No selfish churl strikes out new plans of\nusefulness. Such as exists he unwillingly helps, if he helps them at\nall. According to the Christian idea, no amount of mere giving which\ndoes not come from the willing heart is accepted as liberality. The\nvoluntary principle is alone recognised as the principle of\nliberality. And voluntaryism means willinghood (2 Cor. viii. 12).\n\n5. _Continuance._ Not by one generous act, nor by such an act\noccasionally, can the title of liberality be won. Excitable persons\nimpulsively promise, but reflection brings them to their true selves;\nand they either break the promise or fulfil it grudgingly. Some\nundertake Christian work; for a time do it; perhaps do it well; but\n_after_ a time weary of its inconvenience, sacrifice, and slow\nresults. Now the liberal man \"stands by\" his liberal things. The\nother reading is, \"adheres\" to them. Continuance in the race reaches\nthe goal.\n\nII. THE SOIL IN WHICH IT IS NOURISHED.\n\nIt is engendered and thrives in the soil of Christianity. For it is\nin accordance with--1. _Its Spirit._ It is the spirit of love. The\nman who drinks most into the spirit of Christianity will be most\nlikely to feel such benevolent interest in humanity as will take\npractical shapes. It tends to the overthrow of selfishness. It\nfosters the spirit of self-sacrifice. 2. _Its Precepts._ We are\ncommanded to stretch forth the helping hand to those in need. We are\nto extend the kingdom of Christ. Gifts and offerings in some form are\ndemanded by the two great dispensations; by the Gospel no less than\nby the Law. He who lives for himself, giving forth nothing, or giving\nwith grudging hand, has yet to learn the first principles of\nChristian obedience. 3. _Its Examples._ The newly formed Church in\nJerusalem. Contributions throughout the churches afterwards for\nimpoverished Christians there. Above all the example of Christ.\n\nDo not suppose that liberality obtains no recognition. 1. _It becomes\na source of pleasure._ Let any one put this to the test. And the\npleasure is in proportion to the sacrifice it costs (Acts xx. 35).\n2. _It is returned in blessing_ (Prov. iii. 9, 10). We cannot explain\nhow this comes about, because we cannot explain the way of God's\nProvidence. Everything is in His hands. Can bless or blast your\naffairs. It certainly brings spiritual blessing. Exercises, develops,\nimproves faith, love, self-denial. The indwelling Spirit of God is\nmanifested in larger measure. Conscience approves. 3. _It will obtain\nthe final recognition._ It is all recorded. Nothing forgotten,\nhowever little. \"Cup of cold water.\" \"Ye have done it unto Me.\" Let\nus strive for that commendation of Jesus, and for His commendation\nnow, such as that He gave to the widow who gave her mites, and to the\nwoman who did what she could.--_J. Rawlinson._\n\n\n\nA CALL TO THE CARELESS.\n\n     xxxii. 11. _Be troubled, ye careless ones._[1]\n\n+I. Who are the careless ones in our own day?+ 1. _Those who neglect\nthe Bible._ Its main object is to arouse the attention of sinners.\nClaims and deserves attention. That man is indifferent to the welfare\nof his country who never examines the principles of its constitution,\nthe character of its laws, &c. So he who neglects the Bible can never\nbe regarded as a serious man. He is careless on the most momentous of\nall subjects. 2. _Those who neglect prayer._ All who have any proper\nfeeling towards God must regard this as a solemn duty. Nature teaches\nits necessity and importance, the Scriptures enjoin it with great\nearnestness (Luke xviii. 1; 1 Thess. v. 17). 3. _Those who neglect\nthe Sabbath._ This \"made for man,\" appointed for his convenience and\nspiritual good. An institution of unspeakable importance as regards\neternity--in fact, no religion without it. 4. _Those who neglect the\ninstitutions of the sanctuary._ Those anxious to know \"what they must\ndo to be saved\" always prize the preaching of the Gospel. On the\nother hand, as the interest in religion declines, so will be our\nindifference to the means of grace. See you one who makes his\nattendance on God's house a matter of convenience, who avails himself\nof any trifling excuse to be absent, &c., there is a careless one. So\nalso with those who are so absorbed in the pursuits of this life, so\nas to have neither leisure nor disposition to attend the place of\nprayer. 5. In a word, those are careless ones _who live in\nimpenitence and unbelief._ Repentance and faith in Christ. The great\ninterest of the soul cannot be secured without these, and no man can\nbe said to take heed to the things that belong to his peace, without\nobeying Christ's commands concerning them.\n\n+II. Why such ought to be troubled.+ Those who are indifferent are\ndisposed to remain so--carelessness perpetuates itself. Still there\nare reasons why such should be troubled. 1. _The fact that you are\ncareless is a ground of alarm._ Carelessness, an evidence of our\nignorance of the true condition of the soul in the sight of God.\nSomething truly frightful in false security where the danger is real\nand great. With such this fancied security is the most alarming\nsymptom. The sinner suffering from a disease which no human skill can\nremove--in danger of eternal death. How fearful then the\nindifference, how appalling the apathy of such! 2. _This indifference\nindicates a state of mind in which every blessing will be abused, and\nevery warning neglected._ A habit of body that would render\neverything received for nourishment or for medicine useless would be\ndreadful; what, then, of that moral disease which perverts every gift\nand makes the diversified means which God employs accomplish nothing\nfor our good? 3. _You ought to be troubled when you reflect what it\nis you are careless about,_ viz., your salvation. The man who is\nindifferent about his health, or regardless of his temporal interest,\nis unwise; what, then, of one who hazards the salvation of his soul\nby neglect? Salvation is offered in Christ--indifference is unbelief.\nWhy so eager after the acquisition of wealth, and indifferent about\nthe true riches? 4. Another cause of alarm _is the exposure of your\npresent position._ Neglect of the Gospel ensures destruction (Heb.\nii. 3). This apathy a crime for which no amiableness or morality can\natone. 5. _No more powerful means will be employed to awaken you to\nthe concerns of your soul._ God disclaims any responsibility for your\nloss (Isa. v. 4; Matt. xxiii. 37). Ministers have preached, Christian\nfriends have entreated, the Holy Spirit has been sent down, and still\nyou are careless. The very heathen will rise up in judgment. If one\nrising from the dead would not make those hear who had Moses and the\nprophets, what shall awaken those who have Christ and the apostles?\n6. _This carelessness is induced, it is not natural._ A long process\nof hardening the heart is gone through before such a state of apathy\nis reached. But once ours, it has all the force of habit, and is not\neasily broken up (Matt. xi. 21). This indifference is _voluntary_\n(Acts xxiv. 25). Felix _might_ have taken a different course. No iron\nnecessity binds men to the fatal course they take, but a perverse\nwill and an unbelieving heart. 7. _This carelessness is a state of\nmind that provokes God to withdraw His Spirit._ Deeply criminal. No\napathy in heaven, there ought to be none on earth. Must it not offend\nGod, to say that He has failed to reveal Himself in a way to interest\nHis creatures? And yet men can be interested in a novel while the\nGospel is neglected. Under the old dispensation He said, \"My people\nwould not hearken to My voice, so I gave them up to their hearts'\nlust.\" What of those who then reject the Son? 8. _This indifference\nwill ultimately be broken up, and will aggravate condemnation a\nthousandfold._ Though retribution sleep, it must come and will not\ntarry. The Jews were spared forty years after the Saviour had wept\nover their doomed city. So with the sinner; there comes a time when\nhe can be indifferent no longer; the realities of judgment and\neternity produce a conviction which will go on deepening for ever.\nHow it will embitter the soul then to dwell upon this carelessness of\nthe past. Recollection itself a source of misery (Luke xvi. 25). What\nwords can express the anguish of a soul thus reminded of lost\nopportunities, &c.\n\nThrow off this lethargy. From this moment seek the Lord with your\nwhole heart, and call upon Him while He is near. Why run the\ndesperate hazard of having to do all this on a dying bed?--_Mark\nTucker, D.D.: National Preacher,_ vol. vii. p. 138.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] See outlines on chap. i. 3, p. 7-12 (THOUGHTLESSNESS\n     through RELIGIOUS CONSIDERATION).\n\n\n\nTHE ESSENTIAL CONDITION OF MISSIONARY SUCCESS.\n\n     xxxii. 13-15. _Upon the land of my people, &c._\n\nThis chapter commences with a prophecy of the appearance and the\nkingdom of Christ. But instead of finishing the painting of that\nbeautiful scene, with what might be anticipated as the effect of this\nappearance, Isaiah proceeds, in our text, to paint a scene of great\ndesolation and barrenness. So, when our Saviour came, the effect of\nHis appearance was by no means such as might have been expected;\nafter gathering a few out of the Jewish nation and thus planting the\nfirst Christian Church, He retired from the nation, on account of its\nimpenitence and unbelief; and the land is still abandoned to\ndesolation and barrenness. That barrenness, and the spiritual\nbarrenness and blindness of that despised people, will continue until\nthe arrival of the important event predicted in the last verse.\n\nThough the immediate bearing of these words is upon the state and\nprospects of the Jewish people, yet they may be considered as\nassigning the reason why the nations of the earth continue in so\nwretched a state, with respect to things spiritual and Divine, as\nthey now exhibit; and as directing our expectations, and regulating\nour confidence, respecting the final termination of this state of\nthings. The momentous truth taught in this passage is, that _the\nultimate success of missions depends upon the communication of the\nSpirit._\n\nThat the Spirit of God is afforded at present to the Church is\nevident from its existence; for, since the Church is entirely a\nspiritual structure, raised and preserved by that Divine Spirit, if\nit had been utterly withdrawn the Church would have been annihilated.\nBut the especial time here announced has not yet arrived; the Spirit\nis not \"poured from on high\" in that plenitude and variety of gifts\nwhich may reasonably be expected.\n\nI. That the success of missions depends on the outpouring of the\nSpirit of God, appears to be manifest, 1. From the Scriptures\n(_text:_ chap. xli. 19, 20; Zech. iv. 6, xii. 10; Joel ii. 28-32,\nwith Acts ii. 16-18; Ezek. xxxix. 29). 2. From the record concerning\nthe Great Captain of our salvation, He did not enter upon His work\nuntil He was anointed by the Spirit of God (Luke iv. 18, 19). 3. From\nthe experience of the apostles. Until the effusion of the Spirit from\non high, on the day of Pentecost, they were not qualified for their\nwork in the nations to which they were sent. 4. From the testimony of\nthe apostles. All their successes they attributed to a Divine agency\n(Acts xi. 21, xiv. 27, xvi. 14; 1 Cor. iii. 5-7, &c.). 5. From the\ntestimony of those who have had the greatest success in preaching the\nGospel in heathen as well as in Christian lands.[1] 6. From the\nrecords of their most eminent successes.[2] 7. From the nature of the\nwork to be accomplished. Considering the state of men, it is\nimpossible to suppose that anything less than a Divine power can\nchange the heart.[3]\n\nII. There are two reasons why we are in danger of forgetting our\ndependence on the Spirit of God. 1. We cannot arrange the time and\nmanner in which the Divine agency will be exerted; and we are called\nupon to exert ourselves in much the same way as though there were no\nsuch doctrine existing in our creed, and no such expectation existing\nin our minds. Consequently, even while strenuously attending to our\nduty, we are very apt to lose sight of that mysterious Divine agency\non which the success of all our efforts must depend, and to direct\nour attention exclusively to the apparatus we are setting in motion.\n2. This is an invisible power, and is manifest to us only in its\neffects; whereas our own actions and plans are objects of distinct\nobservation. It is one thing to believe that there is an agency of\nthe Spirit, and quite another thing to have a deep and practical\npersuasion of it, and to regulate all our actions and expectations in\ndependence on it.\n\nIII. Some practical results which should follow from our belief that\nthe success of missions depends on the agency of the Divine Spirit.\n1. In attempting the work of the evangelisation of the heathen, we\nought to renounce all expectations of success founded on our own\nstrength or resources. 2. In connection with every attempt for the\nconversion of the heathen, there should be earnest prayer. In every\nperiod of the world, a spirit of prayer for this great object has\nbeen the precursor of real success. 3. In the manner in which we\nprosecute this work, we should be exceedingly careful not to grieve\nthe Spirit of God. There must be nothing in our conduct or temper\nopposed to the simplicity and purity of the Christian dispensation.\nOur mission must not be made the instrument of ostentation and\ngratification, or of amusing the public by a display of gaudy\neloquence. All rivalry between different societies that has not for\nits end the knowledge and service of God, is offensive in His sight.\nLet us guard against the least disposition to depreciate or hide in\nsilence the success of others; which shall lead us to look coolly on\nthe most splendid acts of missionary labour, unless they emanate from\nourselves, or bring honour to our party. 4. Our dependence for the\nmen and the means wherewith to carry on this great work, must rest\nabsolutely and exclusively on God. Whensoever He puts forth the\ninfluence of His Spirit, some of His servants will devote themselves\nto the work, and others of them will gladly contribute to it of their\nwealth (Isa. lx. 5-7). 5. The doctrine of the text teaches us to\nregulate our confidence with respect to the success of every\nparticular mission, at the same time that it animates that confidence\nin regard to the final success of the success itself. 6. If success\nin any field of effort does not reward our toil, instead of charging\nGod with any arbitrarily withholding of the help of His Spirit, let\nus examine the instruments wherewith we are endeavouring to effect so\ngreat and important a charge, and see if there be not in them\nsomething unworthy of the enterprise, and keeps back the needed\nblessing. 7. However success may seem to delay, let us acquiesce,\nwithout repining, in the dispensations of God; and let us point our\nviews forward to a future period, that will certainly come, when the\nSpirit will be poured out from on high, and when the Redeemer will\ntake to Him His great power, and reign universally in the hearts of\nmen.--_Robert Hall: Works,_ vol. vi. pp. 158-180.\n\n\nAs regards the final and universal triumphs of the Gospel, believers\ncannot entertain a doubt. Glorious things are spoken of Zion, &c. We\nare explicitly assured that the kingdoms of this world shall one day\nbecome the kingdoms of Christ.\n\nBut what is to secure this? Our hope hangs on one thing--the promise\nof the Spirit. Every past conquest has been the effect of union and\ncommunion with the Comforter; and our own ability for the enterprises\nof the future must be derived from the same source. The chapter\nbegins with a cheering account of the approach of a brighter day\nfollowing a season of gloom and depression, which is to be terminated\nfinally and only by the pouring out of the Spirit from on high. So\nalways. Large as are our resources, we were never more dependent on\nhelp from heaven than now. Without special Divine aid we can do\nnothing.\n\nI. The Spirit of God must be with us, _or we shall not use the right\nmeans for converting the world._ Our work is a vast one, but we are\nnot left in uncertainty as to the way in which it is to be\naccomplished. The Gospel made for man. Sending the knowledge of\nChrist abroad through the nations is the appointed method of saving\nmen. 1. More faith is needed in God's instrumentality. The cause may\nseem unequal to the effect, but a Divine unseen agency accompanies\nit, and difficulties must pass away. 2. No part of our business to\nmake experiments for the relief of human woe or guilt; or dig\nchannels for our compassion other than those in which the Saviour's\nflowed. Calvary our sole expedient, &c. 3. We need to keep to the\nmeans by which all this is accomplished without deviation or\nfaltering. A downward tendency in the best of men, even when engaged\nin the holiest of work, which nothing but a constantly exerted\ninfluence from God can effectually counteract. Charters,\nsubscriptions, pledges will not do it. 4. Must not lay our strength\nout on extraneous matter. Our true service only performed while\nrelying on Divine aid.\n\nII. Unless the Holy Spirit be with us, _we shall never prosecute our\nwork with proper energy._ An enterprise like ours cannot be expected\nto flourish unless it takes fast hold on the hearts and sympathies of\nits friends. It is a cause of too much import to be carried on\nlukewarmly. One of the main purposes of the Church, her own\nself-extension. How shall we get up to this state of feeling, this\nstandard of action? Never! until we have more of the Spirit of God.\n\nAgain, half our strength has to be expended in trying to keep our\nenterprise up to the lines already reached. We seem at times to be\nmerely stationary, and this side by side often with great secular\nprosperity. Why this falling off? And that as contrasting with the\nsuccess of primitive believers? They seem to have carried with them a\nnever-failing assurance, that where they planted and watered, God\nwould give the increase. The Church can never come up to this\nstandard until the Spirit is more copiously poured upon us from on\nhigh. We are shut up to this single resource.\n\nIII. That the Spirit must be given us, _or we shall never see our\nefforts crowned with success._ Something in a simple dependence on\nDivine help which imparts to our labours a character so earnest and\ndecided as betokens a favourable result. We work best ourselves when\nwe feel that God is working in us and by us. Nothing so nerves the\narm and strengthens the heart as confidence in Him. So Luther,\nWhitfield, Paul wrought. Nothing else will keep zeal alive in the\nChurch.\n\nHence arises 1. _Our encouragement._ Faith in the efficacy of the\nGospel preached under the influence of the Holy Ghost is to be the\nmainspring of all our efforts. The Spirit is to take of the things of\nChrist and show them to men. We can only be straitened on that side.\n2. _Our duty._ All converging to a single point--prayer.--_David\nMagie, D.D.: National Preacher,_ vol. xxi. p. 221.\n\n\nLet it be supposed that the invader and the conqueror have been in\nour land. Cultivation has disappeared, impoverishment and neglect\nreign over its once fertile and well-cared-for fields. The city,\nformerly the centre of life and activity, depopulated and desolated.\nIts factories dilapidated, its exchange a ruin, its streets overgrown\nwith grass. Such was the ruin the prophet saw about to befall his\ncountry. How long would it continue? Until God should pour His Spirit\nupon the people, so as to turn them from their iniquities. When the\nmoral scene changed, the material scene would also. Prosperity would\nreturn. The city would again be populated; the country resume its\nbeauty and fertility; the wilderness would be a fruitful field, and\nthe fruitful field be counted for a forest.\n\nIt is a picture of the world's moral desolation without the Gospel;\nof the time when the power of the Gospel shall be displayed; and of\nthe happy state of the world in that day of its power. These topics\nare presented in the text; the necessity, the certainty, and the\ncondition of the world's salvation.\n\nI. ITS NECESSITY. It is a fallen world. Scepticism at present\ncriticises the Christian representation of the moral state of human\nnature as too low, while its standard is too high. Whatever may be\nsaid of the latter part of the indictment, the former part must be\ndenied. The alienation of the human heart from God; its aversion to\nHis holiness; the depth of its pollution, as evinced in the crimes\nand vices which disfigure the face of society, and are too patent to\nbe refined away. With all the restraining influences around us, we\nhave enough at our hand to justify the representation that man is\nmorally fallen and desolated. Add to this the idolatry, with its\nattendant cruelty and impurity, prevalent over so large a population\nof the human family. And to this the extreme and manifold wickedness\nof men in history. The Christian representation of the state of human\nnature is fully justified. There is universal sin. There is need of\nmercy, change, conversion. Not merely the adoption, by large masses\nof men, for various reasons, of new religious names and forms. It is\na personal conversion. Men need the change one by one.\n\nII. ITS CERTAINTY. We should despair of the world's conversion if our\nvision were limited to its existing state. We should pronounce it as\nhopeless as the attempt to tear up the everlasting mountains from\ntheir roots, or to drive the ocean from its bed. But we are not thus\nlimited. We are not at liberty thus to limit our vision. In the Word\nof God we find it declared that the redeeming dominion of Christ\nshall be co-extensive with the globe. Plain statements sometimes,\nutterly inexplicable except in this way. Including these in our\nvision, we have nothing to do with the difficulties, but only with\nthe great duty of their destruction.\n\nInclude in the vision the words of Christ. His declarations and\ncommands before leaving the world contemplate the universal diffusion\nof His salvation. And we must include His work. The expenditure will\nbear some relation to the result. It cost the death of the incarnate\nSon of God. That the event is long delayed proves nothing when we\nremember how long the world had to wait for His coming.\n\nIII. ITS CONDITION. The moral desolation will continue until the\nSpirit be poured upon us from on high. The Gospel only saves as the\nSpirit makes it efficacious. The human heart and will are opposed to\nthe entrance of the truth. Not only evidence but influence is\nrequired. It is essentially a spiritual work, and only the Holy\nSpirit is equal to it. It is a work in hearts opposed to God, and His\npower can alone produce the willingness which is the very essence of\nthe saving change. Every time we pray for the conversion of sinners\nand for the coming of God's kingdom, we practically acknowledge the\nnecessity of the Spirit's work. The universal necessity is the\nnecessity of the individual case. The world's conversion is pictured\nout in the conversion of every sinner. The power of the Spirit is the\nsecurity for the fulfilment of the Word (Joel ii. 28-32; Acts\nii. 17-21; Ezek. xxxvii. 1-14; John iii. 6-8; 1 Cor. ii. 4, 5,\niii. 6, 7).\n\nFrom the text, then, we may learn two or three lessons relative to\nthe work of Christ's Church in the world.\n\n1. That all such work should be conducted in humble dependence on the\nHoly Spirit. Such dependence does not supersede labour, any more than\nthe consciousness that the sun and the air and other mysterious\ninfluences of nature are necessary, supersedes the husbandman's\nlabour.\n\n2. That it should be conducted in a spirit of prayer for the\noutpouring of the Holy Spirit. Whatever God promises to His Church,\nit is warranted to ask in prayer. Prayer is the condition, on the\nChurch's part, on which the promise is suspended. In that wonderful\npassage of Ezekiel where the Spirit is promised in His cleansing and\nrenewing power, the condition is expressly named (Ezek. xxxvi. 37).\nWhile the hundred and twenty disciples were gathered together\npraying, the Holy Ghost fell upon them. How often does the great\nmissionary apostle ask those who have been brought to Christ to pray\nfor him in his continued work among those who have not.\n\n3. That all Christian effort should be conducted, therefore, in\n_expectation_ of the outpouring of the Spirit. Do we not dishonour\nHim, when we fail to believe in the Spirit's work as a living\nreality--when we do not _expect_ prayerful work for Christ to be\nfollowed by proportionate success! \"Until the Spirt be poured upon us\nfrom on high,\" all is desolation; when the Spirit shall be poured\nupon us from on high, all shall be beauty.--_John Rawlinson._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Brainerd, Schwartz, and Eliot, and those who in every age\n     have had the most success in turning men to righteousness,\n     have been the first to declare that they were nothing.\n     They, of all men, most ardently implored, and most entirely\n     depended upon, the agency we are now contemplating; and\n     their success appears to have been more in proportion to\n     their earnest solicitude in seeking this blessing, than to\n     any other cause.--_Hall._\n\n [2] Look at the history of those who have been the most\n     successful missionaries to the heathen, and see whether you\n     cannot trace certain results for which you cannot account\n     on any other hypothesis than that most momentous one of a\n     Divine influence, at certain periods, accompanying their\n     labours. In the history of Brainerd and Eliot, and others,\n     you perceive that for a considerable time there seem to\n     have been the same efforts employed, the same doctrines\n     taught, the same earnest and zealous prayers, and the same\n     watchfulness over their own hearts, and yet no saving\n     effect produced on others: all still remained barren; no\n     desirable movement of the heart was excited; and this\n     continued for a long period. Such was the state of things\n     when Brainerd first undertook the mission to the Indians;\n     but, after a considerable time, while he was propounding\n     only the same doctrines, and using only the same means, the\n     Spirit of God put forth its energy, and Divine\n     communication was imparted at one season \"like a rushing,\n     mighty wind,\" at others \"like the dew and the rain from\n     heaven,\" softening and thus opening the heart which had\n     resisted the entrance of sacred truth, and causing the tear\n     of genuine penitence to steal down the cheek. Nobody could\n     doubt that there was some one greater than a missionary\n     there;--that the Spirit of God had changed the barren soil\n     to sacred ground, and had wetted it, \"like Gideon's fleece,\n     with the dews of heaven.\" And so it is, my brethren, that\n     every person who has had any long acquaintance with the\n     Christian ministry, is aware that there are certain periods\n     of barrenness and certain periods for bearing fruit. The\n     same talents, whether great or small, may be brought into\n     action; but there shall be some seasons in which efforts,\n     in no way special, shall be crowned with extraordinary\n     success.--_Hall._\n\n [3] Were it the design of God merely to build a foundation\n     already laid, or to repair a dilapidated edifice, one might\n     talk of the efficacy of human suasion; but when that which\n     is to be done is to create a new principle, to pour new\n     life into the soul, to give \"a new heart,\" to plant new\n     seeds in a soil where all has been barrenness and\n     desolation, to turn waters into new channels, to effect a\n     total change of heart and character,--what can accomplish\n     all this but an almighty power? Human suasion can operate\n     only on principles which already exist. When Demosthenes,\n     with his powerful eloquence, excited the Athenians to\n     combat, he only called into action, by a skilful grouping\n     of motives, and an appropriate exercise of his genius,\n     principles already existing, but which had lain dormant. He\n     created nothing new; he transformed them not into new\n     creatures, but only roused and stimulated those principles\n     which had animated the bosoms of nations in resisting\n     tyranny in every age. But when the apostles went forth to\n     preach faith in Christ, they proposed to make a change in\n     the mind and heart of man to which there was no natural\n     tendency; they required a creature \"dead in trespasses and\n     sins\" to awake to Christ; they proposed to convert him into\n     a devoted servant, a subject most loyal, affectionate, and\n     ardent; and how was it possible that mere human art or\n     force could accomplish such changes as these?\n\n     The Gospel is the instrument of God, and wonderfully fitted\n     by Him for His work; but even _it_ is nothing more than an\n     instrument; and when it is successful and baffles every\n     human effort exerted against it, it is because it is\n     wielded by an omnipotent arm.--_Hall._\n\n     H. E. I., 1400-1405, 3432-3442, 4106-4113.\n\n\n\nTHE MORAL WILDERNESS TRANSFORMED.\n\n     xxxii. 15. _Until the Spirit be poured upon us, &c._\n\nThis chapter contains three distinct and important topics: the great\nand inestimable blessings resulting from the reign of Christ; a\ndenunciation of the Divine judgments on an ungrateful and rebellious\npeople, and especially on the supine and careless women of Judea; and\nan assurance of more auspicious days.\n\nI. The mind of man resembles a moral wilderness. This was not the\ncase originally. In paradise all was moral attraction and glory. But,\nin consequence of man's apostasy from God, his powers have been\nwithered, and his Divine beauty has been defaced. The mind of man is\na moral wilderness--1. As it is a seat of sterility and desolation.\n2. As, till it is transformed, it is of little use, because its best\npowers are not consecrated to God. 3. As it is the soil where noxious\nand destructive plants exist and flourish.\n\nII. The means appointed for the cultivation of the mind of man are to\nbe diligently employed, because, 1. These means are unfolded to us in\nthe Gospel. 2. God requires us to employ them. 3. The Divine sanction\nand encouragement have been given to those who have diligently used\nthem (H. E. I., 3424-3465).\n\nIII. The best and most powerful means will be unavailing without the\nagency and influence of the Spirit.\n\nIV. But with the influence of the Holy Spirit, a great moral\ntransformation will be effected. 1. There will be a scene of\ncultivation; the wilderness will be converted into a fruitful field;\nenclosed, cleansed, irrigated, carefully tilled; presenting a\nbeautiful appearance to the eye, and refreshed with the dews and\nrains of heaven. 2. There will be a scene of fertility; as a field,\nit will be rich in the variety and luxuriance of its produce; all the\ngraces of the Holy Spirit will be fully and beautifully exemplified.\n3. There will be a scene of grandeur. The fruitful field will be\ncounted for a forest. A fine forest is a majestic and striking\nfeature in a landscape. There is dignity, magnitude, elevation; all\nthese moral characteristics are found in the mind on which the Spirit\nhas been poured out. The saints will grow in grace, and increase with\nall the increase of God.\n\nV. Learn from this subject. 1. The importance of honouring the Spirit\nby reverence, worship, obedience, confidence. 2. The necessity of\nwaiting for the Spirit. Though He tarry, yet we are perseveringly to\nwait. 3. The duty of praying for the Spirit, and of expressing\nunfeigned gratitude for every communication of His grace.--_G.\nClayton: The Pulpit,_ vol. xvii. p. 190.\n\n\n\nPEACE THE WORK OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.\n\n     xxxii. 17. _The work of righteousness shall be peace; and\n     the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for\n     ever._\n\nA large part of the book of Isaiah is taken up in setting forth the\nglories and the blessedness of Christ's kingdom. Sometimes this is\ndone by grand images drawn from all that is brightest in the outward\nworld (xxx. 26). Sometimes the great change to be wrought in mankind\nis spoken of under the figure of a like change in the beasts of the\nfield (xi. 6-9). Again, in other places, as in the text and the\nadjoining verses, the description puts on more of a moral and\nspiritual character, and declares how God will be glorified in the\nhearts and lives of men (vers. 15-17). On reading these descriptions\nof a time when the world is to be full of peace and blessedness, we\ncan hardly help wishing we were in such a world. But that time is not\nyet come. Many places may we find, where all seem to be bent on\nhurting and destroying one another. But the sun himself, with his\nall-piercing eye, though he beholds every dwelling of man, cannot see\na single village which is the abode of peace and quietness and\nassurance for ever. Nor has he in all his journeys ever seen such a\nstate of things. Did the prophet, then, see falsely? Was the vision\nwhich he saw a lying vision? Not so. If the \"work,\" the effect, is\nwanting, it is that the cause is wanting. Did righteousness prevail\nupon the earth, there peace would also prevail. Wherever we find\nanything like true righteousness, and according to the degree of the\nlikeness, we also find peace. Whatsoever is done to promote\nrighteousness will also promote peace.\n\n\"The work of righteousness shall be peace.\" The words have a sweet\nsound; but when we think of the whole meaning that lies wrapt up in\nthem, they may well strike us with awe. For while they declare that\nrighteousness shall produce peace, they at the same time imply that\nnothing but righteousness shall or can. How, then, can peace ever\nabide upon earth, or dwell in the heart of man?\n\nAnother disturbing recollection is, that when it has pleased the\nall-righteous God to show forth His righteousness, as in the days of\nNoah, the work of that righteousness was not peace, but horror, and\ndesolation, and destruction. Even when the ministers and executors of\nearthly righteousness pass through a land, they do not bring peace to\nthe culprits who they visit. How, then, can the perfect righteousness\nof God bring peace to the sinful race of man? There is but one way, a\nway purposed by God in the counsels of His unfathomable wisdom, the\nway whereby He vouchsafes to bestow His own righteousness upon man,\nto the end that He may make man partaker of His peace.\n\nHere some may object, that righteousness, with its sternness and\nterrors, does not seem to be, of all virtues and graces, the one best\nfitted to be the parent of peace. Rather, they may say, is peace the\nwork of mercy; for that mercy alone can produce peace, at least in\nsinners; wherefore we are wont to pray God to grant us _pardon and\npeace._ This is true. Unless mercy be shown to sinners, they can\nnever enjoy peace. Yet, unless mercy go along with righteousness,\nmercy cannot produce peace. If mercy allowed the sinners to abide in\ntheir sins, they would still be under the sentence which declares\nthat there is no peace to the wicked.[1] Christ will never give peace\nalone. He will only give it along with righteousness,--first\nrighteousness and then peace. Unless He had been the Lord our\nRighteousness, He could not have been the Prince of Peace. Therefore\nthey who will not receive His righteousness, cannot receive His\npeace. To them He brings no peace, but a sword.\n\nBut although the course of this world has never been answerable to\nthe magnificent visions of ancient prophecy, still in some measure\nthe prophecies have been fulfilled. To the godly, to all who believe\nin Christ and love Him, to all who desire to serve and obey Him, He\nhas indeed brought peace; and even amid the endless tumults and\ntroubles and jarrings of the world, they feel that He has done so.\nThey feel that He has set them at peace with God, by making them\npartakers of that righteousness, of which peace is the work.\nMoreover, there is hardly one of our Lord's commandments which does\nnot tend, in proportion as we obey it, to fill our hearts with peace,\nwhich does not dry up one source or another of disquieting, harassing\ncare.[2]\n\nWe may now perceive why there is so little peace in the world. It is\nbecause there is so little righteousness. The effect cannot exist\nwithout the cause. The one simple commandment, \"Love thy neighbour as\nthyself,\" were it followed through all the branching duties into\nwhich it spreads, would turn the earth into a garden of peace.\n\n\"For the wicked,\" God has said, \"there is no peace.\" But light is\nsown for the righteous, the light of joy and peace. The true disciple\nof Christ, he who has sought to be clothed in Christ's righteousness,\nwill always enjoy peace, even here on earth. He will enjoy it in\nevery condition of life. In riches, in poverty, in health, in\nsickness, in every outward circumstance of life, in the hour of\ndeath, the godly, and they alone, enjoy peace: in the day of judgment\nthey, and they alone, will enjoy peace. And the peace they will have\nenjoyed till then will only have been a poor faint foretaste of the\npeace into which they will then enter, of the peace of God, which\npasseth all understanding, and in the full enjoyment of which they\nwill live thenceforward through eternity.--_Julius Charles Hare,\nM.A.: Sermons Preacht in Herstmonceux Church,_ pp. 325-346.\n\n\nThe Bible is the revelation of a gracious remedy for evil. Points out\nrightful claims of the Divine government. Charges the human race with\ndisregard of these claims. Man is guilty of unrighteousness. There is\nuniversal sin. It is in man's nature. It constitutes a moral\ndisqualification for return. God's remedial plan comprehends the\nprovision of pardoning mercy, and of regenerating mercy. The former\nis found in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, which constitutes a\nrighteous ground on which the penal consequences of sin may be\nremitted. The latter, in this no less wonderful work of the Holy\nSpirit by which the sinner's disposition undergoes a change that\nmakes him a new creature in Christ Jesus. Let it be supposed that\nthis is the universal experience: instead of unrighteousness, the\nrighteousness that springs from such contact with Christ by His\nSpirit universally prevails. It is a change of which we do not\ndespair. We are taught to expect it. Thus the text will be\nuniversally fulfilled.\n\nI. INTERNATIONALLY.\n\nOne of the most awful facts of human history is the extent to which\nwar has marked its track. In the causes of all wars unrighteousness\nis found. But if the supposition we have made were a reality, wars\nwould become impossible. Nations and their rulers would repress the\ndesire to possess themselves of what is not their own. If different\ninterests induced different opinions between them wise and righteous\narbitration would prevent their imbruing their hands in each other's\nblood. There would be \"quietness and security for ever\" (Isa. ii. 4,\nxi. 6-9).\n\nII. SOCIALLY.\n\n1. Would the scenes witnessed in our streets, and the revelations of\npolice courts continue, if all men were characterised by the\nrighteousness contemplated in our text? Because men are unrighteous,\nthey encroach upon each other. The religion of Christ can be ill\nspared. Where its influence prevails, society is better, happier,\nmore peaceful, more secure than elsewhere.\n\n2. Think of the family. In the home all exhibit their true selves.\nSelfishness and injustice may render it a place of incessant strife.\nBut our Christian homes, even where allowance has been made for\ninfirmities and peculiarities, are usually pervaded by an atmosphere\nof peace and love. The influences that surround them produce mutual\nforbearance and studiousness of others, restrain the harder and\ndevelop the softer passions. Just in the measure in which the\nsubduing influences of Christian character prevail will our homes be\nsecure from strife and discomfort.\n\n3. Think of the Church. There are divisions in the Church, it is\nsaid. But there is less alienation of heart than is commonly\nsupposed. The common Christian's sentiments override the separated\ndenominations. So within the churches. Not many, in proportion to the\nwhole, are divided. Animosity, as arising from difference of opinion,\nis restrained by Christian love. And if all were perfectly Christian,\nthere would be none.\n\nIII. PERSONALLY.\n\n1. There is peace with God. Because there is reconciliation in Christ.\n\n2. There is peace within. The storms of distress and fear raised by\nthe sense of sin are allayed by the cross. The discomfort of\nunsettled life-purposes is terminated by a decision with which the\nsoul is satisfied. Its peace is enhanced by converse with heaven.\n\nIt is abiding peace. The peace in all aspects continues as long as\nthe righteousness. The holiness of heaven, and therefore its peaceful\nrest, will continue for ever.\n\nHave we this righteousness? Have we it in heart, in sympathy, in\nlife? If not, we are on the side of unrighteousness. We are insecure.\nWe need to be born again. O seek to possess and extend it.--_J.\nRawlinson._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] We may see this in human things. When a parent does not\n     uphold _order and law_ in his family, there will be no\n     peace in that family. When a government does not uphold\n     order and law in a nation, there will be no peace in that\n     nation. They are to be upheld mercifully indeed; but still\n     they are to be upheld. Now in man both are imperfect, both\n     his righteousness and his mercy; and therefore they are\n     ever jarring. Sometimes he will lean to the one, sometimes\n     to the other; and so neither produces the work of peace.\n     But in God both are at one: neither shall hinder, neither\n     can give way to the other. Sooner shall the heavens split,\n     like a breaking wave, into foam, and melt away, than the\n     slightest shadow of anything that is not perfectly\n     righteous shall pass over the righteousness of God.\n     Accordingly it could only be when perfect mercy and perfect\n     truth met together, that righteousness and mercy could kiss\n     each other. And thus alone shall any ever enjoy perfect\n     peace, when they have received the full forgiveness of\n     their sins from the perfect mercy of God, and are clothed\n     in the perfect righteousness of Christ. Even in heaven\n     there can be no peace, except it be the work of\n     righteousness.--_Hare._\n\n [2] When He teaches us that the eye of God is ever watching\n     over us, and the hand of God ever providing over us,--when\n     He commands us to pray to God with confidence as to our\n     heavenly Father, and to make all our wants and wishes known\n     to Him,--hereby, if we give heed to His bidding, He at once\n     hushes all those never-ending, still-beginning anxieties,\n     which are the thorns and thistles planted by the curse in\n     the human heart. When He teaches us to love our neighbours,\n     and to forgive, nay, to love our enemies, He roots up all\n     the cause which destroy peace and breed quarrels between\n     man and man. Every passion that we subdue is so much gain\n     to our peace; for every passion is a peacebreaker.\n     Covetousness, ambition, lust, drunkenness, vanity, pride\n     are peacebreakers. All these passions set us at variance\n     with neighbours; all of them set us at variance with\n     ourselves. Whereas, contentment, temperance, sobriety,\n     chastity, modesty, meekness are peacemakers.--_Hare._\n\n\n\nTHE PEACEFUL HABITATION.\n\n     xxxii. 18. _And my people shall dwell in a peaceable\n     habitation._[1]\n\nNo doubt \"the peaceable habitation\" is found in moral dispositions\ncreated within by Divine grace. Here is, 1st. The Chamber of\n_Holiness._ Oh, the sweet tranquillity of a holy life! 2. Here is the\nhallowed Chamber of _Resignation_ to the Divine will. If the soul is,\nby Divine grace, able to be still in the midst of temptation, it will\nalso be still in the midst of personal trial. 3. Here is _Trust_ in\nGod's providence. This is the observatory, and like all\nobservatories, it is high and clear. Other observatories boast that\nfrom them you may see the stars in the day-time; but from this, you\nmay see the sun in the night-time.--_E. Paxton Hood: Dark Sayings on\na Harp,_ pp. 361-368.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] See CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST, xxxiii. 20.\n\n\n\nSPIRITUAL HUSBANDRY.\n\n     xxxii. 20. _Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that\n     send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass._\n\nTwo explanations of this description of agricultural life. The first\nrefers it to the practice of literally sowing on the waters. In some\nparts of the East, particularly in the sowing of rice, the time\nchosen is when the rivers overflow their banks. Cattle are turned\ninto the wet land to tread it and prepare it for the seed, which is\nthen cast upon the water. It subsides into the ground and yields a\nquick harvest. If this is the allusion, the corresponding passage\nwill be Eccles. xi. 1. The other explanation refers it to the sowing\nof seed in soil that is well watered by its proximity to some river,\nand to such a state of security that the oxen and asses may be turned\nupon the land to feed at large, without fences to limit their\nexcursions. Either way the general idea is the same. It is the close\nof the beautiful description of peaceful prosperity after the return\nfrom captivity. The land would be cultivated in security, the\nharvests gathered in peace; a splendid contrast to the desolation of\na country which has been the seat of war.\n\nWe apply the text to the privilege of labouring for the production of\na moral harvest in human souls by the teaching of the Gospel of Jesus\nChrist. Here is--\n\nI. AN ANALOGY BETWEEN THE MATERIAL AND THE SPIRITUAL HUSBANDRY. Our\npresent subject is not our own spiritual culture, although that is of\nsupreme importance and the primary qualification for the cultivation\nof other souls. We are always sowing seed, and the fruit of which is\nin our character and destiny, in time and eternity (Gal. vi. 7, 8).\n\nThe analogy between the moral and material husbandry is very obvious\n(1 Cor. iii. 6-9, ix. 10, 11; James iii. 18; Matt. xiii. 3-32). This\nis the great work committed to the Church. We are to tell the story\nof God's love; to make known the ruin; to proclaim the salvation; to\npersuade men.\n\nNow, this supposes several things:--1. _Opportunity._ By the\nrestoration of Israel to their own land, they would have the\nopportunity of which they had been long deprived. There have been\ntimes when endeavours to teach God's Word was prohibited. In some\nlands it is so still. There are persons who will not hear. There are\nclasses and circles, higher and lower, which are inaccessible to you.\nNone of us is responsible for sowing the seed when there is no\nopportunity. But in so far as opportunity exists, or can be made, it\nbehoves all to avail themselves of it to the full extent of their\npower. Mothers have the opportunity with their children.\nSunday-school teachers. Doors opening in heathen lands.\n2. _Capacity._ To sow a field requires some knowledge of the kind of\nwork. City men would make sorry work. So the spiritual sowing\nrequires some capacity. Two mistakes may be made. There is the\nmistake of those who think any kind of work will do; and of those who\nestimate the requirements so highly and their own power so humbly\nthat they never venture anything. The latter deterrent operates\nlargely. It falls in with the love of ease. It is sometimes said that\nthe extension of popular education demands a higher class of\nSunday-school teachers, for instance, than sufficed some time ago.\nMany Christians think their own education inadequate. It is a\nmistake. If we cannot realise our ideal, let us do our best. Besides,\nexperience does not show that boys and girls are ahead of teachers of\naverage intelligence. And spiritual earnestness is a greater\nqualification than even intellectual endowment. Capacity for\nChristian work, like any other, perhaps more than any other,\nincreases by exercise. 3. _Interest._ He who would succeed must be\ninterested in his work. He who dislikes it or is indifferent to its\nresults will not do it well. Commonly what was undertaken merely as\nan occupation, or for advantage, becomes a pleasure. The various\nlabours of the husbandman interest him. And this is essential to the\nspiritual sower. There must be a disposition for the work. It\npresents attractions only to such as are in sympathy with its great\nends. There must be a sincere belief of the truth, thorough\nconviction of its necessity to man, and a benevolent desire for the\nwidest dissemination of its blessings. Working in this spirit, your\ninterest in it will constantly deepen. By the prospect of harvest you\nwill be animated. With the heart in the work and the love of Christ\nin the heart, the sowing time will be full of spiritual interest.\n4. _Diligence._ \"All waters.\" This suggests earnestness, energy,\npromptitude. Throw all your energy into this work. The husbandman\nwatches everything that bears on his husbandry. Business men spare no\npains in working out their arrangements. We must be equally diligent.\n\nII. THE BLESSEDNESS OF BEING ENGAGED IN THE SPIRITUAL HUSBANDRY.\n\n1. _In the work itself._ It becomes a pleasure. Knowledge and\nexperience of the truth increase by communication, as seed by being\nsown. Spiritual enjoyment is deepened. Christian character grows.\nMany can say the sowing days are the happiest. 2. _In the\nconsciousness of usefulness._ It is not labour in vain. Assured that\nwe shall reap if we faint not. Already there are signs. Evil is\nprevented. One and another are being trained to goodness. The future\ncareer of those among whom you sow will be influenced in the most\nvaluable way. Some will have their passage to the grave helped. The\nfuture world will be brightened to them, as well as the present.\n3. _In the Master's approbation._ As the work goes on, the\nconsciousness of this is a blessedness. And when this world is left\nbehind, His \"well done.\"\n\nAddress--1. Those who are sowing, with words of encouragement.\n2. Those who ought to be, with words of exhortation.--_J. Rawlinson._\n\n\n\nTHE USE OF OPPORTUNITIES.\n\n     xxxii. 20. _Blessed are they that sow beside all waters,\n     &c._\n\nI. We may use the language of the text _as a warning against the\nneglect of the least opportunity of usefulness to others._ The\nprophet pronounces a blessing upon those who are prepared to scatter\nseed, not only where there is a probable prospect of a rich harvest,\nbut upon whatsoever soil God shall bring them in contact with. It is\nnot only by the waters that are sweet and sparkling that the sowing\nis to be carried on, but beside the floods that seem likely to\noverwhelm. We are to maintain a lively sense of our obligation to do\ngood unto all men as we have opportunity. Even those who are alive to\nthe reality of the effect which one man's life and conversation may\nhave upon another, nay, who are desirous to be useful to their\nbrethren in Christ, are under a great temptation to be ruled by\npredilections for or against particular persons, and to regard some\nas too proud, too insincere, too thoughtless to reward their labour.\nOr their affections are so absorbed in one or two individuals, united\nwith them by blood or friendship, that they are rendered\ncomparatively indifferent about the influence they may exert upon\nothers. But whether we choose or no, our power for good or evil\nextends over all who come within our shadow, and we should neglect no\nopportunity to make it a power for good (H. E. I. 1857-65, 4596).\n\nII. _We should not neglect any opportunity of securing benefit for\nourselves._ Every period of existence is to be spent under God. Swift\nand resistless the waters of life glide on. But beside them all, the\nChristian sows his good seed. Equally in youth, middle age, and in\nadvancing years, whatsoever his hand finds to do, he does it\nheartily, as unto the Lord; and in each he reaps a harvest according\nto his sowing in that which preceded it. Blessed through eternity\nwill he be who sowed wisely and liberally beside all the waters of\nlife.--_J. R. Woodford, M.A.: Sermons preached in Bristol,_ pp.\n228-243.\n\n\nIt should be the ambition of us all to be useful. The difference\nbetween one man who lives a useful, and another who lives a useless\nlife, is simply this--the one improves his opportunities for doing\ngood and making others happy, while he ministers to his own\nwell-being; and the other lives only for himself, and reaps the\nbarren harvest of his selfishness. Life comes but once to each of us,\nand blessed are they who, bearing this over in mind, are careful to\n\"sow beside all waters.\"\n\nI. Those who wish to be useful should never forget the many\nfavourable opportunities for sowing seed _on the clear and untroubled\nwaters of childhood._ II. Another opportunity for scattering precious\nseed is _on the troubled waters of strife_ (Matt. v. 9).\nIII. Another, _on the stagnant and muddy waters of doubt and\nunbelief._ It often happens that the Christian is obliged to listen\nto the vapid and senseless discourse of those who seek to bring the\nreligion of the Son of God into contempt, and if he would be prepared\nfor such occasions of seed-sowing, he ought to be a diligent student\nof the Word of God, and of such works as will give him a right\nunderstanding of it. IV. _There will be times when words of comfort\nmay be spoken to bewildered souls about to embark on \"the narrow sea\"\nwhich divides this world from the next._--_John N. Newton: Golden\nTruths,_ pp. 73-81.\n\n\n\nPROVIDENCE.\n\n     xxxiii. 1. _Woe to thee that spoilest, &c._\n\nDr. Geikie says: As a nation the Assyrians are branded as\ntreacherous, untruthful, and lawless (Nah. iii. 1; Jonah iii. 8). No\ntreaty could bind them; might was right; and when interest seemed to\ndemand it, they \"regarded no man\" (xxxiii. 8). Their pride was that\nof a race which looked on all others as their natural inferiors\n(Zeph. ii. 15; Ezek. xxxi. 10, 11; Isa. x. 7-14, xxxvii. 24-28).[1]\n\nThe text brings before us _the doctrine of an overruling Providence._\n\nWe see an overruling Providence at work--1. _In meting out punishment\nto the wicked_ (H. E. I. 4604, 4612). 2. _In accomplishing a just\nretribution._ The Assyrian is paid back by the Babylonian (Rev.\nxiii. 10); Jacob's treachery is returned to him in his son's deceit\n(1 Tim. v. 24; P. D. 2995). 3. _In bringing good out of evil._ Wicked\nmen overreach themselves; the devil is outwitted. The short-sighted\nvengeance of man becomes an instrument of perfecting the higher\nnature of the people of God, whom they oppress; the fire of man's\nwrath is transformed into the refining fire of Divine purification\n(Mal. iii. 3).--_J. Macrae Simcock._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Some time before the return of the Assyrians, Hezekiah had\n     sought to deprecate the wrath of Sennacherib, of which\n     terrible rumours had reached him from Lachish. For this end\n     he had sent ambassadors, in the hope that they might\n     possibly convince the great king that no treachery was\n     intended, and save the country from a second invasion, or\n     possibly even obtain favourable terms for Lachish itself.\n     The embassy had found him at the city, which was soon after\n     taken by storm, and delivered to the tender mercies of the\n     soldiery. A slab from his palace at Nineveh, now in the\n     British Museum, shows him in state \"receiving plunder of\n     the town of Lachish.\" He sits on a throne before his tent,\n     two arrows in one hand and his bow in the other, while\n     prisoners are being brought before him, an officer,\n     attended by a guard, stating the facts respecting them. Two\n     eunuchs stand with feather flaps to wave over him for\n     coolness, and to keep away the flies. Two horses, ready for\n     his use, are behind, soldiers with tall lances attending\n     them. The front rank of prisoners before him kneel to\n     implore mercy, and behind them is a long file of their\n     unfortunate companions. Some whose fate has already been\n     decided have been led a short way off and killed; others\n     may be spared as slaves. A chariot with two horses stands\n     near--perhaps that of Sennacherib--and numerous fruit-trees\n     over the whole slab show the fruitfulness of the country. A\n     strong force of horse and foot on the right of the picture\n     guards the king.--_Giekie._\n\n\n\nTHE SAINT'S ATTITUDE IN THE TIME OF TROUBLE.\n\n     xxxiii. 2. _O Lord, be gracious unto us; we have waited for\n     Thee: be Thou their arm every morning, our salvation also\n     in the time of trouble._\n\nLike its predecessor, this prophecy belongs to the time of distress\nand fear incident on the threatened Assyrian invasion. Dependence on\nEgypt had failed. So had Hezekiah's present to the invader. He had\naccepted the present, but had still pressed on. The south of Judah\nwas covered with his soldiers. Isaiah lifts up this prayer for his\ncountry. An example to Christians to interest themselves in the\npolitics of their country, and to include them in their prayers. We\nhave never known the terrible presence of an invader; but there is\nalways occasion for appeal to the Divine Governor and Helper. It is\nno mark of spirituality of mind to exclude national affairs from\nthought, as belonging to a sphere that has nothing to do with God or\nwith prayer.\n\nThe prophet's eye saw, in the immediate future, the frustration of\nthe invader's plans. The God of Israel would interpose. The invasion\nwas unjust; the negotiations had been conducted deceitfully by the\nenemy; ruin would fall on his head (ver. 1). But the certainty of\ndeliverance was no reason for the relaxation of effort, or for\nabstinence from prayer. God's promise is the encouragement and\ndirectory of prayer. Therefore he cries, \"O Lord, be gracious unto\nus.\" &c.\n\nThe prayer of the text is applicable to any time of trouble in the\npersonal experience of any Christian. It is a time that may come to\nany one. It should enter into our calculations about the future,\nhowever exempt from it at present. It should be prepared for, as for\nold age, or death. We never know when it hangs over us, nor in what\nform. To all it comes occasionally; to some frequently; to some\nconstantly; to some severely. Often from quarters whence least\nexpected. Things and persons most precious to us are sometimes the\noccasion of bitterest grief. The common lot. We can only really\nprepare for it by the possession of resource which it cannot\ndiminish. This is one of the points at which Christians have so\nlargely the advantage over others. God is always with them, and\nalways accessible.\n\nOur text represents the saint's attitude in \"the time of trouble.\" He\ncries to God and waits and waits as he cries.\n\nI. HE CRIES TO GOD.\n\nHow precious to have a friend so interested in you that anything you\nsay about your trouble will find an interested listener. It is a\nrelief to speak to such a friend. Many of God's people find this\nrelief every day. Many a trouble can be told to none but Him who\nkeeps every secret and sympathises with every distress (P. D. 462,\n463).\n\nWhat do we need in the time of trouble? It is all in this prayer: GOD\nHIMSELF. Each petition resolves itself into something that God is,\nand is to us.\n\n1. _His Graciousness._ The root of everything must be the Divine\ndisposition. He might be malevolent, unpitying, unmerciful. There\nmight be a cause of separation sufficient to prevent any favourable\naccess to Him. In the case of multitudes there is such a cause. Many\nlive without God, ignore Him, disregard His authority, yet in the\ntime of trouble imagine they may fly to Him, in the face of His Word,\nwhich says until sin is abandoned there can be no friendship with\nHim. He has provided a gracious way of reconciliation. The first step\nwe must take is the coming to Him through the Saviour for the mercy\nthat obliterates all past transgressions. In many cases the time of\ntrouble is sent as the means of leading us to the Saviour. To be\nassured of His gracious disposition while He permits the trouble,\ngoes far towards the comfort of the troubled heart. He loves you\nalthough you are under discipline. The sun shines in full splendour\nalthough it is hidden behind a cloud. We may wait patiently for the\ntrouble to pass away, so long as we can confidently ask the Lord to\nbe gracious unto us.\n\n2. _His Strength._ \"Be Thou their arm every morning.\" The time of\ntrouble reveals our weakness. Mental energy, courage, bodily power\noften succumb under the pressure of heavy trouble. We realise the\nvalue of a strength beyond our own. It is better to pass through \"the\ntime of trouble\" with God for our arm every morning, than to be\nexempt from trouble and left without Him. Paul groaned under the pain\nof his thorn in the flesh and besought the Lord thrice to take it\naway. But Christ's assurance, \"My grace is sufficient for thee, for\nmy strength is made perfect in weakness,\" together with his\nexperience of its sufficiency, made him glory in his infirmity. We\nneed the arm of God for defence against the enemy; to lean upon for\nthe work that may be necessary to our extrication from trouble.\n\n3. _His Salvation._ From some troubles salvation cannot be in the\nshape of restoration of the previously existing state of things. The\nyoung man loses his precious wife and child; and in their grave it\nseems that every interest for him is buried. They cannot be restored.\nBut God's salvation can come to him in the form of a richer spiritual\nexperience, a deeper acquaintance with His Word and Way, a completer\nconsecration to His service, and a larger inflowing of Divine\nconsolation than he could have known without it. But there are some\ntroubles from which salvation comes by their cessation: sicknesses,\nand business reverses. They are severe while they continue. But\ndeliverance comes. In some cases greater prosperity is realised than\nformerly, to which, in God's wonder-working Providence, the trouble\nwas necessary. Joseph in Egypt. Job. The trouble may have been severe\ntemptation. If saved, you are the stronger for it. Cry to God in\ntrouble. Let it be the time of special prayer.\n\nII. HE WAITS ON GOD.\n\n\"We have waited for Thee.\" This ever accompanies true prayer. The\nbeliever looks for the blessing he has asked. It implies, 1. _Faith._\nThat God hears. Faith has a very close relation to prayer.\n2. _Expectation._ There may be degrees of confidence, but there must\nbe more or less of expectancy. The sailor's mother watches at the\nwindow for the ship in which her son is coming. 3. _Patience._ Wait\nGod's time. Until His end is accomplished. Thus let the Church wait\nfor the coming of Christ, which will be full salvation.\n\nMay we know by experience the blessedness of knowing God in time of\ntrouble! Blessed is the people that is in such a case. Come and enjoy\nthis blessedness. Decide for the Lord Jesus Christ. The world is\ninsufficient. Renounce it.--_J. Rawlinson._\n\n\n\nTHE IMPORTANCE OF RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE.\n\n     (_Sunday School Anniversary._)\n\n     xxxiii. 6. _And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability\n     of thy times, and strength of salvation._\n\nPrimarily these words seem to have been spoken of Hezekiah, of the\nhappiness and security which the Jews experienced under his reign,--a\nreign which was evidently blessed of God to their good; but, like\nmany other predictions, it has a larger application. It refers to the\nkingdom of the Messiah; to the blessings resulting from the reign of\nChrist over His redeemed people (chap. xxxii. 1, 2). The declaration\nis, that in the time of the Messiah there should be a diffusion of\nknowledge so wide and efficacious that society should be rendered\nstable and tranquil by it; that this wisdom and knowledge should\nproduce salvation, or deliverance from temporal and spiritual\ncalamities; and that this salvation should be a strong one. This has\nbeen already in part fulfilled; but only in part. Christianity\nintroduced religious light; and that light became the parent of every\nother kind of useful and excellent knowledge. So little opposition is\nthere between Christianity and true science, that all the most\nimportant discoveries of a scientific nature, all the knowledge\nwhence nations derive power and refinement, have occurred in\nChristian nations, and Christian nations only. It is now generally\nagreed that it is only from the diffusion of wisdom and knowledge\nthat we can expect settled and tranquil times. But we must remember\nthat there is no real connection between mere scientific knowledge\nand moral influence. The proposition which I shall endeavour to\nestablish is, that _no moral influence is exerted, except by the\ntruths revealed to us in the Scriptures; and that whatever effects\nare produced by knowledge of any other kind, those effects do not\nconstitute a real moral improvement, either of society or of\nindividuals._\n\nI. I APPEAL TO THE AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE. The Bible is favourable to\nknowledge. Every Jewish parent was commanded to teach his children\ndiligently the laws and statutes which God had given, and the\nhistorical circumstances with which they were connected; that so they\nmight be, in the sight of all nations, a wise and understanding\npeople. The New Testament likewise commands all believers diligently\nto study the facts and doctrines of their faith. Neither the Mosaic\nnor the Christian religion was founded in ignorance. But throughout\nthe Old Testament, where any moral influence is ascribed to wisdom,\nit is the true knowledge of God that is to be understood, and that\nonly. So in the New Testament, so far from finding any intimation\nthat mere knowledge, of any and every kind, is sufficient to exert a\nmoral influence on the heart and mind, we find passages in which it\nis represented as operating to the hindrance of salvation (Matt.\nxi. 25; 1 Cor. i. 21; Col. ii. 8).\n\nII. I APPEAL TO REASON. Reason shows--1. _That religious knowledge\ntends to produce moral results._ This is the natural effects of the\ntruths it presents to the mind, and of the standard of duty which it\nholds up before us. 2. _That all kinds of knowledge which exert no\npower upon the conscience must leave the life unreformed._ He who\nexpects a moral result from mere worldly knowledge, looks for an\neffect without a cause; as well might he expect a man to become a\nskilful botanist by studying astronomy. To improve the morals you\nmust give moral instruction; and this is what no branch of science\neven professes to do. We take nothing from the just value of science\nby confining it to its proper objects. One science only can improve\nyour morals, even that Divine philosophy which describes, with\nauthority, the manner of life to which God, your Sovereign and Judge,\nrequires you to conform.\n\nIII. I APPEAL TO EXPERIENCE. Reason shows that between religious\nknowledge and morality there is a connection, and that between\nmorality and any other knowledge there is no connection whatever.[1]\nAnd this is also the testimony of experience in all times and\ncountries.[2]\n\nCONCLUSION.--1. _Morality must have a religious base._ Man must be\ntaught not only what is right, but why it is right; and he must be\nshown that he is bound to do it. The term \"duty\" refers not merely to\nthe action which is to be done, but to the obligations to do it. Take\naway the morality of the Bible from that which God has connected it,\nand you make it powerless. Moral influence and power come only from\nthe whole truth of God 2. _The whole truth of God is used by the Holy\nSpirit as an instrument to effect moral reformations, and that truth\nonly._ We have here another most important reason for looking for the\nadvancement of morality from the diffusion of such truth only.[3]\n3. _Religious truth benefits only those who make it their earnest\nstudy._ It does not operate necessarily. The Bible must be diligently\nread, with much prayer that its teachings may be applied to your\nconscience; that they may be in you a good seed sown in good ground.\n4. _The duty of parents is thus made plain._ 5. _We see also the true\naim and the extreme value of Sunday schools._--_Richard Watson:\nWorks,_ vol. ix. pp. 458-471.\n\n\n+I. What constitutes \"stability of times?\"+ 1. Civil order and\nsubjection to law. 2. A regular flow of commerce, and employment for\nthe general orders of men. 3. Freedom from war, defensive or\naggressive.\n\n+II. What influences has the \"wisdom and knowledge\" of Christianity\non \"the stability of times?\"+ 1. The principles and rules of\nChristianity are those of practical \"wisdom and knowledge,\" and,\nmust, if acted on, give \"stability of times.\" Look at its\ninstructions in relation to civil government (Rom. xiii. 1, 2, 6, 7;\n1 Tim. ii. 1-3); to the domestic and social duties of life (Col.\niii. 18-iv. 1; 1 Tim. vi. 1); to integrity, industry, and love of our\nfellow-men (Rom. xiii. 8-10; 1 Thess. iv. 2). Universal conformity to\nsuch precepts would produce universal harmony, industry, and\nconfidence. With equal clearness it denounces oppression,\ninsubordination, and war. Were those injunctions and prohibitions\nheeded, a new era of settled prosperity would begin (H. E. I.\n1124-1132, 1134). 2. Christianity gives \"stability of times\" by the\n_intellectual_ wisdom and knowledge it imparts. What a contrast in\nthis respect between Christian and heathen nations! Christianity\npromotes intellectual strength by the grandeur of the subjects which\nit brings before the mind, by the freedom it enjoins in the exercise\nof every right, and by the rules it gives for the government of\nnations and the guidance of individuals. And its instructions are\nthose of wisdom and mental strength. Moreover it enlarges the\nconceptions of those who receive it, by leading them to strive to\npromote the welfare of the whole world. 3. By its _sanctifying_\ninfluence. The real causes of peace and permanent prosperity are\nmoral; and the very tendency of Christianity is to promote civil\norder, integrity, industry, and benevolent conduct (H. E. I.\n4164-4166). 4. By leading men to that obedience to the laws of God\nwhich brings down upon them His blessing.\n\nFrom all this it follows, 1. That it is the wisdom of every nation\nthat has the knowledge of Christianity to retain and improve it, and\nto guard against its corruption and abuse. Whatever diminishes its\npurity weakens its practical influence. 2. That we should gratefully\nacknowledge how much we owe to God for \"the wisdom and knowledge\"\nwhich He has imparted to us. Let us trace our prosperity to its true\ncause. 3. That national ruin will be the result, if we reject \"the\nwisdom and knowledge\" God has vouchsafed to us. 4. That every one who\nseeks for himself the \"wisdom and knowledge\" of the Bible is a\npatriot. He adds, in his own personal religion, to the stability and\nwealth of the nation. 5. That true patriotism will lead us to value\nand support those institutions which exist for the diffusion of the\nGospel in our own and other lands.--_John Johnson, M.A.: Sermons,_\nvol. ii. pp. 156-177.\n\n\n+I. Wisdom and knowledge both resemble and differ from each other,\nand should be carefully distinguished.+ Many have great knowledge and\nno wisdom. Some have wisdom and little knowledge. Wisdom is knowledge\ndigested and turned to account; knowledge is the food changed into\nchyle and blood, and sent through the system. Knowledge is often a\nmere chaotic mass; wisdom is that mass reduced to order. Knowledge\nmay remain inactive in the memory and understanding; wisdom is the\nsame turned to practice and incarnated in life. Many men possess\ngreat knowledge, but hold it in unrighteousness; hold it along with\nfolly, indolence, and a host of other counterbalancing elements. The\nwise man may err like others; but his general conduct and the general\ncourse of his mind are well regulated. \"Wisdom is profitable to\ndirect.\" Knowledge puffeth up; but wisdom is too calm and moderate,\ntoo wide in its views, and too sober in its spirit to be often found\nin alliance with undue self-esteem. The man of knowledge resembles\nDr. Kippis, of whom Hall said that he put so many books in his head\nthat his brains could not move. In a mind like Burke's, the more\nbooks that were heaped upon the fiery and fertile brain the better;\nit turned them into flame (H. E. I. 3091, 3092, 3112-3120).\n\n+II. Knowledge and wisdom, when combined, give stability to persons,\nstates, and churches.+\n\n1. _To individual character._ Knowledge is being increased at a\nwonderful ratio. The learned man of a century ago would now be\nthought a sciolist. But there have been many drawbacks; many\nincapable of grasping all kinds of knowledge are not incapable of\npretending that they have grasped them; hence the desire of\nintermeddling with all knowledge becomes pre-eminent folly, and hence\ngenerally the preference given to man of showy attainments, glib\ntalk, and immodest assurance, above those of solid strength and\ngenuine insight. And it is the same, too often, in the Church. In\nreference to this, let the words of the wise man be pondered: \"With\nall thy getting, get understanding.\" Even though our knowledge be\nless wide, let it be accurate. Let us ballast knowledge with\ncommon-sense; let our piety be manly; let our attitude be that of\ncalm but constant progress. And let our motto be, \"The greatest of\nthese is charity.\" Such a combination of knowledge and wisdom would\ngive, as nothing else can, stability to individual character\n(H. E. I. 3075-3078).\n\n2. _In reference to states and kingdoms._ Here, too, knowledge must\nmeet with wisdom ere genuine stability can be secured. This was\nmanifested in the last French and German war. Indeed, the whole\nhistory of France shows the evil of knowledge being separated from\nwisdom. We see this in its brilliant, but rash and dangerous science;\nin its literature--splendid in form, inferior in substance; in its\nraging love for display and thirst for war; in its popular\nidols--Henry IV., Mirabeau, Voltaire, and Napoleon--all men as full\nof ability as they were destitute of true wisdom.\n\n3. _The Church._ The whole Bible has been taken to pieces. All the\nconceivable knowledge on the subject has been amassed. Now, here\ncomes in the place for the exercise of wisdom. Let us not leap to\nconclusions; let us rather ask: \"Where does wisdom dwell, and where\nis the place of understanding?\" There is at present a divorce between\nknowledge and wisdom in spiritual matters; and seldom were manly\nmorality and true religion in a feebler condition than in some\nquarters. There are noise and sound enough and to spare; but there is\na lack of stability,--no progress at once in piety and intelligence\n(H. E. I. 3153-3155). Out of that gulf into which one-sidedness has\nplunged us, all-sidedness, broad charity, and wisdom can alone\ndeliver us. Let us pray that these may abound, and introduce a period\nwhen wisdom and knowledge, walking hand in hand, shall be the\nstability of a better and nobler era!--_George Gilfillan: The Study\nand the Pulpit, New Series,_ vol. vi. pp. 9-11.\n\n\nThese were the words of comfort by which Hezekiah was prepared to\nmeet the invasion of the conquering Assyrians. In other times Judah\nfled for protection into the arms of Egypt. They thereby incurred\nGod's displeasure, and were invariably overtaken by the calamities\nfrom which they sought refuge. Hezekiah put his trust in Jehovah, and\nwas not disappointed.\n\nThe text contains, at the same time, a general principle, viz., _that\nwisdom (or practical religion) and knowledge are the best elements of\nthe stability of any people._ As patriots let us carefully consider\nit.\n\n+I. Christianity promotes wisdom and knowledge.+\n\n1. _Christianity promotes wisdom._ (1.) The God whom the Bible\nreveals is the fit object of reverence and love. It reveals the\nDivine attributes in forms the most fitted to fill the soul with\nsolemn awe and reverence. It ascribes to Him eternal and unchangeable\nlove, and reveals that love in forms of ineffable grace and mercy. It\ndoes not efface any of the more awful attributes of Godhead, or merge\nthem in a perverted view of the parental relation; nor does it\ndegrade His more amiable attributes into the tenderness, or rather\nweakness, which loses sight of the criminal's guilt in the\nconsideration of his misery--the world's conception of the Divine!\n_That_ character, however, is not enough to rekindle the flame of\npiety in a fallen world (James ii. 19). But (2.) Christianity\nprovides, in the great facts through which it conveys the knowledge\nof God, the means of reducing men to contrition and restoring them to\nhope. The Gospel is adapted to convert the soul. How? In its\nadaptation the element of hope occupies no mean place. Any scheme of\nregeneration must contain a provision of mercy. By its mode of\nopening the door of hope; it impresses sinfulness on the mind; it\nmoves to repentance, and inspires obedience on the ground of\nconscious obligation to Divine grace. The tendency of the doctrine of\nthe cross is no doubtful matter (Rom. i. 16).\n\n2. _Christianity promotes knowledge._ It points out the only true way\nto the knowledge of God; but further it promotes general knowledge.\n(1.) Revealing God, it makes known the highest truths; and, making\nknown the highest truths, it promotes and facilitates inquiry into\nevery other. The uncovered heavens reflect their light on all earthly\nthings. (2.) By the healing power which it applies to the heart and\nconscience, it fits the soul for vigorous and healthful action. The\nChristian can have no reason to dread the advances of knowledge--he\nmay tremble for the temporary evils resulting from philosophy,\nfalsely so called.[4]\n\n+II. By promoting wisdom and knowledge, Christianity establishes a\npeople.+\n\n1. _It purifies and elevates society._ (1.) It is an acknowledged\nfact that the Gospel makes man unfit for a state of slavery. It may\nteach submission to the bond, but it will create a moral influence\nwhose fire will melt his chains. (2.) The Gospel civilises the\nsavage. It produces dissatisfaction with his abjectness, and creates\nthe desire and imparts the means of rising in the scale of\nintelligence.\n\n2. _If Christianity thus elevates, how much more will it establish!_\nIf it imparts life, how much more will it maintain it! But what are\nthe means of the stability of a nation? (1.) _Religion._ This is the\nfoundation of all others. An irreligious and wicked nation has the\nelements of misery and dissolution within itself; a righteous nation,\nlike a righteous individual, may be afflicted, but, as in the one\ncase, so in the other, \"all things work together for good.\" Knowledge\nhas an indirect influence. Galileo could sacrifice truth and honour\nto escape imprisonment; the tale of Bacon's moral weaknesses is a\nhumbling page of human history; but the diffusion of knowledge tends\nto correct a taste for low and sensual habits. (2.) _Virtue._\nReligion produces the best morals; here the connection is direct and\nimmediate. The Gospel provides an authoritative principle--wanting\nelsewhere--which responds to its moral precepts, and renders it a\nmatter of moral necessity to give a ready and cheerful obedience.\n(3.) _Freedom._ The foundation of this is in the virtue which\nChristianity creates and promotes. If the ark of God were in danger,\nwe might well tremble for the ark of liberty; religious degeneracy\nendangers the existence of freedom. (4.) _Good order._ This follows,\nas the natural and necessary consequence from the promotion of virtue\nand freedom.\n\nCONCLUSION.--British society, with all its boasted civilisation, is\nonly in a state of childhood; it speaks as a child and it acts as a\nchild. We expect better days, not as the result of a natural and\ninherent tendency to progress and improvement, but as the result of\nthe operation of Divine principles implanted in the midst of us,\nunder the blessing of a favourable Providence. That we may put forth\nour strength to accomplish this change, we must have an adequate\nimpression of existing evils and of our obligation to apply a remedy.\nChristianity is the lever by which we can raise man (Eph.\nv. 14).--_John Kennedy, D.D.: Weekly Christian Teacher,_ vol. iii.\npp. 769-764, 777-781.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] What connection is there between the knowledge of mechanics\n     and morality? What moral duty have you impressed on the\n     conscience when you have taught a man to make a table? So\n     with the knowledge of numbers, or of language, whether\n     ancient or modern. In none of these sciences is there any\n     principle that can connect itself with moral\n     feeling.--_Watson._\n\n [2] The Gospel was first preached, beyond the limits of the\n     Jewish church, to a very refined, but to a very immoral\n     people. Even with what they had learned from tradition, the\n     wisest among them--I may not even except Socrates--could\n     contemplate with perfect indifference, and even practise,\n     the most abominable vices. The same results are found in\n     our own day. Wherever infidelity prevails, we witness the\n     decay and destruction of moral principle. We find, perhaps,\n     some exceptions in Christian countries; but let us see how\n     they are produced, and we shall find that they prove the\n     rule. They proceed from awe of public opinion; from a\n     feeling of shame with regard to personal honour and\n     character. But what provides that standard whose elevated\n     purity men thus practically acknowledge, even while they\n     reject its source? It is this book, it is the faithful\n     preaching of the Gospel, which so keeps up the standard of\n     public opinion that even infidels are obliged to\n     acknowledge its authority. Even among our peasants who have\n     been carefully instructed in religious truth--men without a\n     single ray of science--we find the practice of all the\n     Christian virtues; whilst, too often, we see the brightest\n     beams of human philosophy gliding and giving splendour to\n     baseness and corruption.--_Watson._\n\n [3] Along with the truth of God there goes an accompanying\n     influence. The words that are spoken to you are \"spirit and\n     life:\" this is because the illuminations of the Holy Ghost\n     go along with them. We may not overlook the fallen state of\n     man; he is dead in trespasses and sins. The very law is\n     weak through the flesh; it gives direction, but it cannot\n     give life. The Spirit must convince man of sin and\n     righteousness; and if He be removed, the Agent is taken\n     away by whom only our moral renovation can be effected.\n     Now, this blessed, this mighty Spirit only works on our\n     hearts in connection with His own revealed truth; it is not\n     with human science that He works for the amendment of our\n     principles and tempers.--_Watson._\n\n [4] I fear it is incontrovertible that what is denominated\n     poetic literature, the great school in which taste acquires\n     its laws and refined perceptions, and in which are formed,\n     much more than under any higher, austerer discipline, the\n     moral sentiments, is, for the far greater part, hostile to\n     the religion of Christ; partly by introducing insensibly a\n     certain order of opinions unconsonant, or, at least, not\n     identical with the principles of that religion, and still\n     more by training the feelings to a habit alien from its\n     spirit. And in this assertion I do not refer to writers\n     palpably irreligious, who have laboured and intended to\n     seduce the passions into vice, or the judgment into the\n     rejection of Divine truth, but to the general community of\n     those elegant and ingenious authors who are read and\n     admired by the Christian world, held essential to a liberal\n     education, and to the progressive accomplishment of the\n     mind in subsequent life, and studied often without an\n     apprehension, or even a thought, of their injuring the\n     views and temper of spirits advancing, with the New\n     Testament for their chief instructor and guide, into\n     another world.--_John Foster._\n\n\n\nGOD AVENGING HIS OWN ELECT.\n\n     xxxiii. 7-12. _Behold, their valiant ones shall cry\n     without, &c._\n\nI. A PICTURE OF DESOLATION.\n\nThe picture has two distinct points of interest--1. _Man_ (ver. 7).\nDesolation receives nowhere so strong and pathetic expression as in\nthe strong cries and tears of a man. The purer and nobler the man, so\nmuch the more affecting is it to hear his despairing cry and look\nupon his tears. The child cannot bear to see his father weep, because\nhis father is to him the ideal man. Eliakim's grief, on returning\nfrom the interview with Rabshakeh, would be more grievous to Hezekiah\nthan Shebna's. Peter's repentant tears were bitter; but by the cry of\nthe Christ, _\"Eloi! lama sabathani?\"_ and His tears at the grave of\nLazarus, we are much more affected. 2. _Nature_ (vers. 8, 9). The\nworld is partly bright and beautiful, because noble men of God dwell\nin it; Nature reflects and interprets man. The Assyrian invader\nweighed heavily on Jewish hearts (xxxvi. 22, xxxvii. 1) and the\nJewish land.\n\nII. THE REDRESSER OF WRONG.\n\n\"Now will I rise, saith the Lord,\" &c. 1. _God rules the world in the\ninterests of His people._ \"Now will _I_ rise.\" Democrats are fond of\nsaying, \"The Queen may reign, but she does not govern;\" but the reins\nof government are firmly held by the great I AM. 2. _God's\ninterposition comes at the right moment:_ \"_Now_ will I rise.\" Man's\nextremity is often God's opportunity; because not until his case is\ndesperate, will he cast himself unreservedly upon God. So man often\nretards the arrival of the right moment. Meanwhile the innocent\n(comparatively) suffer for the guilty; the good for the bad, the just\nfor the unjust. If it is the teaching of Scripture that God's people\nare \"the salt of the earth,\" preserving it from destruction, it is no\nless the doctrine of the Bible that untold sorrows are to the\nrighteous because they dwell on the earth with the wicked. The\nIsaiahs and Hezekiahs of the world feel something of the weight of\nthe world's sin. But there is always a \"thus far and no farther.\"\n\"_Now_ will I rise, saith the Lord.\"\n\nIII. THE DESOLATOR DESOLATED.\n\n_Cf._ Luke xviii. 8; Isa. xlii. 1. The greater wickedness is employed\nby God to be the scourge of the less, until its own time comes to be\nscattered as chaff, and destroyed as fire destroys (vers. 11, 12). To\none whose \"eyes are in his head,\" it is sad to hear the ambassador of\nSennacherib saying, \"The Lord said unto me, Go up against this land\nand destroy it.\" In the midst of this judgment of God--in which the\nrighteous suffer most--meted out instrumentally by wicked hands, we\ndo well to remember the words of Christ: \"Knowest thou not, said\nPilate to Him, that I have power to release thee? Jesus answered,\nThou couldest have no power at all against Me, except it were given\nthee from above.\"\n\nNote that where the avenging is pictured in this passage, the two\nsides spoken of in the former part of it--men and nature--are summed\nup in the terrible destruction of the _human._ So terrible is this,\nthat a burning world is lost sight of! The first picture of\ndesolation is as nothing to the second; and the woe is seen to reach\nits intensity in this regard.--_J. Macrae Simcock._\n\n\n\nA BLESSED LIFE.\n\n     xxxiii. 15-17. _He that walketh righteously, &c._\n\nThis is a gleam of bright sunshine after a heavy storm. It describes\na truly happy, holy life, such as we may all attain, and may all well\ndesire to be ours.\n\n1. It is _a gracious life._ This is not especially mentioned here. We\nhave only what is outward and visible described. But this always\nimplies an inward hidden life. When we see such a great, green,\nspreading, fruitful tree of righteousness as this, we may always\nassuredly conclude that, deep in the heart out of sight, there must\nbe a great, strong, living Lebanon-root of faith and love (Tit.\nii. 12). This is the secret or source of all that follows (H. E. I.\n2840, 2841, 4092-4095).\n\n2. It is _an upright life._ \"He that walketh righteously.\" A man's\n\"walk\" is his whole conduct in all the positions and relations in\nwhich he stands. _All_ that this man does is conformed to the law of\nGod and the example of Christ (Luke i. 6). \"He speaketh uprightly.\"\nMost important (Jas. iii. 2, i. 26; P. D. 3384, 3394). \"He despiseth\nthe gain of oppressions.\" He will not take advantage of his\nneighbour's distress; will not be hard upon him when his back is at\nthe wall; will not abuse his ignorance or simplicity by charging more\nthan a commodity is worth. \"He shaketh his hands from holding of\nbribes.\" He abhors such temptations. Judas, from an awakened\nconscience, horror-struck at what he had done, cast the blood-money\nwhich he had received on the ground; but this man, from a clear,\nenlightened conscience, at peace with God, casts from him all that\nwould offend the Lord. \"He stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood.\"\nThere is a killing of character by slander and insinuation, but he\nwill have none of it (P. D. 3108). \"He shutteth his eyes from seeing\nevil.\" He is like God; he _cannot_ look upon sin. He hates it; can\nfind no amusement in it; knows its tendency and its fearful end.\nThrough the unguarded eye comes ruin (Josh. vii. 21; 2 Sam. xi. 2).\nPictures and descriptions of evil often destroy. Have we not here a\nbeautiful, noble character? and yet this is what believing in Christ\nand walking in His footsteps will always produce. But there must be\nthe root, Christ dwelling in the heart by faith, else the outward\nlife, however fair and seemly, will be only a make-believe, a\nwretched caricature, that will break down in the time of trial, and\nbe rejected in the day of the Lord.\n\n3. It is _a heavenly life._ \"He shall dwell on high.\" His heart is\nset on things above (Eph. ii. 5, 6; Col. iii. 1-3; Phil. iii. 20). He\nhas already come to Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly\nJerusalem; he really dwells on high (H. E. I. 2766-2779).\n\n4. It is _a safe life._ His real all is above, beyond the reach of\nchance and change. He is still beset by foes, but he is safe. \"His\nplace of defence is the munitions of rocks\" (Ps. xviii. 2, 3, &c.)\n\n5. It is _a well-supplied life._ \"His bread shall be given him, his\nwater shall be sure\" (Ps. xxxiv. 10). But man needs more than bread\nto eat and raiment to put on; like the Master, the servant has meat\nto eat of which the world knows not (Ps. iv. 6, 7, liii. 5, 6). He\nhas growing light, increasing life, fuller assurance, and fresh\nEbenezers from day to day.\n\n6. It is _a hopeful life._ \"Thine eyes shall see the King in His\nbeauty.\" There is a blessed beginning of the fulfilment of this\npromise now (John xiv. 21-23; H. E. I. 974, 975). \"They shall behold\nthe land that is very far off.\" To Christ's friends things to come\nare revealed by the Holy Ghost. They see Jesus, already crowned with\nglory and honour, and fairer than the sons of men. Like the\npatriarchs, they see the city which hath foundations, whose builder\nand maker is God. Like Moses, they gaze the landscape over and gird\ntheir loins; they take courage and press on (H. E. I. 2771-2779).\n\nSuch a life leads to a blessed death. The two go together. We cannot\nhave the one without the other. Balaam thought he could, but it was\nin vain. Such a life prepares for a happy meeting with the Lord, if\nHe should come while we are still present on the earth (Matt.\nxxiv. 46).--_John Milne: Gatherings from a Ministry,_ pp. 325-331.\n\n\n\nTHE BLESSEDNESS OF THE SERVANT OF GOD.\n\n     xxxiii. 16. _He shall dwell on high: his place of defence\n     shall be the munitions of rocks; bread shall be given him,\n     his water shall be sure._\n\nThis is part of the answer to the question proposed in ver. 14. The\noverthrow of Asshur has been predicted; but the judgment of Asshur is\na lesson for Israel as well as for the heathens. For the sinners in\nJerusalem, there is no abiding in the presence of the Almighty. They\nmust repent. \"God is a consuming fire.\" His furnace was in Jerusalem.\nTherefore they inquire, \"Who among us can dwell with everlasting\nburnings?\"\n\nThe prophet answers their question in ver. 15. It is the description\nof a God-fearing man from the Old Testament point of view. Because of\nthe predominating religion of his heart, he avoids the sins of his\ntimes. A Christian, in like manner, renounces sin, and, so far as the\nworld's principles and practices are sinful, sets himself against the\nworld. Instead of being afraid of the Divine anger, as sinners and\nhypocrites are, he dwells in blessed security, with God for his\nFriend (ver. 16). Three things distinguish him from the unbelieving\nworld: elevation, provision, and security.\n\nI. ELEVATION. \"He shall dwell on high.\" Leaving out of view the\ntemporal advantages that sometimes accrue from true religion as being\nonly incidental, let us look at the elevation it secures with regard\nto--1. _Thought._ Christianity directs the mind to the most elevated\nthemes, fosters the habit of thought upon them, and through them\nrefines and elevates the mind itself. When a man is converted he\ngenerally becomes interested in topics beyond the requirements of\ndaily life. Mind is awakened. Mental activity is required. In any\nnumber of uneducated men, some Christians and some not, the Christian\nsection will probably be the more intelligent and thoughtful. If an\neducated man is converted, the influence is equally marked. His\nprevious attainments remain, and his mind receives a new impetus from\nthe world of spiritual thought now discovered. He thinks of God,\nChrist, redemption, holy influences on men from on high, the\ninvisible, heaven, eternity. The mind cannot fail to be uplifted by\ncontact with such themes as these. 2. _Character._ Doubtless much\nexcellence exists among men apart for personal religion. The civil,\nsocial, and commercial virtues are often exemplified by men who make\nno pretension to religion. Even in these respects the best man\nwithout it would be better with it. But we must rise higher. Men\nnever rise above their ideal. The ideal of a man without religion\ndoes not rise above his obligations to man; but the ideal of a man in\nChrist is to be like Christ. It comprehends all dispositions,\nsympathies, duties that either look Godward or manward. It is not yet\nrealised; but the entertaining and striving towards it will lift him\nto a loftier moral attitude than if his ideal were lower; when all\nallowance has been made for human imperfection, it remains true that\nthe Christian is, \"the highest style of man.\" 3. _Relationship._\nBelievers are closely connected with Christ, their Saviour, their\nHead, their Elder Brother. They are \"united to Him,\" \"in Him.\" Terms\nare employed that give the idea, not, indeed, of personal identity,\nbut of such close relationship that whatever concerns Him concerns\nthem, and whatever glorification He attains they are to share.\nThrough Him they are \"the children of God,\" and heirs of the\ncelestial inheritance. Is it possible for relationship to be loftier?\n4. _Companionship._ The man is known by his chosen associates. The\nyoung man that keeps low company makes it plain that his tastes are\nlow. Fine natures can only enjoy congenial society. When a man\nbecomes a Christian, he seeks the society of Christians. And not only\nare his human companionships superior to those he previously courted,\nhe enjoys a Divine companionship which is the supremest dignity. \"Our\nfellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.\" Is it\nnot dwelling \"on high\" to have free access at all times to the King\nof kings? 5. _Influence._ God has made us kings of men. The time is\ncoming when the principles we hold shall, by our means, pervade the\nmass of humanity. Already, in a thousand quiet ways, in families, in\nschools, in churches, in populations, the influence of individual\nChristian men is felt to be good and gracious as far as it extends.\nChristian fathers and mothers will live in the recollection of their\nchildren and their children's children when the memory of the wicked\nshall rot (H. E. I. 1089-1095). 6. _Destiny._ He is to be crowned and\nenthroned in the abiding glory. \"He shall dwell on high\" (H. E. I.\n1073-1076, 1106, 1112-1119).\n\nII. PROVISION. \"Bread shall be given him, his water shall be sure.\"\nHis wants shall be supplied in his elevation. All necessary temporal\nsupplies and spiritual provision. Christ the bread of life.\n\nIII. SECURITY. \"His place of defence shall be the munitions of\nrocks.\" There is an enemy who would gladly attack and overcome him;\nbut he has retired to a place of perfect safety. Inaccessible to the\nadversary. Will endeavour to dislodge you by various means; such as:\n1. _Temptation,_ which assumes many forms. Grows out of everything.\nKeep before you the lofty ideal; constant effort, watchfulness,\ngovernment of thought and desires, Divine aid. 2. _Trouble._ It\nbecomes temptation. It tries faith. Cry to God. 3. _Death._ It is the\nlast enemy. Christ, our defence, will triumph.\n\nWhat a privilege to be a Christian! For what would you exchange it?\nNot the world's sins, pleasures, possessions.--_J. Rawlinson._\n\n\n\nTHE PROSPECT OF THE GODLY.\n\n     xxxiii. 17. _Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty; they shall\n     behold the land that is very far off._\n\nThe literal application of this prophecy is generally supposed to\nhave reference to the deliverance of the Jews from the Assyrian army.\nThey would then have the joy of seeing Hezekiah in his goodly\napparel, and, freed from the presence of the invader, would be left\nat liberty to enjoy their own pleasant and goodly land. The\ndeliverance was accomplished (2 Chron. xxxii. 21). But there is\nanother application of the text--to the beatific vision of the King\nof kings in the heavenly land. Let us then consider--\n\nI. THE GLORIOUS PROSPECT BEFORE THE CHILDREN OF GOD. \"Thine eyes,\"\n&c. The prospect respects--1. _The vision of Christ._ Christ is king.\nOf Him Melchisedec, David, and Solomon were types (Ps. ii. 6, &c.;\nJohn xviii. 36; Heb. ii. 9; Rev. i. 5; 1 Tim. vi. 10). Patriarchs and\nprophets saw Him in human form. The Jews saw Him in His humiliation,\nas \"a man of sorrows,\" &c. The apostles and disciples saw Him in His\nrisen glory. John saw Him in the vision of Patmos (Rev. i. 13, &c.).\nHereafter all His people shall see Him \"in His beauty,\" in all His\nregal splendour and magnificence. They shall see Him clearly, fully,\neternally. 2. _The vision of heaven._ \"The land,\" &c. Of heaven\nCanaan was a type. It was a land of beauty and abundance; of freedom,\nafter the slavery of Egypt; of triumph, after warfare; of rest, after\nthe toils of the desert. Its crowning distinction was the Temple,\nwhich God filled with His presence and glory. But heaven is all\ntemple.\n\nII. THE CERTAINTY OF ITS REALISATION. \"Thine eyes _shall,_\" &c.\n1. _This was contemplated by Christ in our redemption._ He designed\nour emancipation from the dominion of sin, our deliverance from this\npresent evil world, and also our elevation to His glorious kingdom\n(Heb. ii. 10; John xvii. 24). 2. _This is repeatedly the subject of\nthe Divine promises_ (Luke xxii. 29, xii. 32; John xiv. 2, 3, &c.).\n3. _To this tends the work of grace in all its influence on the\nsoul._ See what our calling is (1 Pet. v. 10); to what we are\nbegotten (1 Pet. i. 3, 4); why we are sanctified (Rev. iii. 4). 4. _A\ngoodly number are now enjoying the fulfilment of these promises_\n(Rev. vii. 9, 14). 5. _The glory and joy of Christ would not be\ncomplete without the eternal salvation of His people_ (Isa. liii. 11).\n\nIII. THE PREPARATION NECESSARY FOR ITS ENJOYMENT. Nothing is\nnecessary in the way of merit, price, or self-righteousness. But if\nwe would see the King, _we must make Him the object of our believing,\naffectionate regard now._ If we would see \"the land,\" &c., _we must\nseek and labour for its attainment_ (Heb. xi. 16, iv. 10).--_Jabez\nBurns, D.D.: Pulpit Cyclop\u00e6dia,_ vol. ii. pp. 154-157).\n\n\n\nTHE BEAUTY OF CHRIST'S CHARACTER.\n\n     xxxiii. 17. _Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty._\n\nThere is a difference between the worthiness and the beauty\nof a character. A poetic beauty adorns the worth of\nChrist's character.\n\nWHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS OF THE SUPREMELY BEAUTIFUL CHARACTER OF CHRIST?\n\n+I. Sensibility.+ This is a word to be preferred to sensitiveness,\nfor it includes sensitiveness; it has the passive quality of\nsensitiveness with activity of soul in addition exercised upon the\nimpressions received. The more perfect the manhood, the more perfect\nis this sensibility. The total absence of it is the essence of\nvulgarity. The presence of it in its several degrees endows its\npossessor, according to the proportion of it, with what Chaucer meant\nby \"gentilness.\" 1. It does not seem wrong to say that there was in\nChrist the _sensibility to natural beauty._ He also, like us, wished\nand sought that Nature should send \"its own deep quiet to restore His\nheart.\" We find His common teaching employed about the vineyard and\nthe wandering sheep, the whitening corn and the living well, the\nsummer rain and the wintry flood and storm. 2. Still higher in Him\nwas an intense _sensibility to human feeling._ He saw Nathaniel\ncoming to Him, and in a moment frankly granted the meed of praise\n(John i. 47); when the malefactor on the cross appealed to Him,\nChrist saw at once that the fountain of a noble life had begun to\nflow (Luke xxiii. 43). It was the same with bodies of men as with\nmen; He wove into one instrument of work the various characters of\nthe Apostles; day by day He held together vast multitudes by feeling\ntheir hearts within His own; He shamed and confuted His enemies by an\ninstinct of their objections and their whispers; men, women, and\nchildren ran to Him, as a child to its mother.\n\n_How did the sensibility of Christ become active?_--1. _As sympathy\nwith Nature._ There are many who never employ either intellect or\nimagination on the impressions which they receive. Remaining passive,\nthey only permit the tide of the world's beauty to flow in and out of\ntheir mind; they do nothing with it. In Wordsworth, each feeling took\nform as a poem. As Christ walked silently along, He lifted up His\neyes and saw the fields whitening already to harvest; and immediately\nHe seized on the impression and expressed it in words. It marks a\nbeautiful character to be so rapidly and delicately impressed; but\nthe beauty becomes vital beauty when, through sympathy with and love\nof what is felt, one becomes himself creative of new thought.\nSometimes such sympathy is shown _through the imagination,_ as when\nChrist, seeing the cornfield by the shore of the lake while He was\nteaching, looked on the whole career of the field, and combined\nimpressions taken up by the imagination into the Parable of the\nSower. Sensibility becoming sympathy is _discriminating._ Praise\nwithout distinctiveness is wearisome. We find perfect discrimination\nin the illustrations Christ drew from Nature. How exquisite the\npassage beginning, \"Consider the lilies!\" This distinctiveness\nappears still more in the choice of places for certain moods of\nmind,--the temptation in the wilderness, the hill-side for prayer. In\nall this, Christ recognises natural religion as His own, and bids us\nbelieve in its beauty, and add it to the spiritual. 2. _As sympathy\nwith human feeling._ Examples on this are numerous. His tenderness\nstayed Him on the wayside to satisfy the mother's heart and bless the\nchildren; touched by the widow's weeping, He gave her back her son.\n\"Jesus wept\" even at the moment when He was about to give back the\nlost, because those He loved were weeping. How discriminating the\nsympathy which gave to Martha and Mary their several meed of praise!\nHow unspeakably beautiful the words, \"Woman, behold thy son!\" Friend,\n\"behold thy mother!\"\n\nThis, then, is loveliness of character.\n\nRemember, we have no right to boast of our sensibility to the\nfeelings of others; nay, it is hateful in us till we lift it into the\nbeauty of sympathising action. Remember, too, its wise\ndiscrimination. Christ, while feeling with all the world, sanctified\ndistinctiveness in friendship and love.\n\n+II. Simplicity.+ Milton tells us that poetry must be \"simple.\" The\nbeautiful character must also possess this quality. But by simplicity\nis not meant here the simplicity of Christ's teaching. What is meant\nis the quality in His character which corresponds to that which we\ncall simplicity in poetry; and that which is simplicity in art is\n_purity_ in a perfect character. The beauty of Christ's purity was\nfirst in this, that those who saw it saw in it the glory of moral\nvictory. His purity was not the beauty of innocence in a child; it\nwas purity which had been subject to the storm, which had known evil\nand overcome it. And from this purity, so tried and victorious, arose\ntwo other elements of moral beauty--_perfect justice_ and _perfect\nmercy._ Innocence cannot be just, nor is the untempted saint fit to\njudge; but Christ is able to be just and yet merciful, because He is\nentirely pure.\n\n+III. Passion,+ defined as the power of intense feeling capable of\nperfect expression. Milton tells us that poetry must be \"passionate.\"\nWe may transfer it directly to character as an element of beauty. It\nwas intense feeling of the weakness and sin of man, and intense joy\nin His Father's power to redeem, that produced the story of the\n\"Prodigal Son.\" \"Come unto Me, all ye who are weary and heavy laden;\nand I will give you rest.\" How that goes home! How deep the passion\nwhich generalised that want into a single sentence! It is a beauty of\ncharacter, whether seen in words or action, which passes into and\nassumes the diadem of sublimity. Christ's words to the Pharisees have\nall the marks of indignation and none of the marks of anger. Passion\nand energy limited by temperance imply _repose of character._\nActivity in repose, calm in the heart of passion, these things are of\nthe essence of beauty. And in Him in whom we have found the King in\nHis beauty, this peacefulness was profound. This is the final touch\nof beauty, which gathers into itself and harmonises all the others,\nand hence no words are so beautiful as those in which Christ bestows\nit as His dying legacy on men, \"Peace I leave with you,\" and repeats\nit as His resurrection gift, \"Peace be unto you.\" All moral and\nspiritual loveliness lies in knowing what He meant when He said,\n\"Come unto Me . . . and I will give you rest.\"--_Rev. Stopford A.\nBrooks, M.A.: Christ in Modern Life_ (_Three Sermons,_ pp. 89-131).\n\n\n\nCHARACTERISTICS OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST.\n\n     xxxiii. 20. _Look upon Zion, &c._\n\nIt is probable that when this prophecy was delivered the city of\nJerusalem was threatened with an immediate siege; but Jehovah engages\nto defend it from the attacks of its enemies, the Assyrians, and to\nrender it at once quiet and secure. But yet the text appears to have\na direct reference to the privileges and stability of the Gospel\nChurch, for Jerusalem, after this period, was never long preserved\nfrom hostile invasions; therefore our attention is turned from it to\nthat glorious city against which the gates of hell shall never\nprevail. (See THE DUTY OF GLADNESS, pp. 228, 229.)\n\nI. The Church of Christ is \"the city of our solemnities.\" Jerusalem\nwas thus described because of the solemn assemblies that were there\nheld, the solemn feasts that were there celebrated, and the solemn\nsacrifices that were there offered. And it is in the Church that\nindividual believers come together, and unite in the enjoyment of\nDivine grace, and in the presentation of \"sacrifices\" with which \"God\nis well pleased\" (Heb. xiii. 15, 16).[1]\n\nII. The Church of Christ is \"a quiet habitation.\"[2] All genuine\nbelievers dwell in it, and peace is at once the bequest of Christ\n(John xiv. 27) and the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. v. 22).\n\nIII. The Church of Christ is \"a tabernacle that shall not be taken\ndown.\" \"A tabernacle\" in contrast with the superior glories of the\nNew Jerusalem in heaven. A tabernacle, because it may often change\nits place, as in fact it has already done. But it shall never be\n\"taken down\" in the sense of being destroyed (H. E. I. 1246-1251).\n\nIV. Such a contemplation of Zion as our text calls for will\nawaken--1. In _angels_ complacency and delight; 2. In _sinners_\nastonishment at its wondrous preservation, in spite of all their\nefforts to destroy it, and desire to share in its privileges; and\n3. In _Christians_ wonder, love, and praise.--_Thomas Spencer:\nTwenty-one Sermons,_ pp. 196-206.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] As the earth's loftiest peaks rise not in their snows on\n     some isolated hill that stands like a lonely pyramid on a\n     level plain, but where the mountains, as in the Alps, or\n     Andes, or Himalayan range, are grouped and massed together,\n     so the saint's most heavenly happiness is not attained in\n     solitude, nor even amid domestic scenes, but where\n     religious life exists in its social character.--_Guthrie._\n\n [2] See THE PEACEFUL HABITATION, chap. xxxii. 18, page 368.\n\n\n\nENRICHING RIVERS.\n\n     xxxiii. 21. _But there the glorious Lord shall be unto us a\n     place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no\n     galley with any oars, neither shall gallant ship pass\n     thereby._\n\nThe prophet here speaks for the encouragement of God's Church; and he\nappears to overstep the boundaries of time, and gives a glimpse of\nthe blessedness and safety of the Church triumphant. In our\ninterpretation let us take a large view, and refer, as the course of\nthought may require, both to the Church militant and the Church\ntriumphant. And let it be deeply impressed on the mind that the\npromises of God can be realised only by those who belong to the true\nIsrael.\n\nI. THE ATTRACTIVE TITLE PROCLAIMED. \"The glorious Lord.\" God is\nglorious in His own perfections, and as the source of all the glory\nand beauty in this and every other world. Our knowledge of God is\ngathered from His manifestations in _nature_ and _revelation._ How\nresplendent in glory is the Being thus revealed to us! Especially we\nmay say, with immediate reference to our subject, He is glorious in\nthe vastness of His resources. In the summer the streams of the Holy\nLand were either entirely dried up, and converted into hot lanes of\nglaring sands, or reduced to narrow streamlets. But no summer's heat\ncan dry up the broad streams of Divine love and mercy. God is\nglorious in the abundant nature of His supplies, and in His\nwillingness to make ample provision for His Church.\n\nII. THE BLESSED COMPARISON INSTITUTED. \"The glorious Lord shall be\nunto us a place of broad rivers and streams.\" That is, all that such\nrivers and streams are to a country, God would be to His people.\n1. _Broad rivers and streams give beauty to the landscape._ All\nbeauty is from God, and it is a revelation of Him; but especially is\nit true that He is the source of all the moral beauty of His people.\n2. _Broad rivers give fertility and prosperity._ In such a highly\ncultivated country as England, where great droughts are unknown, we\nhave no opportunity of properly observing the fertilising influence\nof a broad river. But remember what the Nile is to Egypt. So does God\nenrich and fertilise the soul, causing it to bring forth \"the fruits\nof righteousness.\" 3. _Broad rivers afford protection._ Babylon had\nits Euphrates, which was a source of power. \"Hundred-gated Thebes,\"\ncelebrated by Homer, also had its river. Almost all great modern\ncities are built upon the banks of rivers. But Jerusalem had no great\nriver running through it. In fact, it was badly supplied with water.\nLarge cisterns were constructed in which to catch and preserve the\nrain that came down plentifully in its season. The prophet makes use\nof this fact for the encouragement of the Church. The glorious Lord\nwill be unto it as broad rivers and streams. He is the sure defence\nof His people.\n\nIII. THE DISTINCTIVE MARK OF DIVINE BLESSINGS HERE SYMBOLISED.\n\"Wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship\npass thereby.\" Earthly blessings have attendant evils; heavenly\nblessings alone are pure and perfect. Rivers may prove a source of\nweakness as well as strength to a nation.[1] But along the broad\nrivers of Divine blessing no foe shall advance to assail God's\npeople. The presence of God at once confers blessings and averts\nevils.--_W. Burrows, B.A._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Rivers are highly important as the outlets and inlets of\n     commercial enterprise; but the merchant ship, though richly\n     laden, may carry the seeds of physical and moral disease,\n     and inflict untold injury. Rivers give security to the\n     cities built on their banks, but they may also prove the\n     means of destruction. Cyrus made use of the Euphrates when\n     besieging Babylon, and thus captured the city. The strength\n     of Babylon became its weakness. The same river that bears\n     on its tidal waves the merchant ship laden with the\n     precious produce of distant lands may also bring the\n     war-ship laden with the instruments of destruction and\n     death. But the city of our solemnities is secure. No\n     mischief can come to us along the broad river of Almighty\n     grace.--_Burrows._\n\n     [See also outlines, _Rivers of Waters,_ xxx. 25, 26, and\n     _Rivers of Water in a Dry Place,_ xxxii. 2.]\n\n\n\nA CONTROLLING FACT.\n\n     xxxiii. 22. _The Lord is our Judge._\n\nAn immense step has been taken in the moral development of any one\nwho has been led to say this with the understanding, with a vivid\nperception of the truth of this declaration.\n\n+I. It is a fact that God is our Judge.+ The Bible teaches\nus--1. That God is continually present with us, intimately acquainted\nwith our real characters, the witness of all our actions, words, and\nthoughts (Prov. v. 21, xv. 3; Job xxxi. 4; Ps. xi. 4, cxxi. 1-7).\nThus He is qualified for being in an eminent sense our judge. 2. That\nthe God who is perfectly acquainted with all our dispositions and\nactions cannot behold any one of them with indifference. He observes\nthem on purpose to estimate their real nature; He necessarily\napproves or disapproves of them. It is this that renders His\nknowledge of them important. He not only is pure from all moral evil,\nbut He holds it in abomination; He not only is perfect in all moral\ngoodness, but He loves goodness (Hab. i. 12, 13; Jer. ix. 24; Ps.\nv. 4-6, xi. 7, xxxvii. 23). 3. That this omniscient and holy God is\nour proper and righteous Governor. This brings His approbation and\ndisapprobation home to us; it implies that they will be attended with\nthe weightiest consequences. All that men can do often is merely to\nesteem or to blame us. If they have authority over us, or are able to\npromote or obstruct our interest, their opinion of our character\nassumes a new importance (Prov. xix. 12). Honour or dishonour in the\neye of the All-perfect Being is for its own sake deeply affecting to\nevery ingenuous mind; but to the soul of every man not dead to\nthought it must, on account of its inevitable and infinite\nconsequence, appear of infinite importance. God is the Sovereign and\nthe moral Governor of mankind, and His approbation will be followed\nby a great reward, His disapprobation by a dreadful punishment (Ps.\nxlvii. 2, 8; Jer. xvii. 10; Eccl. iii. 17, xii. 14). Our conscience\ntestifies that this should be the case. And our redemption by Jesus\nChrist, which displays the marvellous grace and compassion of God,\ndisplays at the same time, in the most striking manner, the\ninevitable sanctity of His government of mankind. While it provides\nfor the pardon of sin, the blood of Christ, shed for the expiation of\nsin, testifies how odious, how deserving of punishment it is in the\nsight of God. While it secures mercy to the penitent, it seals the\ncondemnation and the misery of every sinner.\n\n+II. A recognition of the fact that God is our Judge will necessarily\nexert a controlling influence upon us.+ We are greatly influenced by\nthe judgment passed upon our character and conduct by our fellow-men,\nespecially if they are discerning and virtuous, and still more if\ntheir good or bad opinion is likely to be of advantage or\ndisadvantage to us. What, then, must be the effect upon any man who\nreally wakes up to the fact that we are under the scrutiny of One who\nalone can justly estimate our character, and whose estimation of it\nis of infinite importance to us! To be approved and beloved, or to be\ndisapproved and hated by the Ruler of the universe! It is in one of\nthese conditions that each of us stands to-day. Disapprobation from\nGod is the extremity of disgrace and misery; approbation of Him is\nthe summit of honour and happiness: the former is the natural object\nof fear, sorrow, and shame, exciting to circumspect avoidance of it;\nthe latter of ardent desire, elevating hope, and rapturous joy,\nconspiring to animate us in eager pursuit of it.\n\n1. The unpardoned man cannot remember that \"the Lord is our Judge\"\nwithout _fear._ Thoughts of His nearness, His omniscience, His\nomnipotence, and His hatred of all sin fill him with alarm. Along\nwith this fear there springs up within him _sorrow._ The sinner who\nhas become conscious of the discriminating eye of perfect sanctity\nmarking all his paths, mourns for his sins and is troubled. His\nspirit is broken, his heart is contrite. He sorrows to repentance\n(2 Cor. vii. 9). To the sorrow is added _shame._ Whatever brings a\nstain upon our character in the estimation of our fellow-men\nnaturally produces shame and humiliation. To be detected in what is\nbase confounds most men, even though no further inconvenience is\napprehended. To be lost to shame is the last sign of degeneracy; but\nto deserve blame from God is the deepest ignominy; it must cover with\nconfusion every man who has any sense of God (Dan. ix. 8; Luke\nxviii. 13).\n\n2. The fear, sorrow, and humiliation which arise in sinful men\nimmediately they remember the holy government which God exercises\nover them continually, influence those also who are conscious that\nfor Christ's sake He has forgiven them. They cause them to proceed\nthrough life with unremitted caution; to exercise steady care in\navoiding every transgression and every omission displeasing to God.\nThey constrain them to walk humbly with Him, and produce in them that\nmodesty, diffidence, lowliness, and sober-mindedness which adorn\ntheir character. But these are not the only results of their constant\nremembrance that \"the Lord is our Judge.\" (1.) Recognising that His\napprobation is the sublimest honour, they are inspired with an ardent\ndesire to secure it. That desire gives a direction to their whole\nconduct (Ps. iv. 6; Col. i. 10; 2 Cor. v. 9). (2.) Conscious that,\nthrough Christ, they are the happy objects of God's favour, the hope\nof its continuance throughout eternity produces within them a\ntriumphant joy (Rom. viii. 16, 17; Prov. x. 28). The all-penetrating\neye of God, so terrible to the sinner, is become to the man who feels\nhimself approved in His sight the encouraging, the exhilarating eye\nof his Father and Friend. This renders duty delightful, comforts in\nsorrow, takes away all fear in death.\n\nCONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS.--1. A remembrance that \"the Lord is our\nJudge\" will deliver us from bondage to the opinions of our\nfellow-men. While naturally desirous of their approval, every corrupt\nfashion presuming to authorise what God disapproves or to explode\nwhat He approves will be counted but the silly caprice of fools. If\nevery sensible man prefers the esteem of a few able judges to the\napplauses of an ignorant multitude, he must be as destitute of good\nsense as of religion who can hesitate in preferring honour from God\nto the good opinion of the whole universe. 2. All the present\npleasures and advantages which sin can offer will be unable to seduce\nthe man who preserves a lively sense of the Heavenly Judge, for they\nbear no proportion either to the happiness which accompanies His\napprobation, or to the misery which arises from His wrath (Matt.\nxvi. 26, 27). All the losses, troubles, and perils to which virtue\ncan expose him will not have power to terrify him from the love and\npractice of it (Rom. viii. 18). Conscious that he is observed by God,\nanimated by the sense of his acting his part before so august a\nPresence, he will exert all the powers of his soul to act it well. In\nthe exertion he will feel a noble expansion of heart, and triumph in\nthe hope of being approved and rewarded, and his hope shall not be\ndisappointed, for its largest promises shall be surpassed by the\ngreatness of his reward.--_Alexander Gerard, D.D.: Sermons,_ vol. ii.\npp. 239-274.\n\n\n\nTHE ATONEMENT; OR, SALVATION CONSISTENT WITH\nTHE REGAL AND JUDICIAL CHARACTER OF GOD.[1]\n\n     xxxiii. 22. _For the Lord is our Judge; the Lord is our\n     Lawgiver, &c._\n\nThere are here two propositions, the one affirming that Jehovah\nsustains a certain relationship to us, the other declaring that in\nthat relationship, and therefore in a manner perfectly consistent\nwith it, He will save us. The same thing substantially is repeatedly\nasserted in the Scriptures. The very prophet in whose writings these\nwords occur elsewhere speaks thus in God's name: \"There is no God\nelse beside me, a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside\"\n(xlv. 21); \"I bring near my righteousness, my salvation shall not\ntarry\" (xlvi. 13); \"My righteousness is near, my salvation is gone\nforth\" (li. 5). All this has been translated into New Testament\nlanguage in that remarkable utterance of Paul's, \"Christ Jesus, whom\nGod hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood,\nto declare His righteousness, that He might be just, and the\njustifier of him who believeth in Jesus\" (Rom. iii. 25, 26).\n\nLet us endeavour to unfold the harmony of salvation with the law, the\njustice, and the royalty of God.\n\n+I. Let us look at the relationship indicated by the three terms\nJudge, Lawgiver, and King.+ We say relationship, for although the\nwords are three, the thing is substantially one, each term giving us\nonly a modification of the same idea. The judge is the king on the\nbench, the lawgiver is the king writing the statute-book, and the\nking is the judge and lawgiver on the throne of government. The three\nthings so run into each other that it is difficult to keep them\ndistinct, each of the three terms brings before us one distinct\nphasis of the governmental relationship which God sustains towards\nus. The judge is set to see that the guilty shall not escape, and\nthat the innocent shall not be punished; the lawgiver has to secure\nthat the majesty of the law is upheld, and its authority recognised;\nand the king has to take care that the best interests of his subjects\nas a whole are not interfered with but advanced. Now it is here\naffirmed that Jehovah stands to us in this threefold relation, and\nthat as a judge He saves us criminals, as a lawgiver He forgives us\nlaw-breakers, as a king He pardons us rebels.\n\nWe are not denying that God is willing and anxious to show Himself as\na _father,_ even to sinners. Our affirmation is, that _now,_ when man\nhas sinned, if God is to be to him precisely as He was before, if the\nliberty of God's Son is to be enjoyed by him, then some means must be\ntaken to secure that in all this no dishonour shall be put upon the\nlaw of God, no blot be made upon His judicial character, and no peril\nresult to His throne or the interests of His holy subjects.\n\n+II. The means by which God the Judge, Lawgiver, and King saves man.+\nIf we take the Scriptures for our guide, the answer will not be\ndifficult to discover, for we are there uniformly taught that God\nseeks to save us through a substitute. At first this principle was\nrevealed through animal sacrifices, then through the more definite\nofferings of the Mosaic institute, and then through the still more\ndefinite teachings of the inspired prophets. The high priest laid his\nhand upon the head of his victim, confessed over it all his\niniquities and all the sins of all the people, and it was to bear\ntheir iniquity. But in the remarkable oracle contained in Isaiah\nliii. the very same phraseology is used in reference to the expected\nMessiah; for we are there told that God \"hath laid upon Him the\niniquity of us all,\" that \"He was wounded for our transgressions, and\nbruised for our iniquities,\" and that \"He shall bear our iniquities.\"\nTo this corresponds the language of the New Testament; for when John\nthe Baptist pointed out the Messiah, he said, \"Behold the Lamb of God\nthat taketh (beareth) away the sins of the world;\" and Jesus Himself\ndeclared that \"the Son of man came to give His life a ransom for\nmany,\" and that \"the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.\"\nAnd in perfect harmony with all this are the utterances of the\nApostles. It seems perfectly clear that the principle of substitution\nis the very thread round which all the other declarations of the\nScripture crystallise. The Bible, from its beginning to its close, is\n\"dipped in blood;\" the atoning death of Christ is the foundation on\nwhich its whole system rests, and if that be rejected, the whole book\nmust go with it as a dead and worthless thing.\n\n+III. Is this arrangement in harmony with the regal and judicial\ncharacter of God?+ Gathering up the scattered statements of the Word\nof God into one systematic treatment of this subject, it seems clear\nthat the following things need to be secured in order that\nsubstitution may harmonise with and subserve the ends of\njustice:--1. _That the substitute shall be himself free from all\ntaint of sin, and be a voluntary victim._ Christ was \"holy, harmless,\nundefiled, and separate from sinners\" as He was God-Man, and did not\nneed to put Himself under the law except He had chosen to be the\nsinner's friend. He is thus qualified to be our substitute. And there\nwas no compulsion. \"Lo, I come! I delight to do Thy will, O my God.\"\n2. _That the sacrifice he offers be of such value as to preserve the\nmajesty of the law, and cover the case of those for whom it was\ndesigned._ The sacrifice offered must be something which the person\nmaking it can call his own property; and it must be something which\nis in itself adequate to the end contemplated. This is precisely what\nwe have in the case of Christ. He could say His life was His own, for\nHe was God as well as man. Again, it was such a sacrifice as met the\ncase, for it was offered in the person of a Divine Man. As God-man,\nHe infinitely transcends all other men, and therefore, when standing\nas a substitute, His personal dignity and worth give infinite value\nto His substitution. 3. _That the persons set free thereby should be\nso changed in character that their after conduct shall not in any way\ninterfere with or interrupt the happiness of God's other holy\nchildren and subjects._ This is secured in connection with Christ's\nwork; for when, by the eye of faith, the love of Jesus is seen as\nmanifested on the cross, its power is such that it constrains the\nsinner to live to Him who loved him and gave Himself for him. The\ncriminal who is pardoned through faith in the substitution of Christ\nis also reformed, and no detriment results from his deliverance to\nthe other citizens of Jehovah's empire. 4. _That the substitute\nhimself have such compensation given him, that in the end he shall\nnot lose, but rather gain, through the sacrifice He has made._ Even\nalthough a substitute should willingly offer himself, it would be\ninjustice to allow him to suffer if no adequate return could be made\nfor it. Christ received as the reward of His sufferings that which is\nby Himself admitted and declared to be a thoroughly satisfactory\nrecompense for the sacrifice he made. As He sees of the travail of\nHis soul, He is satisfied. 5. _That the substitute be accepted by\nboth parties._ That He is accepted by God is evident from the\nresurrection of Christ from the dead, His ascension into heaven, and\nthe outpouring of the Holy Spirit; and He becomes accepted by the\nsinner when he believes in Jesus. Christ is not my substitute until I\naccept Him as such.\n\nTwo remarks in conclusion:--1. It follows that Jesus Christ is an\nall-sufficient Saviour. His work is such that any sinner choosing to\navail himself of it may be saved through it. 2. It also follows that\nJesus Christ is the only Saviour; for if these requirements needed to\nbe satisfied, who is there that can meet them but Himself?--_W. M.\nTaylor, D.D.: Life Truths,_ pp. 1-20.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] See H. E. I., 374-399.\n\n\n\nTHE DISABLED SHIP.\n\n     (_A Sermon to Seamen._)\n\n     xxxiii. 23. _Thy tacklings are loosed, &c._\n\nSeas, rivers, and ships have for ages afforded the world the mainstay\nof commerce. Not only so; the imagery of many of our best books would\nhave been very much the poorer had not visions and dreams of the sea\nbeen present to the writers. Isaiah makes good use of these. In ver.\n21 he says, \"The glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad\nrivers and streams,\" &c. Jerusalem was badly off, compared with\nBabylon and other cities, in that it had neither sea nor river, but\nonly a small rivulet. Large and deep rivers near great towns have\ntheir advantages and disadvantages in time of war. The prophet here\nsays that God would be to Jerusalem a place of broad rivers and\nstreams, wherein no ship of war should be allowed to approach to\ninjure His people. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put\nconfidence in seas or war-ships. (ver. 22).\n\nJerusalem, at the time, was in danger from a great power, and in the\ntext that power, Assyria, is compared to a ship whose \"tacklings are\nloosed,\" &c. A sad plight surely for a ship to be in! But not only\ngreat powers like Assyria are, in reality, in a bad way, as abettors\nof wickedness, but individuals also, like the disabled vessel spoken\nof by the prophet; for, 1. _A wicked man is like a ship whose\ntacklings are loosed._ The tackle of a ship is of immense service in\nmany ways; but a ship whose tackle has got loosed from her masts is\nnot fit for a voyage. No seaman would dream of sailing in such a\nship. Every rope must be in its right place and securely fixed. But\nhow many men are out on the voyage of life, with the gear of mind and\nheart all loose! In fine weather, even, they make no real headway; in\nstorms they are in peril of being cast away. They are at the mercy of\nevery wind that blows; for, 2. _A wicked man is like a ship whose\nmasts will not stand upright._ The tackle of a ship is of service in\nstrengthening its masts. But men are out voyaging on the sea of life:\nthey would fain stand upright, but they cannot; for their thoughts\nand feelings are not made use of to sustain them in an upright life;\nthey sway under the blast; the crash of ruin is always impending.\n3. _A wicked man is like a ship without sails._ On a mast,\nunstrengthened by good tackle, it is worse than useless to attempt to\nspread a sail. But without sails to catch the heaven-sent breezes,\nhow shall the distant haven be reached? Even men of some moral\nballast are at best like poor toilers at the oars. The port is a long\nway off, and they need sails--wings filled with spiritual\nenergies--to carry them onward over miles of sea day by day. 4. _A\nwicked man is like a dismantled ship which plunderers attack._ \"Then\nis the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey.\" How\npoor sailors are plundered by the weakest of mankind and womankind!\n\nCONCLUSION.--Sin, iniquity, that is _in-equity,_ is at the root of\nthe godless man's loose thoughts and passions, tottering steps and\nwingless spirit. The ship wants a thorough overhauling; nay, it wants\nremaking (John iii. 3).\n\nWe should be homeward-bound for the kingdom of God; but it is vain to\ndream of reaching port as an unseaworthy vessel.--_J. Macrae Simcock._\n\n\n\nNO SICKNESS THERE.\n\n     xxxiii. 24. _And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick._\n\nIn a besieged city, from watching, anxiety, and scarcity of food,\nthere is usually considerable sickness. When an epidemic disease is\nprevalent, sickness becomes the general experience. There is in any\nlarge population always a considerable amount of sickness, more or\nless serious. Nor is it confined to the city. In the country it is\nmuch the same. At the best it is only somewhat less. Medical men are\neverywhere required. Sanitary arrangements, temperate habits, and\nmedical skill may diminish the extent and alleviate the severity of\nsickness, but they cannot uproot it. When, therefore, we read of a\ncity in which there shall be no sickness, our thoughts turn from\nearth to heaven. The text is a beautifully poetic representation of\nthe termination of the conscious weakness that rested on Jerusalem\nwhile the Assyrian army lay before it. But there is a sense in which\nthe words may be literally understood. We believe in \"the holy city,\nthe new Jerusalem.\" Let us meditate on that new condition of our life.\n\n+I. Sickness is weakness.+ We give the name to all states of the body\nother than sound and perfect health. How numerous! Our condition here\nis one of constant liability to it. At every period of life we are\nexposed to it. It may be borne to us by the air we breathe; taken\nwith the food we eat and the water we drink; received by contact with\nour fellows; lurk secretly in some part of our body unsuspected;\ndevelop itself from the slight cold, the result of carelessness, or\nin spite of the utmost thoughtfulness; it may attack the youth as\nwell as the old man, those who boast the fulness of their strength as\nwell as those who know themselves to be less firmly built. But it\nalways supposes weakness. Under the name of weakness it holds its\nvictim with a firm grasp. While he persuades himself that he has\nconquered, it secretly spreads through every vein, and eventually\nlays him prostrate. The strongest man becomes powerless when sickness\nholds him in its grasp. As he is too weak to throw off the weakness,\nhe is too weak to perform the tasks which at other times he performs\nwith perfect ease. The student, the mechanic, the merchant. Visit\nsome sick-bed and your confidence of perpetual strength will depart.\nSickness is humiliating because it is weakening. It is often attended\nwith pain. Pain increases weakness. In the grasp of pain the sufferer\nmay be held for days, with no power of resistance, no prospect of\nrelief.\n\nHave you not sometimes thought what a contrast it would be if you\ncould be entirely free from sickness and from liability to it? We may\nindulge the thought. That will be the condition of the resurrection\nbody in the celestial city. It will be fashioned like to the body of\nChrist's glory (1 Cor. xv. 42-44). As Christ on the cross endured the\nlast sickness and pain He was ever to know, so shall all His\nfollowers rise, as He did, to a life from which sickness and pain are\nfor ever excluded. Are you one with Him? Then in pain, weariness,\nlanguor, sickness, let all impatience be subdued as you remember that\nit is only a little longer. \"Neither shall there be any more pain.\"\n\n+II. Sickness is sorrow.+ Sorrow because of lost time and business,\nfear that the end of life is near, the leaving behind not only all\npleasant earthly things and persons, but especially those dependent\non the patient's life, to whom his loss may be ruin. Not to the\npatient only is it a time of sorrow. Enter the house. All is gloom.\nRooms darkened. The family tread softly and speak under their breath,\nas if every sound would not only disturb the sufferer, but be out of\nharmony with their own feelings. It is the little one that has come\nhome sick from school (2 Kings iv. 19). His mother takes him on her\nknee. Soon she perceives the signs of one of the sicknesses that are\nthe terror of childhood. Medical aid is procured. The sickness\ndeepens. Every one watches with aching heart, for the child is a\nuniversal favourite. And if he is taken, oh, what distress! Or it is\nthe young man who has grown to maturity. He is active in business.\nHis father, under the burden of advancing years, is gradually\ndevolving responsibility on him, that he may himself enjoy a few\nyears' rest after a life of hard and anxious work. But sickness\ncomes. It passes by those you would expect it to strike. It singles\nout the young and strong. Gradually that fine young man wastes away.\nDay and night the mother, whose advancing years and infirmities\ndemand the attention, watches over him with a breaking heart. All is\ndone that strong affection can inspire. It is vain. Oh! what sorrow\nthrough these months! And when the end comes, what tongue can\ndescribe the agony?\n\nWe wonder if it will ever cease to be true that \"man was made to\nmourn.\" Thank God we can entertain the prospect of the complete\ncessation of sorrow. \"Neither sorrow.\" \"Sorrow and sighing shall flee\naway.\" \"God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.\" For \"the\ninhabitant shall not say, I am sick.\"\n\n+III. Sickness is the prelude to death.+ It usually precedes. Any\nsickness may end in it. Death changes everything; the body different;\nthe soul different. But there shall be no more death. There will be\nthe perpetuated life of paradise regained; for there will be the tree\nof life; there will be the resurrection body (1 Cor. xv. 53, 54).\n\n+IV. Sickness, sorrow, and death are the fruit of sin.+ Does not\nScripture thus trace them? There was no sickness before sin. Sin was\nthe seed. The heavenly city is free from sin. There is perfect\nholiness. It is the completion of the redeeming work of Christ from\nsin, sorrow, death. The seed which bears sickness is taken out of the\nsoil.\n\nShall we dwell in that city of immortal health? Are we travelling\ntowards it? If not, we cannot reach it. Jesus is the way. Come to Him\n(Rev. xxi. 27). It is a prepared place for a prepared people.--_J.\nRawlinson._\n\n\n\nRECOVERY FROM SICKNESS.\n\n     (_Sermon to the Young._)\n\n     xxxiii. 24. _And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick._\n\nOur sun-dial is not that of Hezekiah: its shadow has no backward\nmovement; the last enemy must soon challenge the traveller to pay the\ntax imposed on his pilgrimage. When all the pains and illnesses of\nthe flesh are over, there remaineth a place purchased, prepared, and\nfurnished for the children of God, and in which \"the inhabitant shall\nnot say, I am sick.\" Where is this healthy spot? Not in any place in\nthis country; not in the world of which our land is so favoured a\nportion. To be able always to say, \"I am not sick,\" is one of the\nprivileges of heaven alone.\n\nI. THE EVILS AND DISAGREEABLES OF SICKNESS.\n\nSickness is certainly not a pleasant thing--necessary, profitable, if\nyou please, but not pleasant. It cannot be pleasant; for it is the\npunishment for sin. Angels are never sick, because they are of that\nworld of which the inhabitant shall not say, \"I am sick.\" Sickness\nhelps to crumble us into death; diseases are Death's servants. Death\nsends them out in their different liveries as his couriers and\nforerunners; they apprise sinners that their Master is coming into\ntheir country, passing by that way, will perhaps \"stand at their door\nand knock,\" warning each to be ready to leave all and follow death,\nas Peter said he and his fellow-apostles had done for Christ\n(H. E. I. 1561).\n\n1. Bodily pain often accompanies sickness. This is sometimes felt in\nso grievous and dreadful a degree that the sufferer wishes and prays\nfor death to be relieved of his agonies. When David was tried in this\nway he said, \"The pains of hell gat hold upon me\"--a strong\nexpression, meaning very excruciating pains. Who can tell but those\nwho have felt them what sufferings belong to the burning fever, the\ntormenting headache, &c.? The curious machine is out of order; the\nwheels grind and grate against each other; \"the harp with a thousand\nstrings is out of tune and full of discords.\" The very means taken\nfor recovery often, for a time at least, increase pain and suffering.\nWe admire the wisdom which God has given to man to discover the\nhealing virtues concealed in Nature's works. But most of these,\nexcellent in their effects, are nauseous to the taste. It seems as if\nProvidence had ordained this on purpose that everything should\nconspire in sickness to make it a suffering, uncomfortable time, in\norder the more deeply to impress on us the salutary lessons it is\nintended to teach us.\n\n2. The interruption it causes to the active duties of life. Health is\nthe one thing needful, not only to the enjoyment of life, but to the\nvigorous and successful discharge of the duties.\n\n3. One might mention a third evil, viz., the trouble one gives in\nsickness to those around us, only you might be ready to cry out, \"We\ncannot allow this to be either a trouble or an evil; what sister or\naffectionate brother would think this a trouble?\" But often the\nsufferer feels it keenly.\n\nII. THE PROFITS AND ADVANTAGES OF SICKNESS.\n\nBegin by thanking Jesus Christ that sickness it not a punishment and\nnothing else--not a certainty and foretaste of hell. His sacrifice\nhas taken away its sting; it bears the peaceable fruits of\nrighteousness to them that are exercised thereby. It withdraws us\nfrom the world. We follow too hotly and incessantly the things of the\nworld. Some years ago a satire was written upon us called \"The World\nWithout Souls,\" and the author, without exaggerating, nearly proved\nthat most of us live as if we thought this was really to be the case.\n\nCONCLUSION.--So improve the sickness of earth as to make it the path\nto the health of heaven. In health often look back to the time of\nsickness; consider what were then your feelings, your fears, your\ngood resolutions. Have you kept your word? Have you done your part?\nIs the Great Physician paid? He seeks not gold, but the coin of\ngratitude, love, and obedience. Every sickness should urge us to\nsecure the country without pain; to win the new heavens and the new\nearth in which Christ's redeemed people shall be crowned with\nunfading youth and unbroken health.--_George Clark, M.A.: Sermons,_\npp. 59-68.\n\n\n\nTHE CONTROVERSY OF ZION.\n\n     xxxiv. 8. _For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, &c._\n\nThe Lord has always been mindful of His Church. He is pledged to her\ndefence against the world, and against the world-spirit which often\nintrudes within her pale. Chapter xxxiv. contains a description of\nthe effects of the Divine vengeance in the typical case of Edom;\nchapter xxxv. describes the flourishing state of the Church\nconsequent upon the execution of the Divine judgments.\n\n+I. There is a parallel between God's dealings with individuals and\nsociety.+ Such a parallel may be presumed to exist, inasmuch as any\nsociety is made up of individuals; and God cares equally for the\nsingle and the corporate life. Taking the mass of men, evil\ndispositions lead to evil deeds, and these to habits, before they are\nturned to the service of God. God intervenes in the way of judgment;\ntimes of judgment are appointed them, foreshadowing a future day of\nthe Lord's vengeance. 1. _Individual judgments._ God's controversy\nwith Jacob at Peniel, when Jacob's thigh was put out of joint, was\nbut the climax of the Divine vengeance in respect of his sinful past,\nand became the _turning-point_ of his life. Not only are bad men\nchanged in this way, but good men are made better (xxxviii. 12-14;\nLam. iii. 3-21; Job x. 16-20; H. E. I. 56-59, 66-70, 116). God\nstrikes, that human nature may be laid bare in its depths, and a\nthorough work of regeneration accomplished, proceeding from within\noutward. Afflictions do not always soften; but they do so often\nenough to form a large part of the method of the Divine vengeance.\n2. _Social and national judgments._ Jacob became Israel, and Israel\nthe Church of God, the representative of God on earth, even as Edom,\nof which Esau, the godless, was the ancestor, is regarded in\nScripture as the representative of the world-power. Edom was\nemphatically the troubler of Israel. Its judgments--prophetic of\ngreater in the future--were sent by the Defender of Zion--(1.) To\nmake manifest its sin; (2.) To show the theocratic character of\nIsrael.\n\nBut the Edom, or world-spirit, was in Israel herself; hence the\njudgments of the Church. The idea of the theocracy was interfered\nwith when Israel wished a king, like the other nations (1 Sam.\nviii. 6, 7). That could only be entertained by Jehovah if kings had\ntheir right to rule direct from Himself. And so He raised up _David\nand David's line_ (1 Sam. xvi. 1-13; Gen. xlix. 8). Hence the\ninstitution and perpetuation of the prophetic line--Samuel, Isaiah,\nEzekiel, &c.--to assert and maintain the idea of the theocracy.\n\nWith a grander display of the Divine power this tale has been re-told\nunder the Christian dispensation. Social and national crises are\nstill brought about, in the wise judgment of God, first, to make\nmanifest the sins of communities and nations; and, second, to direct\nmen to the Church of Christ. In times of _the Church's\nunfaithfulness,_ apostles, truly apostolic men, reformers, &c.,\ninterfere.\n\n+II. Antagonism between the Church and the world must end in the\ndefeat and subjugation of the world.+ Jehovah is the defender of the\ncause of Zion through the ages. He has espoused the cause of holiness\nagainst ungodliness. His people may be dispersed, but the Church does\nnot die out. From the lowest ebb it returns to the flow. The blood of\nits martyrs becomes seed. Its opponents turn ever feebler. This is\nseen in their more spasmodic efforts. Its benign influence has\nextended far; ever larger numbers are being brought under its yoke.\nThe world fights every inch of the ground; but--\n\n+III. The great day is surely coming.+ There must come a complete\nmanifestation of the Church's inherent glory. 1. This manifestation\nwill take place by displays of Divine vengeance on the enemies of\nZion. This method of the ancient time has not become obsolete. 2. The\nmanifestation will not be short-lived, but continue, so that\ndestruction may be succeeded by a realised state of salvation.\n3. Last of all, there shall be seen the triumph of the Church, when\nChurch and world shall be conterminous, and fulness of blessing be\nenjoyed. (Chapter xxxv. still awaits its largest fulfilment.)\n\nCONCLUSION.--1. We have a Gospel of terror to preach to the world--a\n_Gospel of terror,_ for the Divine vengeance is informed by the\ngreatest heart of love. Is the Church, as some say, becoming less\npowerful in our time? Let the question at least provoke searchings of\nheart. God still sends judgments upon unfaithful Churches.\n2. Remember, in times of darkness and trial, that the Lord has the\ndeepest interest in His Church. It cannot disappear from the world;\nbut be alive to removing from it causes of weakness. 3. Let us\nencourage one another in the hope of a time when the Church's glory\nshall be fully manifested, when the time of recompense for the long\ncontroversy of Zion shall arrive. Let us work in the Church so as to\nhelp to bring about the glad time coming.--_J. Macrae Simcock._\n\n\n\nA CALL TO STUDY.\n\n     xxxiv. 16. _Seek ye out of the Book of the Lord, and read,\n     &c._\n\nOn the supposition that a Divine revelation is given to man, its most\nconvenient method will be that of a permanent written record, thus\navailable for the use of successive generations. Disparagement of a\nbook revelation proceeds from misconception of its nature and ends.\nOut of its existence flows the universal right to its perusal, unless\nit is restricted in terms. Not only the right, but the duty. By\npersonal study every one should know it (John v. 39). Our Lord\nappealed to the conscience of the people, combined with their\nknowledge of the Word of God.\n\nThe duty is here urged in reference to the prediction of the downfall\nof Idumea. It was to become a desolation. Those into whose hands the\nprophecy falls are to search and read in the Book of the Lord, and\ncompare the event. Nothing shall fail. Everything said shall find its\nmate, its corresponding fact; for God's Spirit is the Author of the\nprediction. Idumea to-day is its confirmation.\n\nWe use the text in order to urge the study of Scripture as a\nChristian duty--\n\nI. BECAUSE THE BOOK IS DIVINE.\n\n2 Tim. iii. 16; 2 Pet. i. 21. It is the Book of the Lord. The Bible\nis a collection of the records of Divine revelations made at various\ntimes, but bearing on its great design. The inducement to read a book\noften depends on the author. We believe him to be endowed with\nliterary skill, or an authority on the subject of the book. And if\nGod is, in some way, through the various writers, the Author of the\nBook, the authorship is an important reason for reading it (H. E. I.\n522, 523). Consider who and what He is, and the solemn relations in\nwhich He stands to us (H. E. I. 561). Its subjects will be worthy of\nHim and important to us. It will be authoritative. From the\nuncertainties of human thought we find in the Lord's Book a safe\nresting-place.\n\nII. BECAUSE THE BOOK IS INTERESTING.\n\nIn its form, apart from its subject-matter. Some form it must have.\nIt might have been in the form of didactic statement only, without\nillustrative facts or poetic beauties. It would not have been read\nwith interest. Or it might have been in the catechetical form.\nHowever useful this method in fastening definite notions in carefully\nchosen words, it would have failed to be a book to which men and\nwomen would return with delight as they return to the Bible after the\nperiod of youth has passed away. It is made interesting by the varied\nforms in which truth is communicated. It is poetic, historical,\nbiographical. Its teaching is usually so connected with events and\npersons as to present points of interest always fresh. The man finds\na solution of the profoundest problems of time and eternity. The\nchild finds in its narratives of persons and events a charm that\nnever fails. To its interesting form is owing, in a large degree, its\nhold on those who read it from day to day (H. E. I. 607-609, 3860).\n\nIII. BECAUSE THE BOOK IS INSTRUCTIVE.\n\nIt contains a large amount of information, not only with regard to\nthe Jewish nation, but also other nations of the ancient world. But\nthis is not its main design. It is subordinate to the revelation of\nman as a sinner and of God as a Saviour. God's character, man's\nrelation to Him, human duty, the future state, are all instructively\ntreated; but they all find their place in relation to God's great\nplan for man's recovery, through the mediation of Christ, from misery\nand sin. And is not this the most important of all instruction? What\nwould all history be, all science, all philosophy, if no voice from\nHeaven was heard respecting the most vital of all questions? Do you\ndesire instruction respecting salvation? Search and read in the Book\nof the Lord.\n\nIV. BECAUSE THE BOOK IS DIRECTIVE.\n\nIs not the course of human life like that of a vessel exposed to the\nwinds that may drive her leagues out of her proper course? Does not\nman need careful guidance? Conscience is the captain, but conscience\nuntaught and unguided will manage the ship uncertainly and\nerroneously (H. E. I. 1299-1307). The Book of the Lord is the\ndirectory for the conscience. No position demanding moral action can\never occur in which adherence to its direction will not issue safely.\nHow pure its principles! How righteous its commands! How wise its\ndirections! They touch our life at every point.\n\nV. BECAUSE THE BOOK IS CONSOLATORY.\n\nSorrows are incident to human life. There are present troubles. Some\nare heart-breaking. We need help and comfort. The world does not\ncontain it. Here is the balm that can heal every wound.\n\nAnd there is the future. The prospect of death and eternity. Without\nthe Book of the Lord men are uncertain and hopeless. It sheds clear\nlight on both. How many in the prospect, are delivered from fear and\nfilled with hope! What comfort it affords under the bereaving stroke!\n\nFor all these reasons \"seek ye out the Book of the Lord.\" Bring every\nquestion to it. Read it daily, thoughtfully, for yourself, for\nothers. In your youth. In your active manhood. In your old age.--_J.\nRawlinson._\n\n\n\nTHE BOOK THAT WILL ENDURE TESTING.\n\n     xxxiv. 16. _Seek ye out of the Book of the Lord, and read,\n     &c._\n\nWe may be sure that God would not give a revelation without affixing\nHis seal to it; otherwise it would be useless, there being no\nevidence of its Divine origin. Supposing a revelation given, what\nwould constitute a satisfactory proof of its Divinity? Evidently it\nmust be some sign not capable of being counterfeited, some\nunmistakable indication that GOD has spoken to us. This might be\ngiven by some exertion of Divine power or some manifestation of\nDivine knowledge. As such, miracles and prophecy would furnish\nindubitable proof that a revelation was from God, and those which\nattest the Bible are its proper seals. Along with the internal\nevidence and the argument drawn from the success of the Gospel, they\nare so many buttresses supporting the edifice of revealed truth; but\neach is a distinct and sufficient support by itself. The Scriptures\nthemselves appeal to the evidence of fulfilled prophecy in support of\ntheir reception as the Word of God, and one of the most pointed of\nthese appeals is that before us. In this chapter Isaiah predicts the\ndesolations that were to come on the chief city of Edom. Placing\nhimself forward in time amid the scenes he predicts, he challenges\nany one to compare the predictions in the Book of the Lord with the\nactual condition of the city; he is confident that \"the Book\" will\nbear that test, and will come out of it triumphantly.\n\n+I. Read the prophecy before us in the light of its fulfilment.+ The\napologetic value of prophecy has often been discredited. Attempts\nhave been made to explain it on natural grounds, as a sagacious\nforecast, a shrewd prognostication. But what natural sagacity could\nhave foreseen that Edom, so powerful and prosperous in Isaiah's time,\nwould become a desolate waste? It has been well remarked that\nprophecy possesses as a proof of Divine revelation some advantages\nthat are peculiar. Its fulfilment may fall under our own observation,\nor may be conveyed to us by living witnesses. The evidence from\nmiracles can never be stronger than it was at first; but that of\nprophecy is increasing, and will go on increasing until the whole\nscheme of perdition is fulfilled. It is the accomplishment, and not\nthe mere publication of a prophecy, which supplies a proof of the\nDivine origin of the Bible; and this evidence is constantly\naccumulating. The prophets themselves did not understand some of\ntheir oracles (1 Pet. i. 11, 12). They were like documents written in\ncolourless ink, to which some chemical preparation must be applied to\nmake their characters legible. Their meaning could be seen only in\ntheir fulfilment. But all the prophetic writings are not thus\nobscure; many are clear and definite; more like the details of a\nhistorical narrative than the visions of prophecy. Nothing can be\nplainer than the description here given of the state to which Edom\nwould be reduced. The wards of this lock are too intricate to be\nopened by any key which we choose to apply to it; but the fitting key\nhas been found. \"The whole,\" says Alexander, \"is a magnificent\nprophetic picture, the fidelity of which, is notoriously attested by\nits desolation for a course of ages.\" The chief city in the region of\nMount Seir was Selah or Petra, the Rock City. It was long unknown\ntill it was discovered by Robinson, and since then it has been\nvisited by successive travellers. It lay embedded among the hills. So\nnestled was it in its rocks \"that it could only be approached by two\nnarrow defiles. Dwellings cut out of the solid stone line the face of\nthe cliffs, and the central space indicates that a large city once\nstood upon it.\" Malachi speaks of its utter desolation (Mal. i. 2,\n3), but afterwards it recovered for a time. Its condition for\ncenturies as described by unbiassed witnesses is a standing evidence\nof the truth of the prophetic Word.\n\n+II. We may test \"the Book\" in other fields.+ As a tourist verifies\nhis guide-book and finds it trustworthy at every step, so in many\nregions do we find the prophetic Word made sure (2 Pet. i. 19-21).\nBabylon, Tyre, and the fortunes of the Jewish people, all bear\nwitness to the truth of the prophecies. But especially in the career\nof our Lord and Saviour do we meet with remarkable fulfilments of\nScripture. What could be more minute than some of the prophecies\nconcerning Him? His miracles, His submission to unmerited suffering,\nHis riding upon an ass, His being pierced, His being sold for thirty\npieces of silver which should be applied for the purchase of the\nPotter's Field, the lots cast on His vesture, and the vinegar given\nHim to drink, were all the subject of definite prediction.\n\n+III. The Bible will bear testing in its declarations concerning\nhuman nature.+ No book so unveils us to ourselves. We feel its truth\nin what it says about our noble origin, our lamentable fall, our\nsinfulness, and the strife within us between the flesh and the\nspirit. Because it tells us all that ever we did, we feel that it\nmust be Divine.\n\n+IV. From all this two sound and important conclusions\nfollow+:--1. _We may put equal confidence in its declarations\nconcerning God._ Nothing but Divine knowledge and insight can so\ndisclose the future and the hidden; and if we have found the Bible\nreliable when it tells us of earthly things, may we not believe it\nwhen it tells us of heavenly things? 2. _We may be sure that its\nprophecies concerning the future of Christ's kingdom and the destiny\nof the human race will in like manner be fulfilled to the letter_\n(Ps. lxxii. 11, 17; Rom. viii. 19-23). So many of the prophecies of\nGod's Word have already been accomplished, that we should feel\nconfident that those not yet fulfilled are surely marching on to\ntheir fulfilment. The prospects of success in the mission field are\nbrighter in our day than ever they were. The Church is taking an\ninterest in the enterprise quite unknown to former generations, and\nopenings have been made into lands before closed alike against\ncommerce and Christianity. But even if our hopes of success were less\ncheering, we would not despair. With so many Bible predictions behind\nus in the past now become history, we cannot but be encouraged to\nlook for the fulfilment of those glowing prophecies concerning the\nfuture coming of the Redeemer's kingdom which stand on the inspired\npage. Let us never lose sight of those grand predictions; let us\ncherish a hopeful and expectant spirit, and in the confidence of\nsuccess descend to the spiritual harvest of the world (H. E. I.\n1166-1168).--_William Guthrie, M.A._\n\n\n\nTHE CERTAINTY OF GOD'S JUDGMENTS.\n\n     xxxiv. 16, 17. _Seek ye out of the Book of the Lord,\n     &c._\n\nThe text occurs midway between a series of predicted judgments\npronounced on Edom as the representative of the wicked world, and\nanother series of blessings foretold concerning the Church of God,\nbut it is evidently retrospective.\n\nWhile a minute verification of these predictions of vengeance might\nform a solid, convicting argument for the validity of trust in the\nBible as the rule of faith and practice, there is another and more\ngeneral way of regarding the text. Search into a certain book is\nenjoined because it is the Book of JEHOVAH.\n\nHuman faith finds its ultimate basis in God Himself. The certainty of\nthe Divine judgments may therefore be inferred from--\n\nI. THE NATURE OF THE DIVINE BEING.\n\nIf the Bible be not merely a revelation _from_ God, but a revelation\n_of_ God, too much attention cannot be paid to those aspects of the\nDivine nature afforded by it which man may apprehend although he\ncannot comprehend them. \"Canst thou by searching find out God?\" &c.\nNo; but enough may be learned of God to make us sure that it is\nmadness to disobey Him or trifle with His commands. 1. _The\nlong-hidden Name of God._ Proper names were made very expressive\namong the Jews. The name JEHOVAH was sacred above all others; they\ntreated it with a superstitious reverence, not daring to pronounce\nit, &c. Doubtless they referred with awe to the time and\ncircumstances of the communication to Moses (Exod. vi. 1, 2). And so\nmay we in thinking of the Divine judgments. JEHOVAH, it is said,\n\"remembered His covenant,\" and was about to redeem the Israelites\nfrom their bondage in Egypt \"with a stretched out arm, and with great\njudgments\" (Exod. vi. 1-8). JEHOVAH: what does the Name mean?\n_Being_--unconditioned, absolute, immutable, eternal Being. If, then,\nGod changes not, but is JEHOVAH, to sin against Him is inevitably to\ncall down judgment; for JEHOVAH'S will must be done on earth as it is\nin heaven. 2. _Some of the attributes by the use of which we try to\ncompass the Divine nature._ (1.) _God is just._ But sin, in all its\nforms, is a crying injustice, and affronts God so that the Divine\nmajesty must assert itself in punishment. (2.) _God is good._ But\nsin, as selfishness, is radically opposed to goodness in God, who has\nmight, as well as right, on His side, and, therefore, pursues\nselfishness to its last resort. (3.) _God is holy._ Separateness from\nall sin distinguishes Him in the midst of His _relations_ to man.\nHow, then, can sinners go unpunished? (H. E. I. 2281, 2282,\n4478-4479, 4603-4610).\n\nII. THE CHARACTER OF DIVINE LAW.\n\nLaw is a transcript of the Divine nature; the Divine _character_ or\nhandwriting making Him known to us; the far-reaching _hand_ of the\nEternal. God reveals Himself in its _sanctions, reward,_ and\n_punishment._ To obey is to reap reward; to disobey is to be laid\nhold of _instantly_ by the outraged majesty of law. There is no human\nway of escape. Visible judgment may be deferred, but the Divine law\nis cognisant of all transgression. In the matter of the first sin,\nthe formerly existing _potentiality_ of punishment became an\n_actuality._ The character of the Divine law may be seen--1. _In the\nphysical world._ The designer of a ship or bridge diverges from\nmathematical truth only to produce disaster. 2. _In Providence._\n3. _In the Word of God._\n\nAPPLICATION.--_If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the\nungodly and the sinner appear?_ 1. The Divine judgments cannot be\nevaded. \"God is love;\" but what love! God is \"a consuming fire;\" not\nsentimentally weak; not given to winking at transgression. 2. God's\n_grace_ magnifies His name and law. He condemned Christ as the\n_Sin-Bearer_ to _death._ Thank God! the sinner may be pardoned, but\nthe impenitent are surely handed over to punishment.--_J. Macrae\nSimcock._\n\n\n\nTRANSFORMATION.\n\n     xxxv. 1, 2, 7. _The wilderness and the solitary place, &c._\n\nChapters xxxiv., xxxv., form one prediction, first announcing the\ndoom of Edom, and then taking us into a new sphere where all is\nlight, beauty, and gladness; a prediction which had a fulfilment in\nthe return of the Jews from the captivity of Babylon to Jerusalem,\nwhich they set above their chiefest joy. But the prophecy is one of\nthose in which the so-called secondary meaning is, in truth, the\nprimary; the spiritual takes precedence to the natural, and the\nfulfilment is to be looked for, not in a remnant of Israel returning\nto the land of their fathers, but in these grand Gospel times, in\nwhich humanity, cursed and bloated by sin, is blessed, saved, and\ndignified by the influences that stream from the Cross of Calvary.\n\n+I. The end condition of the localities on which the Gospel is\nintended to operate.+\n\nHow suggestive the descriptive symbols: a \"wilderness,\" a \"solitary\nplace,\" \"parched ground,\" a \"habitation of dragons.\" The desolation\nturns mainly on the absence of water. No other similes could so\nvividly depict moral barrenness and death. The unregenerate heart is\ndesolate, weary, solitary. Moreover, it is \"a habitation of dragons,\"\na foul serpent-brood of uncontrolled passions.\n\nThis true of the world as well as of the individual. Think of the\ngreat unreclaimed wastes of heathendom. Can civilisation renew them?\nIt has been tried and found wanting.[1] Only the Water of Life,\ngushing from the smitten Rock, can give moral life.\n\n+II. The effects produced by the kingdom of Jesus.+[2]\n\nEven we can appreciate the value of water and the beauty of its\neffects. But to Orientals water is a matter of life and death. Hence\nas an emblem it is employed to bring before the mind the blessed and\njoy-giving results of the kingdom of Christ. Note these results as\nthey are brought before us in our text. 1. _Gladness._ \"The\nwilderness and the solitary place,\" &c. Music of Nature after copious\nrains following on scorching heat. This an emblem of the joy brought\nto human hearts by the Gospel. The wilderness state one of sorrow;\nthe river of the water of life running through the heart makes it\nglad. This is seen in cases where sin and terror are cast out of the\nheart by the love of God. How this result has been manifested in\nmodern times in nations converted from idolatry to Christianity\n(H. E. I. 1134). 2. _Fertility._ \"It shall blossom,\" &c. The desert\nis barren. The Gospel changes moral wilderness into fruitful gardens;\nthe individual, the nation. 3. _Beauty._ Think first of a part of the\nearth's surface parched, desert, and barren, and then of it as a\ngarden covered with the fairest flowers. The first and most striking\nimpression made upon the mind by such a transformation would not be\nso much that of fertility as of surpassing beauty. So with this moral\ntransformation. Contrast the state of a country before with its\ncondition after having received the Gospel (H. E. I. 1126, 1127).\nLook at the annals of missionary effort: Madagascar, Samoa, the Fiji\nIslands, &c. The same change occurs in individual character.\n4. _Glory and majesty._ \"The glory of Lebanon,\" &c. Symbols of all\nthat is glorious and majestic. To live by the power of Jesus the\nsecret of a noble life. Alliance with heaven raises men to regal\ndignity. The Gospel elevates the character and dignifies the pursuits\nof men. Our lower pursuits are ennobled by a Christian aim, whilst\nthe higher life has the very glory of God resting on it. 5. A vision\nthat extends into the Holy of Holies. \"They shall see the glory of\nJehovah,\" &c. Only in Christ can we see this. He is the glory of God.\nThe Shekinah is seen above the blood-besprinkled mercy-seat.--_John\nKey in the Modern Scottish Pulpit,_ vol. i. pp. 133-143.\n\n\nThis chapter is an anticipation of the great prophecy of the\nrestoration (xl.-lxvi.) The firm confidence in God, the boundless\nhopefulness, the glowing visions of the future, the vigour and\njoyousness that spread so broad a splendour over that famous\nScripture are here in a brief compendium. It has been assigned to the\nstate of Judah under Hezekiah, to the return from the exile, to the\nChristian dispensation, to a future condition of Palestine, to some\nfuture state of the Church or of the world, as well as to some other\noccasions. Two plain facts are before us--1. At no period of Jewish\nhistory was there any approach to a perfect realisation of the\nmagnificent promises of this and allied predictions. 2. God has\nalready given to us so substantial a foretaste of the blessings here\npromised, that we may rest assured that the one satisfying fulfilment\nof the prophecy will be in the triumph of the kingdom of heaven\nthrough the power of the Gospel of Christ.\n\nLet us look at the picture in the light of its glowing fulfilment.\n\nI. THE OLD SCENE OF THE GARDEN.\n\nWe are not independent of things around us. Christianity has a\ntransforming influence over our earthly surroundings. It is the most\nbeneficent factor in material civilisation, the truest patron of art,\nscience, literature, commerce (H. E. I., 1124-1131, 1134). But behind\nthis lies a deeper truth. By transforming our hearts the Gospel\nchanges all things to us. This transforming influence is shown in\nvarious relations. 1. The _wilderness_ of old bad things is cleared,\nand gives place to new and better things. The axe must come before\nthe plough. 2. _The solitary place and the desert._ It is not all\nweeds and bushes. The task of fertilising the desert with irrigation\nnot less difficult than that of clearing the wilderness. (1.) So\nthere are souls that seem to have lost all soil for spiritual life.\n(2.) Then there are deserts of ruin, the remains of old withered\nhopes and joys and loves.\n\nII. THE NEW CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GARDEN.\n\n1. _Life._ This is the first and most important thing. Christ, the\none Saviour of society, was the greatest of iconoclasts. But He was\nalso the greatest founder, originator, constructor. He sows seed,\ngives increase, brings life. 2. _Beauty._ The desert blossoms as the\nrose. The garden is not to be solely utilitarian. The Church is the\nbride of Christ, and as such she is to be adorned with every grace.\n3. _Gladness._ Life and beauty bring joy. The Church not a\nprison-house of melancholy devotion. 4. _Varied accessories._ The\ngarden will not only produce its own seedlings, but plants from all\nquarters are to be carried into it. Lebanon gives her cedars; Sharon\nher far-famed rose. Christians are heirs of all things. \"All things\nare yours.\"\n\nIn conclusion, observe two important points:--1. _This wonderful\ntransformation will be brought about by the power of God_ (ver. 4).\nWe have tried long enough to reform the world by merely human agency.\nThe Hebrew prophets promised Divine help. Christ fulfils that\npromise. He comes with life-giving power. See Him in faith and\nobedience. 2. _All this is a picture of the future._ Christ has done\nmuch for the weary world. But the old promises are as yet fulfilled\nin but a small part. The Hebrews set the golden age not in the past,\nbut in the future. We too must assume their attitude of faith, and\nhope, and patience (H. E. I. 3421). Are we ready to cry, \"Why tarry\nthe wheels of His chariot?\" Let us remember that God has all eternity\nto work with. Meanwhile, let us do what we can to convert our little\ncorner of the vast wilderness into some beginning of the garden of\nthe Lord.--_W. F. Adeny, M.A.: Clerical World,_ i. 231.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] The civilisation of Greece and Rome did not affect anything\n     in the way for changing spiritual death into spiritual\n     life. The utmost which it succeeded in effecting was to\n     cover the frightful corruption of death with a more\n     beautiful funeral pall--to hide the naked hideousness of\n     sin behind a veil spangled with silver, and gold, and\n     precious stones. But death was there none the less, and sin\n     of such a kind that the foulest impurities of the most\n     degraded heathen could not exceed the impurities of Athens\n     and of Rome. The old lesson is being taught us, if we would\n     but learn it, in our own day. It is not civilisation that\n     can change the moral desolation of France, of Spain, of\n     Austria. It is not civilisation, as understood by men of\n     science and doctrinaire philosophers, that can change the\n     moral wilderness existing in our large cities, and in much\n     of our rural population. It will only do what it did in\n     Greece; it will merely cover the ghastliness of death with\n     a more decent covering.--_Kay._\n\n [2] See outlines on pp. 364, 365 (THE MORAL WILDERNESS\n     TRANSFORMED and PEACE THE WORK OF RIGHTEOUSNESS).\n\n\n\nENCOURAGEMENT FOR THE TIMID.\n\n     xxxv. 3, 4. _Strengthen ye the weak hands, &c._\n\nThe Christian ministry addresses itself to men of various character\nin various states. It must be adapted to all. Sometimes warning and\ndenunciation, sometimes tenderness, but always love. The text is\naddressed to the officers and leading men of Jerusalem in a time of\ngeneral alarm. The prophet declares that the power of the enemy shall\nbe broken, and that instead of desolation there shall be gladness.\nThe timid and weak were to be encouraged. God's strength is made\nperfect in man's weakness.\n\nI. THE PERSONS TO WHOM THIS ENCOURAGING MESSAGE IS ADDRESSED.\n\n\"The weak hands,\"--\"the feeble knees,\"--\"them that are of a fearful\nheart.\" Timidity has paralysed them. After a desolating war the\nnation might thus lose heart. A timid woman who sees insuperable\ndifficulty always in the way. A man in a storm at sea lies lamenting\nthat he ventured on the waters. Some characters shrink from every\ntouch. They are well-intentioned, but their faint hearts bar every\neffort; and they pass through life purposing and projecting, but\nnever accomplishing anything (H. E. I. 2053, 2054).\n\nThis timid and feeble disposition may be manifested in spiritual as\nwell as in other things. For instance--1. _In relation to Christian\nexperience._ It is the privilege of believers in Christ to know their\nsalvation. But many fail to attain it. They do not doubt His\nsufficiency, but their own interest in it. They fear their sins are\nnot forgiven, their spiritual experience not genuine. Sometimes this\nis the result of a tendency to view every subject in its darker\naspects. Sometimes it is the result of disease. Sometimes of\nunwatchfulness, negligence, and sin. Sometimes of defective\nconceptions of the Gospel. Sometimes of a microscopic self-scrutiny\nwhich exposes failings and defects with severe faithfulness. The\nvictim of such fears is like one who wishes to reach the city but is\nnever sure that he is in the right way. 2. _In relation to Christian\nenterprise._ Christians are not converted merely for their own\nsafety. There is a work to do. Sinful habits, dispositions, tempers\nto be overcome. The dark mass of humanity to be brightened. The\nGospel is to be carried to the destitute. This work requires the\ngifts and opportunities in the hands of Christians. But the weak and\nfaint-hearted tremble at every undertaking. To them the missionary\nenterprise is a hopeless expenditure of money and life. The time for\nuseful labour in the Church never arrives. If it is commenced, it is\nabandoned when difficulties present themselves. These weak brethren\ndo nothing themselves and repress the plans and efforts of bolder and\nmore enterprising Christians (H. E. I. 2057, 2058). Among your fears\nlet there be the fear lest by your fears you should hinder the cause\nof Christ!\n\nII. ITS NATURE AND IMPORT.\n\nIt is intended to strengthen and confirm the feeble. God's messengers\nare to speak words by which faith and courage be reanimated. They\ncontain--\n\n1. _An assurance of deliverance._ The deliverance of the Jewish\npeople included the punishment of their enemies. God saves in a way\nsuitable to each case. If your own resources are inadequate, the\nDivine resources are equal to the emergency. He will save you from\nyour spiritual fears. Has He not sent His Son? Has not Jesus died and\nrisen again? Does He not intercede? Does not His Spirit work? His\nwillingness to save is equal to His ability. What wondrous love to\nman in the work of redemption! Do you fear that you will be\neventually rejected, or that you will fail in the service to which He\ncalls you? (John vi. 37; Matt. xxviii. 20). The message is addressed\nto your faith. It reminds you of God's power and grace in Christ. It\ncasts you on the all-sufficiency of God.\n\n2. _A rebuke of fear._ \"Fear not.\" Hope is the opposite of fear and\nthe accompaniment of courage. The fear of the unaccustomed sailor is\ndissipated when the captain announces that the storm is passing away.\nThe little child alone in a dark room is afraid, although she knows\nnot why. But the mother comes and says there is nothing to fear;\nthere is no fear where she is. So let God's presence and promise\ndrive away all fear respecting our spiritual condition and our\nChristian work (P. D. 1248, 1257, 1258).\n\n3. _An incitement to labour._ \"Be strong.\" When God's work calls, we\nmust neither yield to fear nor indolence. The father leads his child\nto the post of duty where his life-work must be done. He sees\nsomething of the complicated work of the manufactory, and fears that\nhe will never be equal to it. His father says, \"Be a man; face your\nwork, and strength for it will come.\" So God says, \"Be strong.\" Here\nis work in the Church and the world. You are weak. Use the strength\nHe gives. It will grow by use. \"Be strong in the grace that is in\nChrist Jesus\" (1 Tim. ii. 1). \"Strong in the Lord, and in the power\nof His might\" (Eph vi. 10).\n\nThus God sends the message of encouragement. Weak hands are\nstrengthened. Feeble knees are confirmed. Fearful hearts are rendered\ncourageous. And His encouragement is necessary to comfort in the\nChristian life, performance of duty, endurance of suffering and\nreproach. And it helps to recommend the Gospel.--_J. Rawlinson._\n\n\nPresumption and fear are the Scylla and Charybdis of the Christian\nlife, and it requires Divine guidance, together with all our own\nwatchfulness, to steer safely between them. On the one hand, many are\ninclined to indulge in vain confidence, and take to themselves the\nChristian name and hope when not entitled to them; and on the other,\nmany are fearful and disposed to shrink back from duties and\nprivileges which really belong to them. It demands much wisdom on the\npart of a pastor so to speak as not to encourage false hopes, nor\ndiscourage weak and timid piety, especially in reference to a public\nprofession of religion. My object is, to suit the case of those who\nare well entitled to hope for the Divine mercy through Christ Jesus,\nbut are disquieting themselves, or are disquieted by the enemy, with\nneedless fears. In meeting their wants I will state, and reply to,\nthe reasoning by which I know that many disturb their own peace.\n\n1. \"I cannot indulge the hope that I am a Christian, _because I have\nnever passed through the same religious exercises and experience that\nothers profess to have felt and enjoyed._\" It is not necessary to\ndwell at large upon this difficulty. God has brought many sons to\nglory, but no two of them have been led thither in precisely the same\nway, or have been exercised with precisely the same feelings. If, in\nthe main, our experiences correspond with the Word of God in the\ngreat points of faith and love, it need not disquiet us though we\nnever heard of another case exactly like our own (H. E. I. 1410-1429).\n\n2. _\"If I were truly a child of God, sin would not prevail against me\nas I find it does.\"_ Answer:--Sin is never perfectly subdued in our\nhearts as long as we remain upon earth. Some boast of having attained\nto sinless perfection, but they seem to be labouring under a sort of\nhallucination, like that of one in an insane asylum, amid his straw\nand rags, who fancies himself a king, when he is indeed but a poor\npitiable object. \"The righteous falleth seven times a day,\" &c. Read\nSt. Paul's experience in the last part of the 7th of Romans and be\nencouraged thereby (H. E. I. 329, 1057, 2313, 2861, 4571-4573).\n\n3. \"I find that sin not only prevails against me, _but I seem to be\nworse than when I first strove against it; my heart appears to grow\nmore wicked, my corruptions stronger, and my strength to resist to be\nless._\" Answer:--To _perceive_ more of our sin than usual does not\nalways prove that we are more sinful, but often the reverse, just as\nwhen one cleanses a room, though the air is filled with dust floating\nin the sunbeams, there is no more of it actually than before, and\nthere will soon be less of it as the operation goes on. We do not\nknow the strength of our evil passions until we begin to oppose them.\nIt is also undoubtedly true that when one is making a special effort\nto lead a Christian life, that then he is especially tempted and\nhindered, and that the motions of sin are then more violent. And\nfurther than this, when any are endeavouring to break away from the\ndominion of Satan, then he assails them with his most powerful\ntemptations (H. E. I. 1060-1062, 1066-1068, 2524, 2525).\n\n4. Another class of disquieted ones affirm that they cannot hope they\nare true Christians, _because they seem to love everything else more\nthan God._ But in estimating our love to God compared with our love\nto earthly things, we are not to conclude that we love that most\nwhich most excites our affections. It has been well remarked \"that a\nman may be more moved when he sees a friend that has long been\nabsent, and seem to regard him more for the moment than he does his\nown wife and children, and yet none would think that the friend was\nloved the most;\" so neither must we conclude because when we are\nabroad in the world we find our affections vehemently stirred towards\nits various objects, that therefore they are supreme in our hearts.\nWe should judge of our comparative affection by asking ourselves\nsoberly which of the two objects we should prefer to part with\n(H. E. I. 3365, 3366, 4188, 4189).\n\n5. _\"A person may in appearance be like a Christian, and yet be\nreally destitute of any true piety.\"_ Answer:--Fear is usually the\nbest remedy against the thing feared, and none are farther from the\ndanger of making a false profession than those who are most afraid of\nit (H. E. I. 339, 2050-2053).\n\n6. Some again have fears that they are not true Christians, _because\nthey come so far short of the attainments of some eminent Christians\nof their acquaintance._ We reply that the worst part of the character\nof those exalted saints may not be known to us, or they may not have\nour hindrances, or they may have been long in growing up to that\nstate, while we are only, as it were, babes in Christ (H. E. I.\n2508-2526).\n\n7. Another class say _that they cannot think any real Christian ever\nwas so tempted and distressed with evil thoughts as they are._ We\nreply, Job was tempted to curse God, and Christ Himself to worship\nSatan. We may have very wicked thoughts entering our minds, but if we\nstrive against them and they are painful to us, they are no evidence\nagainst us. Christ had thoughts as vile as these suggested to Him,\nbut He remained sinless (H. E. I. 4767-4779).\n\n8. Another class say _that they have doctrinal difficulties, that\ncertain things in the Bible do not appear clear to them,_ and they\nfear to make any public confession of Christ till these things are\nmade plain. We reply that the best way to solve doctrinal\ndifficulties is to engage in practical duties. Any one perplexed upon\npoints of doctrine should read but little on those points, but engage\nearnestly in all acts of obedience which the Bible enjoins, praying\nfervently and humbly to be guided into all truth. One day's labour in\nthe field of charity, or one step onward in the path of known duty,\nwill bring more light into the soul upon disputed points than weeks\nof speculation and controversy (H. E. I. 590-596, 1797). It would be\nendless to recount all the ways in which doubts and fears assail us.\nTheir name is legion, and our prayer should be that Christ would\ncommand them to come out of the man who is troubled with them, and to\nenter no more into him.--_W. H. Lewis, D.D.: Plain Sermons for the\nChristian Year._\n\n\n\nTHE HEALER AND JOY-GIVER.\n\n     xxxv. 5, 6. _Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,\n     &c._\n\nThis beautiful prophecy is not exhausted by the first fulfilment of\nthe promise which immediately precedes. However great the political\ndeliverance, it did not include the literal giving of sight to the\nblind or hearing to the deaf. Nor is it only poetic imagery. It\npoints to something in the time of the Messiah, to whose\nmanifestation the scheme of Old Testament history and prophecy is\nsubordinate. We find in this text--\n\nI. THE BLESSINGS CHRIST IMPARTS.\n\n1. We find in the life of Christ a literal fulfilment of the text,\nwhich compels us to regard it as fulfilled in Him (Matt. xx. 30-34;\nMark vii. 32-35; John v. 5-9, &c.) Now these are historical facts.\nUseless to say they are miracles, therefore incredible, because a\nmiracle is impossible. Who taught you that a miracle is impossible?\nYou are assuming what you are bound to prove. The testimony of the\nwriters of this history is worth as much as that of any other\nhistorical writers (H. E. I. 3527-3529). Many things have occurred in\nthe world the like of which we have never seen. Moreover, the power\nof God must be taken into account in deciding whether a thing is\npossible or not. Is it not astounding presumption for a man to\nmeasure Divine power by his own; to say, because neither himself nor\nany other man at present can work a miracle, therefore God cannot and\nnever has? After all the argument, the fact remains. 2. We find that\nthe coming of Christ is identified with improvements in the general\ncharacter and condition of mankind, such as may be shadowed forth in\nthese physical blessings. Where Christianity comes, the intellectual,\nmoral, and material standard rises. Savage peoples become civilised;\ncivilised nations reach a higher plane. The influence of personal\nChristianity commonly improves the social position of the individual.\n3. But beyond this we find that the coming of Christ is identified\nwith the bestowment of spiritual blessings and the effectuation of\nspiritual changes as remarkable as the miracles it wrought in the\nphysical region. The spiritual disease of sin, analogous to the\nphysical diseases it has caused, is cured by the Gospel. Take a case.\nOne thoroughly imbued with hatred to Christ. Not content with simple\nindifference to Him, or rejection of His claims, he throws all the\nenergy of an unusually energetic nature into the active measures that\nwere adopted for the suppression of His cause. But the saving power\nof Christ finds him in a way unexpected and unusual. He surrenders on\nthe spot, and finds himself under the command of Christ to do\nwhatsoever He wills. He becomes a missionary of the cross. He is sent\nto the Gentiles \"to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to\nlight, and from the power of Satan unto God.\" And this case is a type\nof multitudes whose spiritual diseases have been healed, some of them\nthe most virulent and malignant. It is a work within their souls,\nwhich the power of God alone can effect. It is a change of the\nheart's deepest principles and affections under the influence of\nspiritual considerations only. It is a moral revolution. The blind\neyes are opened to the glory of Christ's truth. The deaf ear listens\nto His voice. The dumb tongue is eloquent of His salvation, and sings\nHis praise. And the lame man gladly walks in the way of His\ncommandments.\n\nII. THE JOY HE CREATES.\n\nGladness runs through the text. Leaping and singing are expressions\nof joy. The blessings of salvation find the soul in the condition of\na traveller in the sandy desert, weary, footsore, lame, and silent,\nwho unexpectedly finds a springing well, and begins to talk, and\nsing, and leap for joy. Joy arises in the heart--1. _From the supply\nof a conscious need._ Imagine the joy of those whom Christ healed,\nwhen the blind saw the light and became interested in the objects\naround him, when the deaf heard the sound of the human voice, when\nthe dumb was able to make himself understood, when the lame recovered\nthe use of his limbs. What joy was brought into many a home! And when\nHe comes to the heart with His forgiving, cleansing, healing love,\nwhat gladness He brings! It is the beginning of days. It is the\nenjoyment of life. Christians have sources of happiness of which the\nworld knows nothing. \"Ye rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of\nglory\" (H. E. I. 3041). 2. _From the manifestation of a compassionate\nSaviour._ His healing miracles illustrate His character. Beneficence,\ntender sympathy with human suffering, love to man marked His steps.\nIt brought Him down from heaven. It nailed Him to the cross. And He\nis still the same. He is personally interested in His people\n(H. E. I. 952-957). He is the object of Divine love, and therefore\njoy. 3. _From the satisfaction of settled faith._ Faith connects the\nsoul with Him. But it is often assailed. It needs support even where\nit exists. The disciples sometimes wavered, then some new\nconfirmation was afforded. John the Baptist in prison doubted,\ntherefore received the message (Matt. xi. 4-6). Jesus uses His\nmiracles in evidence. Nor must we surrender their evidential power.\nAnd there is the confirmatory evidence of expression. This is always\nfresh.\n\n1. This subject calls for grateful love. Give evidence of your cure\nby getting the spirit of Christ's compassionate love, and by using\nHis instruments for the cure of others. 2. You too are still in the\npower of the disease; come to Him for healing.--_J. Rawlinson._\n\n\n\nTHE CURSE DONE AWAY.\n\n     xxxv. 5, 6. _The eyes of the blind shall be opened, &c._\n\nThe years of fulfilment linger, and faith is weak and faint. The\npicture of hopeless helplessness is painted in the context (vers. 3,\n4). If we fail, God's promise cannot (vers. 1, 2). The transformation\nof the desert, the planting of Eden there, and the coming of God with\nvengeance and recompense are one. They signify one vast display of\ngracious power. It is no abstract salvation that we wait and hope\nfor, but a Saviour. The text describes the blessings of Messiah's\nkingdom.\n\n+I. \"Is not this poetry?\"+ Yes, but is poetry the opposite of truth?\nHave not prophets ever been poets? Is not poetry the sweetest or\nstrongest or sublimest expression of man's noblest conceptions of\ntruth? This poem of Isaiah is an expression of God's realities. The\npoetry, the prophecy has its answering reality in history. The age of\nChrist spake back to it, and both speak on to us. Nothing shall be\nwanting to complete the scene. The glorious in nature shall but\ntypify the more glorious in man's body, mind, morals, and spiritual\nsatisfaction and joy.\n\n+II. Spiritual and physical evil are intimately connected.+ 1. They\nare cause and effect. The physical is the sign of the spiritual.\nSomething _radical_ was wrong before the wrong things could come. The\ndoctrine is philosophic as well as biblical. 2. It is not meant that\nany and every special personal affliction is the result of any given\nor particular personal transgression. A man is not blind because he\nor his parents are sinners, but _because of sin._ We are living in a\nviolated order.\n\n+III. The cessation of physical evil can only follow the cure of evil\nthat is spiritual.+ God's life, God's health, God's gladness must be\npoured into the dumb before his tongue can sing. The spirit of the\nblind must be thrilled with a heavenly vision before his eye can open\non the outer world. God must come and save before the cripple can\nbound as the deer. 1. Man's sin must be cured, then his sorrow. The\nmiracles of healing in the Gospels teach us this. We can never\noverlook the moral element in them. It was when Christ saw _faith_\nthat He said, \"Thy sins be forgiven thee\" (Matt. ix. 2). 2. Health\nand soundness could not be given to mankind by a mere miracle-power\napart from spiritual considerations. No mere almightiness could\neffect it. Pentecostal gifts, if repeated, would probably produce\nsimilar signs and wonders; still miracles can never be more than\nperiodic and intermittent. The progressive life of the Spirit of God\nmust achieve in the race what they in the individual only foretoken.\nPhysical healing must keep pace with moral. The body must protest\nagainst sin. 3. Any philanthropy springing from other hope lacks\ntruth and wisdom, and must fail. It proceeds upon a mistaken\nconception of human nature. It only deals with symptoms. All true\nphilanthropy must begin at the Cross. The Cross is the sign that God\nhas come for vengeance and for recompense.\n\nCONCLUSION.--_Learn counsel and courage._ 1. Counsel as to life's\nmysteries, burdens, sufferings, and sorrows. 2. Courage to endure\nthem, and strive with them in manful faith and hope. (1.) Broken\nhealth, pains, malformations, insanities, idiocies, and all bodily\nand mental degeneracies and anomalies are the dreadful issue of\nspiritual depravity and alienation from the life of God. (2.) Sin's\ndestined Victor is in the combat, and with His own shield and spear\nwill take the throne. The world in which He reigns will be a world\nwhere evil is not, but good is all in all.--_William Hubbard:\nChristian World Pulpit,_ xvi. 232.\n\n\n\nBEAUTIFUL VISIONS EXCHANGED FOR REALITIES.\n\n     xxxv. 7. _And the parched ground shall become a pool._\n\nRead for \"parched ground\" _mirage,_[1] and it suggests the inquiry,\nwhat would be the feelings of a wearied traveller if the mirage he\nwas vainly pursuing should suddenly become a pool? It would be new\nlife to him; if the vision became a reality, it would be enough. But\nit is not only the traveller in southern deserts beneath the burning\nsky that sees visions of beauty floating before his gaze. Countless\nthousands thirst for something better and nobler than they have. So\nit has been from the beginning; and 2500 years ago the prophet\ndeclared that in the days of the Messiah the soul's desires should be\nsatisfied, that that which had been only a vision should become a\nreality, the mirage should become a pool.\n\n+I. Past prediction has become actual fact:+ in Christ ideal visions\nhave become realities.\n\n1. In bygone days some nobler souls dreamed dreams of a perfect human\ncharacter. The \"Ph\u00e6do\" of Plato is an illustration of this. But the\ndream remained a dream until Jesus of Nazareth lived among men. In\nHim all excellences that were scattered were localised, focused,\ncentralised; and in Him we see of what nobleness our nature is\ncapable. 2. The yearning of some is for truth, pure truth, stripped\nof all human accretions and confusions. How earnestly search has been\nmade for it! In this search philosophy and theology have been\ntraversed and ransacked. But it is to be found only in Christ. He\nHimself declared, not vainly, \"I am the truth.\" In Him are \"hid all\nthe treasures of wisdom and knowledge.\" 3. In others, conscience is\nthe most active faculty. Sin is to them a burden and a torment. They\nyearn for peace of conscience. No suffering seems to them too great\nif this can be attained. But they never find it until they seek it in\nChrist. Coming to Him, they are filled with \"the peace of God, which\npasseth all understanding.\" The vision has become a reality; the\nreality goes beyond the vision. 4. There are others led on by visions\nof a strong virtue and a noble life. They struggle against their\npassions and the allurements of the world. But alas! how numerous and\nlamentable are their defects! They never learn the secret of victory\nuntil they come to Christ; but when they have done this, presently\nthey find that with truth they can say, \"I can do all things through\nChrist who strengtheneth me.\" 5. Happiness. Who has not had visions\nof it? Who has not sought it? But, alas! the confession to which we\nare all brought is that of Solomon: \"Vanity of vanities! all is\nvanity!\" And yet even this thirst is satisfied in Christ--profoundly,\nexultantly satisfied. In Him we find a happiness that breaks forth in\nsong, and triumphs over the pains and sorrows of this mortal life.\nThe mirage has become a pool.\n\n+II. Actual fact is present prediction;+ in Christ ideal vision will\nbecome realities. The soul still thirsts--1. For perfect purity;\n2. For perfect rest from the carking cares of earth, and infinite\ncalm in Jesus' love; 3. For the perfect communion of saints. In\nvision John saw all this in the new Jerusalem; and to all who are\nChrist's indeed they shall all become realities (1 Cor. ii. 9).\n\n1. Let those to whom the prediction of our text has been fulfilled\ntell the glad news to others. 2. All for those who have had these\nvisions all their lives, but up to this moment have been utterly\ndisappointed, (1) let them learn from the experience of others, who\ntell them they never knew truth and happiness until they sought them\nin Christ; (2) let them listen to the voice of rest; (3) let them be\nsure that until they do come to Christ, the parched ground will never\nbecome a pool. The soul needs more than the vision, however bright\nand beautiful it may be; it needs the reality, and the reality can be\nfound only in Christ.--_Clement Clemance, D.D._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] The word _sharab,_ \"parched ground,\" A.V., more exactly\n     \"looming sand-waste,\" refers to the mirage, of which it is\n     the Arabic name. The vain shadows of the world, which\n     deceive and never satisfy, are to be replaced by the\n     enduring joys of the kingdom of God.--_Birks._\n\n     Some years ago we were riding over a desert in intense and\n     almost distressing heat. We could but lie still and endure\n     it. We turned our eyes to the south, and, lo! in the\n     horizon there suddenly appeared a beautiful lake, which\n     appeared studded with islands of palms! But it was only\n     appearance, there was no water; and had we been perishing\n     from thirst, the beautiful vision would but have mocked our\n     need.--_Clemance._\n\n     No one can imagine, without actual experience, the delight\n     and eager expectation (when the vision first is seen), or\n     the intense and bitter disappointment which the appearance\n     of a mirage occasions to travellers, specially when their\n     supply of water is spent.\n\n        \"Still the same burning sun! No cloud in heaven!\n         The hot air quivers, and the sultry mist\n           Floats o'er the desert, with a show\n         Of distant waters mocking their distress.\"--_Kitto._\n\n     The word _sharab,_ here rendered \"parched ground,\" is the\n     same that in Isaiah xlix. 10 is translated _heat:_ \"They\n     shall hunger no more, they shall thirst no more; the\n     _sharab,_ nor the sun, shall never smite them more.\"\n\n     The primary sense of _sharab,_ giving the key to both\n     applications, is the dazzling, vibrating, noonday heat.\n     Thence it is here taken as a name for its effect, of the\n     mirage in the desert caused by the intense meridian\n     rarefaction and refraction. It is a well-known delusive\n     appearance, arising from the motions of the heated\n     atmosphere, taking great varieties of form, but especially\n     suggesting pictures of grove and fountain scenery--lakes,\n     rivers, green valleys, waving trees, cool and sequestered\n     shades, with every image most grateful to the imagination\n     of the wearied traveller. These often seem so vivid as to\n     be mistaken for realities.\n\n     The very common use of the same word (_sarab_) by the\n     Arabian poets, in this mirage sense, makes certain the real\n     meaning here. It gives it, too, a glorious significance of\n     which our translation, though etymologically correct, and,\n     to a certain extent, quite plausible, falls far short. It\n     should be rendered: \"The mirage shall become a lake (a\n     _real_ lake, not a mere mockery of one), and the thirsty\n     land springs of water.\" For the expressive meaning of the\n     word rendered \"thirsty-land,\" see Deut. viii. 15--\"that\n     great and terrible wilderness.\" So Gesenius, very happily:\n     _Et desertum aqu\u0153 speciem referens commutabitur in\n     lacum--in veram aquam._ (And the desert having the\n     _appearance_ of water shall be changed into a lake--_into\n     true water._)\n\n     The spiritual idea which the passage, thus interpreted,\n     suggests is most striking, whilst at the same time\n     commending itself as having a solid basis, and far removed\n     from the character of an arbitrary sentimentalism. It has a\n     substantial philological support, and comes so directly\n     from the peculiar word employed, that we are compelled to\n     regard it as entering into the prophet's conception.\n\n     The primary reference is to the exiles returning from\n     captivity, passing through the land of drought, the valley\n     of Baca (Ps. lxxxiv. 6), and refreshing themselves at \"the\n     wells of salvation;\" but there is a glow and a glory in the\n     language, as in so many other parts of the Scriptures, that\n     carries it far beyond this, though the Rationalist, if he\n     chooses, may rest in the lower sense, and maintain it on\n     undeniable exegetical grounds. The spiritually-minded\n     reader finds something more--something which alone comes up\n     to the splendour of the style, and without which the\n     hyperbole, beautiful as it is, would seem tumid and\n     extravagant. It is a _mounting sense,_ as we may call it,\n     rather than a _\"double\"_ or enigmatical representation. The\n     lower is the basis, undoubtedly, but we cannot rest in it.\n     As elsewhere, in the Prophets and in the Psalms, the\n     earthly salvation is described in terms and figures\n     powerfully suggestive of higher spiritual realities. The\n     exegesis, therefore, that comes from this is not arbitrary.\n     To the mind in spiritual harmony, it seems to be the only\n     one that truly satisfies the emotional glow and fervour of\n     the language. The mirage of this world in the highest\n     reality it can claim--still more the mirage our \"vain\n     imaginations\" create in it--is worse than the dry desert\n     itself; its delusions, when discovered, produce more pain;\n     the disappointment intensifies the thirst. Hence the\n     exceeding impressiveness of the prophet's figure when\n     rightly understood. The unreal shall vanish; truth,\n     substance, eternal reality shall take the place of all that\n     is false. Man shall cease \"walking in a vain show\"\n     (_betselem_), an image, a shadow (Ps. xxxix. 6). This\n     mirage of time shall become a fountain of _real_ water, of\n     \"_living water,_ springing up to everlasting life.\" \"With\n     joy shall ye draw water from the wells of salvation\" (Isa.\n     xii. 3).\n\n     \"The shadows are gone, truth has come.\" Mohammed seems to\n     have, in some way, caught a spark from the prophetic\n     inspiration, when he represents the righteous saying this,\n     as they lift up their hands in the morning of the\n     resurrection. In the Arabic, as in the Hebrew, the power\n     comes from the graphic mode which both languages possess,\n     in so high a degree, of picturing the future in the\n     present, and even in the past. \"Joy and triumph _are_\n     overtaking them, sorrow and sighing _have fled_ away.\" This\n     is not the land of reality. The idea comes down from the\n     pilgrim language of the patriarchs, who so pathetically\n     declared themselves to be but \"travellers and sojourners\n     upon the earth.\" They were looking for \"the better\n     country,\" the _real_ home, the \"city which hath\n     foundations,\" firm and everlasting. Something of the same\n     idea, and from the same early source, perhaps, may be\n     traced in the most ancient Arabian poets who lived before\n     the days of Mohammed. From them he most probably borrowed\n     the striking similar figure we find in the Koran (Sura\n     xxiv. 29), entitled \"Light.\" It has the same word\n     (_sharab_), and, in other respects is immediately\n     suggestive of the passage in Isaiah: \"As for the\n     unbelieving, their works are like the _sarab,_ the mirage\n     of the plain. The thirsty traveller thinks there is water\n     there; but lo, he comes and finds it nothing.\" The latter\n     parts remind us of the description in Job vi. 17, which may\n     be cited, too, as one of the examples of its Arabian\n     imagery. It is a picture of the thirsty traveller sustained\n     by the hope of finding the refreshing wady stream; but\n     instead of the imagined reality, nothing meets the eye but\n     dried-up bed whose waters have vanished, \"gone up to\n     _tohu,_\" the formless void, as the Hebrew so graphically\n     expresses it\n\n        \"What time they shrink deserted of their springs,\n         As quenched in heat they vanish from their place;\n         'Tis then their wonted ways are turned aside:\n         Their streams are lost, gone up in emptiness.\n         The caravans of Tema look for them;\n         The companies of Sheba hope in vain;\n         Confounded are they where they once did trust;\n         They reach the spot and stand in helpless maze.\"\n\n     Another very striking passage, where the same word is used,\n     may be found in the Koran (Sura lxxviii. 20): \"When the\n     hills are set in motion, and become like the _sarab_\"--the\n     vanishing mirage. It is a description of the day of\n     judgment, when the world will be found to have been a\n     _sarab,_ a departing dream. Or it may represent its\n     exceeding transitoriness, like that other name _ajalun,_\n     the _rolling, hastening, passing_ world, which the Koran\n     and the early Arabian poets give to this present mundane\n     system as compared with the reality of Paradise. Hence the\n     word _sarab_ becomes a common or proverbial expression,\n     _pro re evanida,_ for anything light, transient, and\n     unsubstantial. There is a beautiful allusion to it in the\n     very ancient poem of Lebid (_Moallaka de Lebid, De Sacy's\n     ed.,_ p. 294). See also the account of the phenomenon as\n     given by Diodorus Siculus, lib. iii. ch. 50. It differs,\n     however, from the picture usually presented by the Arabian\n     poets, in that the appearances are those of animals and\n     wild beasts, rather than of rivers and fountains. The\n     particular kind of phantoms, however, would depend very\n     much on the kind of imagination possessed by the\n     travellers, and the circumstances by which it was excited.\n     It is, in any way, an apt representation of a delusive\n     world, whether in its images of terror or of attraction.\n     That the word is thus frequently used in the Arabic, and\n     that it corresponds well to its ancient Hebrew etymology,\n     is sufficient to warrant us in thus interpreting the idea\n     the prophet so impressively sets forth.--_Taylor Lewis._\n\n\n\nTHE EXILES' RETURN.\n\n     xxxv. 8-10. _And an highway shall be there, &c._\n\nThe chapter of which these words are a part testifies of Christ. The\nprophet, while foretelling it in the return of the Jews from their\ncaptivity in Babylon, is enabled to look forward to a more spiritual\nand much greater deliverance. With the eye of faith he sees the\nkingdom of the Messiah established in the earth, and beholds Him open\na new and blessed road by which a multitude of the enslaved and\nperishing escape from their miseries and are led to His kingdom. This\nprophecy calls upon us to consider--1. The travellers of whom it\nspeaks; 2. The way along which they are journeying; 3. The home to\nwhich it is leading them.--_Charles Bradley: Sermons,_ vol. ii. pp.\n127, 128.\n\n\nWhatever primary reference this prophecy might have to the return of\nthe tribes from captivity, it is evident that all its interesting and\nbeautiful descriptions can only be fully realised in the blessedness\nand glory of the Gospel dispensation. Consider it as spiritually\nreferring to the Gospel way of salvation.\n\nI. THE WAY ITSELF.\n\nA religious course is often spoken of as a way (Prov. xv. 21; Jer.\nxxi. 8; Matt. vii. 14). The way of which our text speaks is\ndescribed--1. _As a highway._ It is not a secluded private path, but\na public highway opened by the authority of the King of kings; a way\ndesigned for the general accommodation of the human race, and leading\nto the metropolis of the universe. 2. _It is a holy way._ 3. _It is a\nplain way._ Not a way requiring extensive philosophical knowledge or\ndeep metaphysical research to comprehend it. All the Gospel\nrequirements and duties are plain. 4. _It is a safe way._[1] Satan\nmay try to allure us from it, but he cannot interrupt us while\nwalking in it.\n\nII. THE CHARACTER OF ITS TRAVELLERS.\n\n\"The redeemed,\" &c. 1. _Once they were slaves._ Slaves of sin and\nSatan. 2. _They have been redeemed._ By the precious blood of Jesus\nChrist. Redeemed to God; redeemed from sin, the power of Satan, and\nthe wrath to come. 3. _They are now the Lord's freemen._ Now sons,\nmembers of the Divine family; sharers of the Divine goodness and\npeace; and they bear a holy resemblance to their Elder Brother.\n\nIII. HOW THEY TRAVEL ALONG IT.\n\n\"They shall return and come to Zion with songs.\" 1. They sing the\npraises of their great Deliverer (Rev. i. 5, 6). 2. They sing on\naccount of the deliverance itself. 3. They sing on account of the\njoys of their present experience. 4. They sing on account of their\nglorious prospects.\n\nIV. THE BLESSEDNESS TO WHICH IT LEADS THEM.\n\n1. They shall be crowned with joy. 2. They shall possess a perfect\nfulness of felicity. 3. Their felicity shall be uninterrupted and\neternal.--_Jabez Burns, D.D.: Four Hundred Sketches and Skeletons of\nSermons,_ vol. ii. pp. 160-163.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] This is important in our own country, where there are no\n     ferocious animals lying in wait to destroy; but it was\n     peculiarly important in Jud\u00e6a and the countries adjoining\n     it. Many parts of these are said to have been infested with\n     beasts of prey, which frequently rushed from their places\n     of concealment upon the passing traveller, and rendered\n     even the public roads exceedingly dangerous. Hence the\n     prophet says of the way to heaven through Christ, that \"no\n     lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast go up thereon;\n     it shall not be found there.\" Not that we are to conclude\n     that the redeemed have no foes to combat, and no\n     difficulties to surmount in their course. Like the\n     Israelites returning from Babylon, they have to pass\n     through an enemy's country in their journey to Zion. But He\n     who has redeemed them accompanies them in their pilgrimage;\n     and though they are called to struggle and fight, He gives\n     them the victory, and renders their path as safe as though\n     there were no dangers near it, nor any to hurt and\n     destroy.--_Bradley._\n\n\n\nTHE ROAD TO THE CITY.\n\n     xxxv. 8-10. _And a highway shall be there, &c._\n\nHuman life is a journey--a journey to the grave. The Christian life\nis a journey--a journey to a better country. Abraham journeyed to the\nland of Canaan; Israel in the wilderness; their descendants on the\nreturn from Babylon (Ezra viii. 31). If you would reach your\ndestination, it is necessary to know and traverse the way.\n\n+I. It is a way easily known.+ Some are difficult to find. They are\ncrossed and intersected so often, and so imperfectly supplied with\nguiding-posts, that mistakes are almost inevitable. This is a way in\nwhich \"the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err.\" Serious\nmistake is almost impossible. You have a directory so clear that\nreference to it settles every question. God's Word is the guide of\nlife. He may read who runs. It is true there are no difficulties in\nthe ascertainment of the way of life. The road the child travels to\nhis home is quite plain and easy, yet he may be ignorant of the means\nby which it was made, the materials of which it is constructed, the\nsources whence they were obtained, the engineering appliances by\nwhich they were bound together, the quarters from which the cost was\ndefrayed. At present he has no information, or it is beyond his\ncomprehension. Thus in the Bible there are many things difficult and\nbeyond the present knowledge of the student. They diminish with\nadvancing knowledge and thought. And even if they remain, they do not\naffect the matters on which certainty is necessary. The way of\nforgiveness through the Saviour's death is written with the clearness\nof a sunbeam. The rule of life in its application to all\ncircumstances is so clearly laid down that all cases in the court of\nconscience find an easy settlement; where there is a disposition to\nfollow it, no practical difficulty exists. It is like the pillar of\ncloud and fire which infallibly guided the children of Israel in the\nwilderness.\n\n+II. It is a purified way.+ \"The unclean shall not pass over it.\" It\nis a holy way. The text fastens attention on those who traverse the\nroad as giving it its character. They are holy persons in the company\nof holy persons. What is holiness? It is separation, setting apart,\npurity, always with reference to God. 1. Its meaning is not covered\nby morality. That term is ordinarily met by the performance of the\nduties that arise between man and man. 2. Nor is the meaning of the\nterm \"holy\" covered by humanity. We hear much of what is called \"the\nreligion of humanity,\" which means a benevolent desire for the\nwell-being of mankind. Like morality, it is to be commended as far as\nit goes. It is, indeed, a step in advance of morality. It is a man's\nworldly interest to practise its virtues. Humanity rises higher. It\nlooks beyond self. In proportion as a man looks out from himself to\nthe well-being of others, he is ennobled. Holiness includes them\nboth, but they do not necessarily include holiness. They terminate in\nman, whereas holiness is in immediate relation to God. It is the\nseparation of a man's nature from all sin against God, and is\nconsecration to Him. God brings a sinner under the power of His\ngrace, and a saint emerges. The love of God in Christ, which pardons\nhim, so influences his nature that he comes into sympathy with God,\nand desires to be like Him. He makes the Divine will the rule of his\nlife. He is born anew. He is holy in heart. His growing practical\nobedience to the Divine authority is his walk in the way of holiness.\nThose who have not experienced such a change cannot walk in it. They\ntire. Holiness of heart precedes holiness of life (H. E. I.\n2813-2817).\n\n+III. It is a pleasant way.+ There are pilgrim songs. The walk\nthrough the country may be so pleasant that nothing is thought of its\ndifficulty or its fatigue. The way of holiness is rendered pleasant\nby congenial companions, by Divine thoughts, by heavenly communings.\nThere are difficulties. The way is sometimes steep; here and there\nare formidable obstructions. There are temptations to weariness and\nabandonment of the way. Yet the difficulties are not insurmountable.\nThey disappear before the traveller's sanctified determination. The\nability of anything to give pleasure depends on our feeling in\nrelation to it. Especially in things of a moral nature. The\nregenerated nature of a Christian makes every step of his progress a\nsource of pleasure. Christians are the happiest of men, partly\nbecause happiness is not sought as their main end (H. E. I.\n1080-1084, 4161-4163).\n\nAnd it is safe as it is pleasant. All pleasant paths are not safe.\nSome pleasant ones are extremely perilous. The Lord of the way has\ncleared it of dangers. \"He will keep the feet of His saints.\" \"No\nlion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon.\"\n\n+IV. It is a completed way.+ Some roads lead to nothing. They\nabruptly terminate, and you must retrace your steps. This is\ncontinued to the destination. \"They shall come to Zion.\" As the Jews\nreached the earthly Jerusalem we shall arrive in heaven. The holy\ncity is a fit termination of the holy way.\n\nAre you in the way? Keep in it. Turn not aside. Advance toward your\ndestination. Anticipate arrival.\n\nAre you not in the way? Consider whither you are going. Renounce the\nworld. Enter the road. Do not say it is hard. Do not say you cannot\nencounter the difficulties. God will help.--_J. Rawlinson._\n\n\nThere are a thousand wrong roads, but only one right one. 1. The road\nof the text is _the King's highway._ It spans all the chasms of human\nwretchedness; it tunnels all the mountains of earthly difficulty; it\nis wide and strong enough to hold all the millions of the human race.\nThe King sent His Son to build the road. He put head, and hand, and\nheart to it, and after it was completed cried, \"It is finished.\"\n2. It is spoken of as a _clean road._ \"The unclean shall not pass\nover it\" (Prov. xiv. 12; Heb. xii. 14). 3. _A plain road._ \"The\nwayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.\" The pardon is\nplain. The peace is plain (1 Tim. i. 15). If you are saved, it will\nbe as a little child (Matt. xviii. 3). 4. _A safe road._ \"No lion\nshall be there,\" &c. His soul is safe. His reputation is safe (Ps.\ncxxv. 2). 5. _A pleasant road._ God gives a bond of indemnity against\nall evil to every man that treads it (Rom. viii. 28; Matt. vi. 26,\n28; Prov. iii. 33; 1 Cor. x. 13). He enables him to be glad with a\ngreat joy (Ps. xxvii. 1; Rev. vii. 14, 16, 17; Exod. xv. 1). 6. _What\nis its terminus?_ \"The ransomed of the Lord shall come to Zion.\" Zion\nis the King's palace, a mountain fastness, impregnable. Heaven is the\nfastness of the universe. And Jesus is there!--_T. De Witt Talmage,\nD.D.: Christian Age,_ vol. ix. pp. 3-5.\n\n\n\nTHE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN.\n\n     xxxv. 10. _And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, &c._\n\n\"Zion,\" literally speaking, was the proper name of the city where\nDavid dwelt (2 Sam. v. 7). But the name was also given to the ancient\nJewish polity in church and state (Ps. cii. 13, 16), to the Gospel\nChurch, with all the spiritual blessings of the Christian\ndispensation (Isa. xxviii. 16; 1 Pet. ii. 6, 7); and also to the\nChurch in glory, or the heavenly state of final and complete\nhappiness with God and Christ for ever (Heb. xii. 22, &c.) We may\ntherefore regard this text as revealing _the general features of the\nhappiness of heaven._\n\n+I. To whom does the hope of heaven belong?+ To \"the ransomed of the\nLord,\" whom He has delivered from bondage and is bringing back from\nexile (H. E. I. 2730, 2829-2832).\n\n+II. How do those who attain to heaven come there?+ Triumphantly,\n\"with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads.\" This is said\nperhaps with allusion to the ovations of victorious chiefs, or to\ntroops coming home from hard-fought fields and the privations even of\na successful campaign, crowned with garlands and waving palms,\nsinging some martial air, and approaching their homes and families\nwith shouts of gratitude.\n\n+III. What do the redeemed realise when they reach heaven?+ \"They\nshall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee\naway.\" In heaven--1. There will be _an entire cessation of every\noccasion of grief_ (H. E. I. 1629; P. D. 1753, 1767). 2. _There will\nno longer be any possibility of falling._ What a blessed peace will\nspring from this fact! In this world the sincerest believers, like\npilots steering into port through narrow and winding channels beset\nwith sunken rocks and hidden shoals, must work out daily their own\nsalvation with fear and trembling (1 Cor. ix. 27). But in heaven the\nspirits of the just are \"made perfect,\" and, like God Himself,\n\"cannot be tempted of evil.\" 3. _We shall meet again with our\nlong-lost loved ones, never more to part_ (Rev. vii. 15-17; P. D.\n2996-2998). 4. _The companionship of saints and angels._ The best and\npurest friendships here are often marred by the blots and blemishes\nof good men; but there will be no jarring in the exalted fellowships\nof heaven. 5. _The possession of Christ and the beatific vision of\nGod for ever_ (1 Pet. i. 8; Isa. xxxiii. 7).--_R. Bingham, M.A.:\nSermons,_ pp. 128-149.\n\n\n\nTHE BANISHMENT OF SORROW.\n\n     xxxv. 10. _And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, &c._\n\n+I.+ \"They shall obtain joy and gladness,\" &c.--+this is undoubtedly\nthe distinctive and ineradicable hope of human nature.+ Is that hope\na glorious, and perhaps in its effects a beneficent, delusion never\nto be realised? Or is it the earnest of a reality far greater than\nits highest imagination can conceive? The question receives\ncontradictory answers from the two conflicting voices within the\nsoul, as from time to time one or other gains a temporary\npredominance. But the Christian revelation allows no doubt on this\nmatter for a moment, and yet it does not bid us shut our eyes to the\ndarker phases of actual life. The picture drawn in this chapter deals\nwith every sphere of human life. It begins with the outward: it tells\nhow the \"desert shall rejoice,\" &c.; it turns, then, to the lower\nnature of man himself--\"the eyes of the blind shall be opened,\" &c.;\nlastly, it speaks to the spirit of man: the light of God shows a\n\"highway through the desert of life\" on which \"the redeemed can walk\"\nsafely; and at the end there is a heavenly Zion of perfection, to\nwhich the \"ransomed of the Lord shall come with songs,\" &c.\n\n+II. When did the prophet look to see his vision fulfilled?+ He may\nwell have thought first of the all but present deliverance from the\ngigantic power of Assyria by the redeeming arm of the Lord. Some such\nshadow of fulfilment there may have been, in the last gleam of\nunclouded prosperity which ever fell upon Judah, before its sun set\nin the great captivity: such shadows of fulfilment may have been felt\nin the history of man again and again. Isaiah unquestionably looked\non to the kingdom of the Messiah as the one ideal of a perfect\nmanifestation of God and a perfect exaltation of man. Such fulfilment\nChrist claimed for Himself; but it is in the actual manifestation of\nthe kingdom of Christ on earth that the prophetic picture is realised\nin its fulness.\n\n+III. If the kingdom of Christ is what it proclaims itself to be, it\nmust necessarily be, as on the Mount He proclaimed it, a kingdom of\nblessing.+ What are the two great sources of the sorrow which broods\nover life? 1. Over our bodily life, and the world of nature which\nsubserves it, there is _the blight of pain and suffering._\n2. _Spiritual evil_--the blindness, weakness, sin of man himself. How\ndoes the Gospel profess to face and scatter both? By the revelation\nof the Cross it hallows doubly the law of suffering and death, by\noverruling it to good for ourselves, and by making it a condition and\na means of helping the redemption of others. The Gospel deals still\nmore decisively with the burden of sin: in this lies the essence of\nits redemption. \"God is in Christ, reconciling the world to\nHimself. . . . We pray you, in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to\nGod.\" This is its first message; but it is not all; \"Sin,\" it goes on\nto say, \"shall not have dominion over you.\" \"Ye are sanctified in\nChrist Jesus.\"\n\n+IV. But is that promise actually realised?+ We answer boldly, Yes.\nIt must be remembered that by the very nature of the case the kingdom\nof Christ is seen by us, as yet, only to the first stages of its\nconflict against the powers of evil. What it can offer, as yet, is a\ntrue but only imperfect earnest of the future. In all the three\nphases of this prophecy, Christ asserted its power to bless the whole\nworld. He held the reins of the forces of nature; lifted the burden\nof disease and resisted death; brought in the new life of His grace.\nHe had joy, like no other joy, amid His continuous conflict with\nevil; and to those who were His, He gave peace in proportion as they\nentered into His spirit. The last conflict was but for a moment, the\nchill of dreariness before the dawn. \"Then,\" amidst some fear, and\nawe, and perplexity, \"were the disciples _glad_ when they saw the\nLord.\" It is, thank God! a matter of daily Christian experience,\nthat, just in proportion as we are really Christ's, the promise is\nrealised again and again to us. There is joy in nature, and a deeper\njoy and peace in communion with God. Sometimes we feel that these\nthings are the only reality in a fleeting and unsubstantial world\naround us. But this reality is yet imperfect; sorrow and sighing are\nrather kept at bay than driven away; but we have a sure and certain\nhope of a perfect future. Without the realisation of His peace in the\npresent, without the sure and certain hope of the future, one hardly\nsees how man can care to live; one dares not think how he can\ndie.--_Canon Barry, D.D.: Christian Age,_ vol. xx. pp. 81-83.\n\n\n\nMODERN RABSHAKEHS, AND THEIR ATTEMPTS TO\nTERRIFY GOD'S PEOPLE INTO A HUMBLE SURRENDER.\n\n     xxxvi. 4. _What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?_\n\nSennacherib is surprised at the attitude of resistance taken by\nHezekiah, and sends an embassy to dissuade him from his mad project.\nWhen they appear outside the walls, some officers of Hezekiah's court\ncome out to confer with them, and Rabshakeh opens upon them with the\ntaunting question, _\"What confidence,\" &c._ The proud king of Assyria\nhad another end beyond that of conquest. His aim was to show that\nJehovah was on a level with the gods of the nations. This was,\ntherefore, a religious war. Every country he subdued was another god\novercome, and if only Jerusalem were taken, his triumph would be\ncomplete. _The situation here described is an image of the Christian\nfaith assailed by modern unbelief._ The forces of infidelity have\nbecome bold and insolent. The Bible is subjected to the hostile\ncriticism of men who would rejoice to see it overthrown. Unbelief is\nmarshalling her forces against the citadel of revealed truth. She has\non her side some prominent leaders of modern thought, and employs\nboth press and lecture-room for accomplishing her destructive\ndesigns. If she can only get the Christian faith out of the way, the\nworld will be her own. Our modern Rabshakehs are hurling against us\nthe taunting question, _\"What confidence,\" &c._\n\n+I. What is this confidence of ours which is so assailed?+\n\nThe question implies that we _have_ a confidence. Our opponents admit\nit, though to them it is inexplicable. They are forced to bear\ntestimony to a strange but courageous faith by which we are supported\nin life and death. Jerusalem had nothing to rest on but God's\npresence and promise. Their king had encouraged them with the noble\nwords of 2 Chron. xxxii. 7, 8. Here is the secret of the confidence\nwhich so surprised the Assyrian king; and on the same ground do we\ntake our stand against the opposing hosts of unbelief. God's presence\nand faithfulness are the bulwarks behind which we may safely entrench\nourselves. We have believed God's Word and have taken shelter in\nChrist (Phil. iii. 3). On His exalted throne He is directing the\nChurch's energies, restraining her enemies, and giving success to her\nenterprises.\n\n+II. What assaults are made upon our confidence?+\n\nThey correspond to those by which Rabshakeh tried to subvert\nHezekiah's confidence. He puts the question in a contemptuous tone,\nand then proceeds to answer it, and to show that the confidence\ncherished had no solid basis. 1. He points to _the slenderness of\nHezekiah's resources_ (ver. 5, 6, 8, 9). \"The Egyptians can no more\nbe relied on than the frail reeds that grow on the banks of their\nNile. No help can come from abroad; and see how weak you are in\nyourselves. If you can find riders, I will supply 2000 horses.\" How\ncould such a puny kingdom withstand the power of Assyria with its\nmagnificent military equipment? So unbelief tries to undermine faith,\nnot knowing that God's strength is perfected in human weakness.\nCardinal Cajetan tried to browbeat Luther,--\"Do you think that your\nelectors will take up arms for you? I tell you, no; and where then\nwill you be?\" The brave answer was, \"Then, as now, in the hands of\nGod.\" 2. Rabshakeh tries to _close the door of Divine help_ (ver. 7).\n\"How can you expect support from a God whose worship you have\nsuppressed?\" But this was a needful reform, for these rural places of\nworship had degenerated into scenes of idolatry. So the enemies of\nthe faith in our day try to make capital out of the changes and\nreforms that have taken place. They point to our ecclesiastical\ndivisions and theological controversies as an argument against us.\n\"How can that be true about which there is so much diversity of\nopinion? How can Divine help be expected to defend the Christian\nfaith, when there are so many sects and parties, disestablishment\nagitations, and ecclesiastical rivalries?\" We answer that there is a\nunity among all who love the Lord Jesus, and however much we may\ndeplore the need of change and reform, we are not to be deterred from\neffecting them by any fear of God's displeasure. It can never offend\nGod to maintain His truth and worship in all their purity (H. E. I.\n1372-1374). 3. Another reason for surrender is urged in ver. 10,\nwhere the Assyrian _claims to be commissioned by God_ to destroy the\nland. This was only a piece of bluster intended to alarm Jerusalem.\nIt has its counterpart in our day in those men of science, who come\nto us in the name of God with the truths they have discovered, and\nthrow them in our face as inconsistent with faith in the Scriptures.\nBut there can be no real disagreement between science and revelation.\nWe are not going to open our gates to arrogant scientists who claim\nthat their department embraces everything; to materialists who tell\nus that our heaven is six feet below the ground. Let science keep to\nits legitimate sphere. It was a good remark made by Professor Ball to\na lady who put to him some questions about comets, to each of which\nhe replied, \"I do not know.\" \"Then,\" she said, \"may I ask what is the\nuse of your science?\" \"To let me know, madam,\" he replied, \"that I\ncannot know some things\" (H. E. I. 538, 539). 4. Rabshakeh presses a\nsurrender in view of _the hardships the people would have to endure._\nHe threatens them with famine and thirst, and (vers. 16, 17) promises\nthem ease and plenty if they will but suppress the sentiment of\npatriotism, abandon their confidence, and give up their city into his\nhands. This is an old and well-used device to make the believer cower\nin the face of trials and privations. But the men of faith are proof\nagainst such selfish considerations. They will fight the Lord's\nbattles at whatever cost; for however hard their outward lot may be,\nthey have inward joys which more than counterbalance the loss of all\nthings. 5. The last argument which Rabshakeh employed is this (vers.\n18-20): _Other gods were unable to defend their worshippers against\nthe victorious march, and why should the Lord be able to defend\nJerusalem?_ This was his last thrust, and was intended to bring home\nto the people the utter baselessness of their confidence. This\nreasoning is not unlike the patronising tone in which infidels speak\nof the Christian religion, as one of the many superstitions, all well\nenough for their day, but now effete, or destined to perish before\nthe advance of intelligence; as one of those venerable systems, all\nof which are not losing their hold on the intellect and heart.\n\n+III. Why should we still hold to our Christian confidence in spite\nof these attempts to overthrow it?+\n\nThe agnosticism and infidelity which in our time are so loud and\npretentious are only systems of negation; they have no substitute for\nthat which they endeavour to destroy. If we allow them to rob us of\nour faith, we are spiritually bankrupt, for these destructive\nagencies have nothing to satisfy the heart and conscience. Never let\nus lower our flag for all their threats and boastful arrogance.\nPerhaps the best way to deal with them is that which was followed by\nHezekiah's officers (ver. 21; Matt. vii. 6).\n\n+IV. What will be the end of all the assaults made upon the Christian\nfaith?+\n\nWe know what came of the boastful insolence of Rabshakeh. Not only\ndid he fail to unhinge the confidence of Hezekiah, but he brought\nupon himself confusion and defeat. God answered his blasphemies; God\nemploys the hostile efforts of unbelief to confirm us in our\nconfidence. What our enemies intend for the subversion of the truth\nonly places it on a more solid basis. Christianity can never suffer\nfrom the most rigid investigation, for this only reveals its\nimmovable strength. We throw back on our opponents their own\nquestion, \"What confidence have you, what light in the dark lonesome\nhour of death?\" Or, the strange \"credulity of unbelief,\" which\naccepts the most glaring fallacies, whose reason is clouded by a\nproud and insolent defiance of God! We have nothing to fear, then,\nfrom the boastful Rabshakehs of our day. The assaults to which our\nfaith is now subjected are nothing new. Old weapons are refurbished,\nold stratagems resorted to; but it has survived attacks as clever as\nthose now made upon it (H. E. I. 1165).\n\nCONCLUSION.--Let me put to you the question in a different tone with\nall affection and anxiety for your spiritual welfare. It is good to\nhave our position assailed that we may see its strength (H. E. I.\n1136-1139). Is yours a confidence that can resist the thrusts and\nsubtle reasonings and plausible solicitations of the world? The best\nanswer you can give to the insolence of unbelief is to hold your\npeace, and go quietly forward in resolute faith and persistent\nwell-doing, giving not the answer of the lip, but of the life--a life\nnourished, strengthened, and beautified by faith in Christ.--_William\nGuthrie, M.A._\n\n\n\nIN WHOM ART THOU TRUSTING?\n\n     xxxvi. 5. _. . . Now on whom dost thou trust?_\n\nThe question is important in ordinary life, but it is overwhelmingly\nso in spiritual things.\n\nI. A LITTLE BUNDLE OF ANSWERS.\n\n1. \"I do not know that I have thought about the matter; I have left\nthe matter of dying, and of eternity, and of judgment out of my\nconsideration.\" How foolish! There are more gates to death than you\ndream of. Have not you walked with dying men? Suppose you were sure\nof a long life, why delay being happy? Christ says of the rich man in\nhell, \"He lift up his eyes.\" He might and should have done so before,\nbut he said, \"Tell my brethren.\" 2. \"I thank God I am about as good\nas most people.\" Company in being ruined will not decrease, but\nrather increase the catastrophe. You are trusting in yourself. But is\nconscience quiet? Only the absolutely perfect man can be saved by his\nown works. 3. \"I trust in my priest.\" Has any priest grace to spare\nfor you? You are, or may be, as much a priest as any man can be;\nChristians are \"a royal priesthood.\" 4. \"Well, God is merciful.\" You\nare trusting in the mercy of God; but, as you state it, you are\ntrusting in what you will never find. If you go to God out of Christ,\nyou will find Him to be a consuming fire; instead of mercy you shall\nreceive justice (H. E. I. 2315-2317, 2349-2350). 5. \"Well, I do not\nsay that I can trust to my works, but I am a good-hearted man.\" There\nis much truth in the saying, \"If it is bad at the top, it is worse at\nthe bottom; and if it is not good on the surface, it will never pay\nfor getting at it\" (Jer. xvii. 9; H. E. I. 2669-2680).\n\nII. THE CHRISTIAN'S ANSWER.\n\nI trust a triune God--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I trust to the\nFather's choosing me; to the Son, as my Redeemer, Intercessor, my\nresurrection, and life; to the Holy Spirit, to save me from my inbred\nsins, to sanctify me wholly.\n\nTo some men this does not look like a real trust. \"We cannot see God;\nhow do we know all this about the Trinity?\" Cannot you trust in a\nthousand things you have never seen or heard? You have never seen\nelectricity nor gravity. Those that have trusted in God find Him to\nbe as real as if they could see Him. \"Can we prove that God\ninterferes to help His people?\" Yes, He hears prayer. A Christian is\nsometimes asked whether he has a right to trust God. He has God's\npromise to help him. \"Is He worthy to be trusted?\" He has proved\nHimself faithful and true. The Christian commends God to others in\nsaying that he feels he can rest upon Him for the future.\n\nIII. SOME WORDS OF ADVICE TO THOSE WHO ARE TRUSTING.\n\n1. _Drive out all unbelief._ With such a God to trust to, let us\ntrust with all our might. It is an insult to Him to doubt Him. The\ndevil calls God a liar, but it is hard if a man's own child is to\nthink ill of his father. We are verily guilty in speaking hard things\nof our God. 2. _Seek the Holy Spirit's help._ We have often said we\nwould not doubt again, yet we have. Let us ask to be strengthened.\nWe often forget that the Author of our faith must be the Finisher of\nit also. 3. Try to _bring others to trust_ where we have trusted\n(John i. 40-42, 45). 4. Love Him who thus gives Himself to be trusted\nby us. The sister graces ever live together. Show your love. 5. We\nmust _prove our faith by our works._ Let us do more for God. \"No day\nwithout a deed.\" Cease working and you will soon cease\nbelieving.--_C. H. Spurgeon: Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit,_ vol.\nxi. pp. 469-480.\n\n\n\nHEZEKIAH'S PRUDENT SILENCE.\n\n     xxxvi. 21. _But they held their peace, &c._\n\nDr. Geikie says of Hezekiah, \"Ready for war when necessary, and alike\nbrave and skilful in its conduct, he was more inclined to the gentle\narts of peace.\" Among these \"gentle arts\" should be reckoned his\ncultivated gift of prudence. Prudence is undervalued by some, as not\ntaking rank among the higher virtues, and even sometimes decried as\nessentially selfish. But prudence guards the life of the highest\nvirtue, and thus becomes of almost equal importance with it. Prudence\nis short for \"providence;\" \"the provident man,\" as the phrase is\nused, shows prudence in one direction, and is praised for it. Greater\npraise is surely due to the all-round prudent man. Prudence in man\nis, in one aspect, but the counterpart of providence in God, and\nthose who are given to esteem it lightly are not pious, like\nHezekiah, but already doubters of, and disbelievers in, the general\nand special providence of God, or likely to become so (P. D. 2914).\n\nIt is prudent to be silent--1. _When the judgment, based upon the\nknowledge of available facts, dictates silence as sound policy._\nSilence may, and often does, imply something quite different from a\nwisely calculated policy; it may indicate abject fear, cowardice,\nindifference. All silence is not \"golden;\" sometimes the basest metal\ngoes to its composition. The order to be silent, whether addressed by\nHezekiah to his ambassadors, or to the people generally, or to both,\nmay be conjectured to have sprung from the king's desperate case. But\neven if we leave out this element, enough remains to justify the\ncommand, \"Answer him not.\" It may be presumed that the messenger of\nthe \"great king,\" \"dressed in a little brief authority,\" conducted\nhimself as Hezekiah _foresaw_ he would, outdoing Sennacherib himself\nin blasphemy and all impiety. \"A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and\nhideth himself.\" Hezekiah did this in the most literal sense, and his\ncommand to all concerned was to hide the spirit of their mind behind\na veil of silence. Such prudence, then, is more than foresight, it is\nforesight connecting itself with a certain course of action as the\nwisest or best possible in certain given circumstances (P. D. 3086,\n3089). How rare is such prudence! Not from evil intent, but through\nwant of thought, do many persist in running their heads against\nadamant. Available knowledge is neglected, and judgment, where there\nis any in such a case, is adrift and mistaken.\n\n2. _When the deepest feelings are agitated so as to be beyond\nimmediate control._ Hezekiah's ambassadors obeyed their orders until\nRabshakeh uttered words the effect of which upon the people there was\ngood reason to dread (ver. 10); then they broke in, carried on a\ngreat wave of impulse (ver. 11); but only to make the blasphemer more\narrogantly insolent. Feeling, like fire, is a good servant but a bad\nmaster; it is blind, and blindly seeks its own objects. Only in the\nmost highly educated moral natures can it ever be expected to flow in\nproper channels; but in none should it be intrusted with the reins of\ngovernment. \"I will keep my mouth with a bridle,\" said the Psalmist,\n\"while the wicked is before me\" (cf. James i. 19, 20, 26).\n\n3. _When wise counsel is at hand_ (xxxvii. 1, 2). \"Hezekiah went into\nthe house of the Lord;\" \"and he sent Eliakim unto Isaiah the\nprophet.\" There is a kind of piety which disdains human aid, because\neach man may go direct to God. This may not have wrought so much harm\nin the world as the Romish doctrine of mediators, but it is equally\nmistaken. Blessed is the man who knows of a prophet--a brother-man of\nspiritual insight, moral integrity, and Christian courtesy--before\nwhom he can lay his case! Thrice blessed he who, knowing such an one,\ncan hold his peace until he has sought and obtained the\nHeaven-provided help! God may well hold us insincere if we go to Him\nand neglect His servants' aid.\n\nCONCLUSION.--Let us hear and understand the words of the preacher:\n\"There is a time to keep silence,\" as well as \"a time to speak.\" We\nare lacking in silence and reserve. Silence is a glorious temple, but\nin it there are few worshippers. Be it ours to wait and worship there!\n\nThe worshippers find the very walls translucent, the rays of heaven\ndescend in unbroken brightness there. Silence is the birthplace of\nthe world's progress, and from the rays of truth that flash into it\nare born the grand visions of the prophets of God, and kingly\npurposes too; and from these are forged the weapons with which men\nshall sweep away the hindrances to all wisdom.--_J. Macrae Simcock._\n\n\n\nA FOOLISH KING AND A WISE ONE.\n\n     xxxvii. 1. _And it came to pass, &c._\n\nThe message to which our text refers was sent by a foolish king to a\nwise one. Look at them both.\n\nI. THE FOOLISH KING.\n\nSennacherib. Ignorant of God, he fell into various follies. 1. _Pride\nand arrogance._ Unaware that he was but an instrument in the hand of\nGod (chap. x. 5-7), he imagined that his triumphs were due entirely\nto his military genius and the power under his control. Blind as to\nthe true nature of his past career, he looked into the future with\nboastful confidence; he had no doubt that he would go on conquering\nand to conquer. His proud survey of the past and this arrogant\noutlook into the future are follies repeated by many men much smaller\nthan Sennacherib. But every wise man will remember that he owes all\nhis past successes to God (Deut. viii. 10-18), and that all his\nfuture is absolutely in the hand of God (James iv. 13-15).\n2. _Blasphemous undervaluing of the power of God_ (vers. 18-20). He\ntherefore imagines that God's people are in his hand. On this account\nhe presents to them a curious reason why they should surrender (chap.\nxxxvi. 16, 17). He promises them a quiet possession of their own\nvines, which they possessed already but for his disturbance; and in\nthe same breath he adds, \"Until I come and take you away;\" and then,\nto soften that sentence, he promises to take them to a land like\ntheir own. He promises them no more, after all, than they had already\non the safe tenure of their own laws. The reason for surrender was\neither a mockery of men whom he believed incapable of resisting him,\nor an indication of the mental weakness into which pride was\nbetraying him. Ere long there was a terrible demonstration of his\nfolly (ch. xxxvii. 36, P. D. 3413), an appalling fulfilment of the\nprediction concerning him (ch. x. 12-19).\n\nII. THE WISE KING.\n\nHezekiah. His disposition does not appear to more advantage in any\npassage of life, nor his conduct exhibit lessons more generally\nuseful, than in the circumstances to which our text alludes. A\nmessage is brought from a proud invader; threats mixed with\nblasphemies are sounded in his ears; a force far superior to his own\ndraws near to his city. In his extremity he sought help, not from\nman, but from God. In drawing near to God, he testifies his\n_penitence_ for his own sins and the sins of the people by rending\nhis garments and covering himself with sackcloth, the usual tokens of\nsorrow in the East; his _faith_ and _hope_ by resorting to the house\nof God, his accustomed place of prayer. Observe the wisdom of the\norder of his procedure. 1. He began with demonstrations of\nrepentance. He knew well that without repentance there could be no\nhope towards God. (1.) This is the true order for individuals\n(H. E. I. 145-147). (2.) For the Church of God. 2. Beginning with\nrepentance, he could cherish hope (vers. 2-4). Why? He felt that the\nLord would not permit Sennacherib's words to pass unpunished; and\nthat, if the sins of the people did not operate to prevent it, help\nwould surely be sent him. But he spoke with caution, \"it may be,\" &c.\nThe best reasons may be found for what we call \"delays\" in\nprovidential helps. There was room for expectation that help would be\ngiven, room for prayer that it might be given, but no room for\noverweening confidence that it must be so. With his hope there was\nmingled submission to the will of God, and that doubtless helped to\nwin for his prayer a favourable hearing.\n\nCONCLUSION.--This narrative presents us with the results, on the one\nhand, of pride and arrogance; and on the other, of repentance and an\nhumbled spirit. In times of extremity let us not entertain hope\nwithout an humble and repentant suit to God; and when that ground of\npenitence is laid for its support, let us not dismiss our confidence.\nGod is always able to help His people. Like Hezekiah, then, to Him,\nlet us resort in every time of trouble, whether it be a time of\npublic danger or of domestic affliction.--_J. H. Pott: Sermons,_ vol.\nii. pp. 282-299.\n\n\n\nA KING IN TROUBLE.\n\n     xxxvii. 14. _And Hezekiah received the letter, &c._\n\nThe armies of Assyria had overthrown the cities of Ph\u0153nicia and\nPhilistia. Samaria had fallen. Many of the strongholds of Judah had\nbeen destroyed. Hezekiah attempted to turn aside the tide of war by\nsending a tribute to the conqueror. Like all compromises of unbelief,\nthis act of submission resulted in increased trial. Sennacherib did\nnot desire to make peace with Hezekiah. To have left Jerusalem\nunsubdued as he advanced towards Egypt would have been impolitic and\nunsafe. So he determined to destroy it, and sent a letter full of\nboastful arrogance, threats, blasphemy, false insinuations, and\ninsults to the king.\n\nI. HEZEKIAH'S TROUBLE.\n\n1. Kings cannot escape trouble. Storms howl on mountain-tops when\nsunshine gilds the plains (H. E. I. 47; P. D. 2142, 2143). 2. Neither\ndoes piety prevent trouble. If it were an absolute evil, the\nrighteous would escape it; but it is often an angel in disguise\nstooping to serve them. The best need discipline. The pious are often\nmore benefited by trouble than by joy (H. E. I. 116-142). 3. Trouble\nmay arise, not from our own wrong-doings, but from the wrong-doing of\nothers. Sennacherib's lawless ambition then troubled the whole earth.\nGod uses evil even to discipline His saints. He knew what Hezekiah\nneeded, and used Sennacherib to discipline him (H. E. I. 85).\n4. Great troubles may be conveyed to us by insignificant means. A\nletter only was received; but who can tell what trouble a letter may\nconvey? 5. Hezekiah's trouble was great. It included--(1.) _The\nthreatened loss of his kingdom._ He saw before him the loss of all\nhis greatness and honour. (2.) _Threatened captivity or death._\n(3.) _Possible demolition of the royal city._ Jerusalem was dear to\nevery Jew. Especially so to Hezekiah, who had fortified and\nbeautified it. (4.) _The ruin and exile of his people._ (5.) _The\ndishonour of Jehovah._ Sennacherib had insulted God. If Jerusalem\nwere taken, His holy and beautiful house would be profaned, His glory\ntarnished, and His worship, which had been lately restored,\nobliterated from the earth.\n\nII. HEZEKIAH'S REFUGE.\n\nAll men have not a Divine refuge in trouble. The irreligious cannot\nrush into the sheltering arms of God. Hezekiah had done all that a\nwise monarch could do to defend his city (2 Chron. xxxii. 1-8), and\nafter this he committed his way to God. Fanaticism despises means,\nbut true faith uses them, and then soars above them to rest in\nOmnipotence. 1. _Hezekiah sought God, his refuge, in the Temple._ For\nthe spiritual training of a people who were to be God's witnesses to\nthe end of time, God's presence was more especially revealed there.\nSpecial promises were given to those who prayed there. Moreover, it\nwas Hezekiah's accustomed place of prayer. Helpful memories often\ncrowd around us in places where we have prayed, and bear us up, as\nupon eagles' wings, into the Divine presence. 2. _He would set a good\nexample to the nation._ He would lead his people to seek God in that\nday of trouble. 3. _He would publicly manifest his confidence in\nGod's power to protect and save._ His faith found expression in an\nact which honoured God and quickened His people's confidence in Him.\nHe spread the letter before the Lord. A most significant act--a\nprayer in action. Probably done in solemn silence, words afterward\nrising to his lips. He would not answer this letter, but would leave\nit with God to answer it. Many letters might better be left with God\nthan answered. If enemies threaten us, let us make God our refuge,\nand our deliverance also will be sure (P. D. 779).\n\n_Learn_--1. So to live as to have those troubles only which come to\nus by Divine appointment. 2. In the greatest of these troubles never\nto despair of Divine help, but to expect it. 3. To be pious in\nprosperity, that when adversity comes we may have God for our refuge\n(H. E. I. 3877-3879).--_W. Osborne Lilley: The Homiletic Quarterly,_\nvol. i. pp. 389-391.\n\n\nThe conduct of Hezekiah recited here teaches us _our first duty and\nbest resource in any emergency._ Sennacherib had captured all the\ndefended cities of Judah, and at length, determining to capture\nJerusalem, he sent a taunting, boastful, threatening letter to\nHezekiah, reminding him of the Assyrian conquests, and warning him\nagainst a vain confidence in the help of his God. This letter\nHezekiah spread before the Lord in earnest prayer. The sequel shows\nhow wisely he acted, and a consolatory message was sent by Isaiah to\nHezekiah. Sennacherib was not allowed to shoot an arrow against\nJerusalem; his army was destroyed, and he was compelled to return\nignominiously to his own land, where he shortly afterwards perished.\nHere we have an example that should be followed by any one harassed,\nirritated, alarmed.\n\n1. _Sorrowful ones,_ take note of it. In this world there is much to\ntrouble, harass, annoy us, but we should be more proof against such\nthings if we were more accustomed to have recourse to the Divine\nhelps graciously offered us. You know what a source of comfort it is\nto lay open your grief to a sympathising friend. This source of help\nand consolation may fail you, but there is no imaginable state in\nwhich you may not spread your sorrow before the Lord. Nor can any\nfriend so fully enter into it, compassionate it, relieve it. What a\nprivilege it is to have such a Comforter always at hand! How\ncompletely are they enemies to their own happiness who neglect to\navail themselves of such an advantage (H. E. I. 3739-3741, 199, 2311,\n2322; P. D. 96, 2820).\n\n2. Connected with Hezekiah's sorrow there was _fear._ The more reason\nfor spreading his case before the Lord, of all friends the most\nwilling and able to remove the cause of apprehension. Daniel in the\nden of lions, Shadrach and his brethren in the furnace, Paul and\nSilas in prison, might be quoted in proof of God's readiness to\ndeliver His people from fear and danger. Whatever may be the nature\nor the source of your fear, spread it before the Lord (H. E. I. 4058).\n\n3. Another feeling which the perusal of Sennacherib's letter was\nlikely to produce in Hezekiah's mind was _irritation._ It was written\nin a tone of proud sarcasm, well calculated to produce this effect.\nIf Hezekiah found any such feeling arise in his mind in reading it,\nwhat could he do better than lay it before the Lord? We are\ncontinually liable to meet with circumstances calculated to ruffle\nthe temper. Then, if we wish to feel and act as Christians should,\nlet us spread the case before the Lord; let us not trust to our\ncommand of temper, or to any resolutions we may have formed, but meet\nthe sudden call upon our patience and forbearance by a prompt\napplication to the Fountain whence those graces flow. It is possible\nto pray under any circumstance. Ejaculatory prayer is a most precious\nprivilege, especially in circumstances of sudden trial or temptation.\nAs anger springs up so suddenly in the mind in cases of irritation,\nit is most happy that there is an antidote to its evil effects on the\nmind that may be resorted to as speedily (H. E. I. 3765-3773). How\nmuch better is prayer than angry retorts (H. E. I. 261-271).\n\nThe good effects of the habit of carrying everything to God are not\nlimited to those three cases; they extend to every conceivable\ncircumstance of trial or temptation. They have yet to learn the value\nof religion who do not know the difference it makes in a state of\ntrial and affliction to have the privilege of turning to a reconciled\nand loving Father, and spreading our calamity before Him, and asking\nHis tender and strong support. As trials may befall us at any hour,\nwe should live in constant fellowship with Him (H. E. I.\n3872-3879).--_John Marriott, M.A.: Sermons,_ pp. 434-436.\n\n\n\nA KING'S PRAYER.\n\n     xxxvii. 15-20. _And Hezekiah prayed, &c._\n\n+I. Hezekiah prayed to Jehovah as the God of his nation.+ \"O Lord God\nof Israel.\" 1. The nation bore the name of one of its progenitors,\nwho \"as a prince had prevailed with God.\" The name Israel had been\nmore generally applied to the northern kingdom, which had already\nbeen overthrown, but Hezekiah claims it for the remnant that was\nleft. When he uttered that name, did he wish to remind himself of\nJacob's power in prayer, or of God's special interest in His nation?\nPerhaps both. God had chosen, defended, saved it. Names which recall\nDivine deliverance may encourage us in prayer. 2. His nation was\nJehovah's peculiar dwelling place: \"Which dwelleth between the\ncherubim.\" The Shekinah, symbol of the Divine presence, shone forth\nfrom between those weird figures on either side of the mercy-seat.\nHezekiah\"s reference to this peculiar Divine manifestation was\nintended to suggest that God would protect His own dwelling-place.\nThis is true. God's dwelling-place is always safe, whether it be a\nnation--a man--a church (H. E. I. 1246-1251).\n\n+II. In his prayer Hezekiah recognises the sole supremacy of\nJehovah.+ \"Thou art the God,\" &c., \"and have cast their gods into the\nfire,\" &c. Polytheism prevailed in the nations surrounding Jud\u00e6a.\nSennacherib had spoken of Jehovah as if He were the God merely of the\nJews, and in his ignorance supposed that Hezekiah had offended Him by\nremoving the \"high places.\" Hezekiah asserted--1. That Jehovah was\nthe only true God. 2. That He exercised supreme control over all the\nkingdoms of the earth.\n\n+III. He appealed to Jehovah as the Maker of heaven and earth.+ In\nthe sublime acknowledgement these truths are involved:--1. _That He\nis eternal_ (H. E. I. 2253; P. D. 1492, 1518). 2. _That He is\nseparate from all His works._ He is immanent in them, but independent\nof them (P. D. 1519). 3. _That He is omnipotent._ He who made the\nuniverse must be almighty (H. E. I. 2270; P. D. 1509). 4. _That He\nhas all things under His control_ (H. E. I. 4023). This conception of\nGod afforded solid ground for Hezekiah's faith. Before the greatness\nof Jehovah the might of His enemies sank into nothingness. Large\nconceptions of God will ever give large expectations in prayer. The\nmore we widen our views of God, the more confidence we shall have in\nHim in trouble.\n\n+IV. Hezekiah prayed with great earnestness.+ \"Lord, bow down Thine\near,\" &c. \"Now, therefore, O Lord, our God, _I beseech Thee._\"\nFervent desires lead invariably to ardent expressions. Cold prayers\nare no prayers. Earnestness is needed, not to lead God to observe our\ncondition, nor to create in Him a disposition to help us,\nbut--1. That the strength of our desires may be revealed. 2. That we\nmay be raised from the low condition of formal devotion. 3. That we\nmay have all the spiritual culture which the outcries of real need\nmay impart. 4. That we may be prepared to receive deliverances\nthankfully (H. E. I. 3831-3838, 3893).\n\n+V. Hezekiah recognised the greatness of the deliverance which he\nsought.+ \"Of a truth, Lord,\" &c. Other kingdoms had fallen; why not\nhis? Only that his hope was in God. No human ingenuity or might could\ndeliver him. Men must be brought to see that their need of\ndeliverance is great. Sometimes they are brought to see this by\ntemporal emergencies. Such crises teach us more of God than years of\nordinary living (H. E. I. 117-121). Spiritual deliverances must come\nfrom God alone. The soul is a besieged city. The forces of Diabolus\nare around Mansoul. Its Sennacherib is mighty. The deliverance which\nit needs is great. To recognise the greatness of the deliverance we\nneed will--1. Deepen our sense of our own helplessness. 2. Stimulate\nthe exercise of great faith. 3. Prepare us for the manifestation of\nGod's great delivering hand.\n\n+VI. Hezekiah associated the glory of Jehovah with the deliverance\nwhich he sought.+ The reproaches that had been cast upon him had been\ncast upon God. The deliverance of Jerusalem would manifest God's sole\nsupremacy in the earth--\"that all the kingdoms,\" &c. No prayers are\nso powerful as those which seek God's glory, for _that_ is the real\nand ultimate good of humanity. Many prayers will not bear this test;\nthey are earthly, narrow, selfish (P. D. 2842).\n\nHezekiah's prayer prevailed. The besieging army was destroyed;\nwhether, as Kingsley suggests, \"by a stream of poisonous vapours as\noften comes forth out of the ground during earthquakes and eruptions\nof burning mountains, and kills all men and animals that breathe it,\"\nor by a pestilence, or by the simoom, we cannot tell. But it was\nGod's delivering hand put forth in answer to Hezekiah's faith and\nprayer--1. That His people might learn to put their trust in Him; and\n2. That all the earth might know that none can defy His power and\nprosper.--_W. Osborne Lilley: The Homiletic Quarterly,_ vol. i. pp.\n521-524.\n\n\n\nA CHRISTIAN PRAYER.\n\n     xxxvii. 20. _Now, therefore, O Lord our God, save us, &c._\n\nThe conclusion of Hezekiah's prayer. Sennacherib had accomplished the\nconquest of several countries, notwithstanding the protection of\ntheir gods. He declared that the God who Hezekiah trusted would also\nbe unable to deliver him. What could the king do better than spread\nthe letter before the Lord, cry for help, and make the reproach of\nthe Almighty's power the principal plea? God's honour was at stake.\nIf Jerusalem was saved it would be a demonstration of God's exclusive\nDivinity to all the nations around. The result was that the angel of\nthe Lord destroyed the Assyrian camp, so that Sennacherib returned to\nNineveh. It is one of the most remarkable answers to prayer.\n\nThis is pre-eminently a Christian prayer--that all the kingdoms of\nthe earth may know that the Lord is God alone. It is the end toward\nwhich all Christian desire and effort is directed. We will consider\nit in this view, and notice--\n\nI. THE CONSUMMATION WHICH IS DESIRED.\n\nIt is that all mankind may believe in the one true God. Most of the\nnations of ancient times believed in a multiplicity of divinities, as\nthe inhabitants of India do now. But many of these peoples were\ndevoted to some one god in particular, who was supposed to take their\ncountry under his protection. The gods were local. They did not\nexclude each other. In time of war the question, so far as the gods\nwere concerned, was not which nation was protected by the true God,\nbut which god was the strongest.\n\nThe spirit of Judaism was entirely antagonistic to this. The unity of\nGod was its great doctrine. It was not missionary; it was a _silent_\nprotest. So far as they were faithful to the teaching they had\nreceived, the belief of the Jewish people was, that while the Divine\nBeing stood in special covenant relations to them, He was the\nexclusive Divine Being; that until the nations should become\nacquainted with Him they had no God at all.\n\nChristianity occupies a similar position, only the position is\nextended. When it commenced its career, it made itself felt, not as a\nsilent protest, but as an active aggressive agency which aimed at the\noverthrow of all idolatry. It assumed the position that all the\nreligions of the earth are false, while it is the only religion for\nman. From that position it has not descended. To do so would be to\nefface itself, therefore it cannot accept the modern paganism. It\ncannot take its place as one of the many forms, perhaps the most\nenlightened, in which the religious sentiment is expressed. It cannot\naccept the courtesies of \"thoughtful men\" on these terms. It must be\nall or nothing. It is the channel through which the one God has\nrevealed Himself as the redeeming God. The consummation desiderated\nby the Christian Church is that all the nations of the earth may be\nbrought to the knowledge of Him as thus revealed.\n\nII. THE REASON WHY IT IS DESIRED.\n\n1. _Because it is essential to the Divine honour._ God is not\nregardless of His glory, He might have remained alone; but He chose\nto call into existence creatures able to contemplate His glory.\nBefore them He has set His works. He wishes to live in their thoughts\nand affections, not merely as a distant object of awful\ncontemplation, but as one enshrined in their heart's love. He desires\nto be so real to them as that they shall connect Him with all the\nevents of history and all the experience of life. But this cannot be,\nif He is unknown or regarded as one of many. The honour of the\nsovereign cannot be divided; neither can the honour of God. It is\nsomething by itself. He is jealous of it. So are His people. They are\nanxious that He receive His proper honour from all the world.\n\n2. _Because it is necessary to religious worship._ Some religious\nworship enters into the life of mankind everywhere. But it cannot be\nindifferent whether it shall be offered to the only Being capable of\nreceiving it, or to nothing. The notion entertained of the object of\nworship regulates the nature of worship. Contrast heathen with\nChristian worship. An unknown God cannot be satisfactorily\nworshipped. The God of Christianity can be the object of a worship\nthat is real so far as the worshipper is concerned, and acceptable to\nHim to whom it is presented.\n\n3. _Because it affects the experience of life._ A man's thoughts\nrespecting God must affect his life at every point. He must not\nbelieve in any. He may believe in many. He may believe in one. He\nwill be influenced in relation to the duties, the trials, and the\ndifficulties of life. Is not the ideal of possible excellence for\nhumanity higher under the influence of the Christian than under any\nother form of belief or unbelief respecting God? In the inevitable\nsorrows of life, is it not a very different thing to be ignorant of\nGod from what it is to know Him as one who sympathises with the\nsufferer, and whose hand will remove the suffering when it has\naccomplished its appointed work? The knowledge of God is the most\npractical of all knowledge. It moulds our life, character,\nexperience, conduct, at every point.\n\n4. _Because it secures the salvation of the soul_ (John xvii. 3).\nThere must be an experimental acquaintance with Him. It is realised\nin the friendship with Him that comes through faith in Christ. It is\nan abiding spiritual life, gradually unfolding into eternal life.\n\nIII. THE MEANS BY WHICH IT WILL BE REALISED.\n\nThe prayer contemplates Divine action as evidence. \"Save us from his\nhand.\" According to the reasoning of the time this would be the\nproof. Reasoning from facts still the most satisfactory. Thus we may\nreason--1. From _creation._ The wisdom and power displayed are the\nwisdom and power of One. 2. From _redemption._ God has interposed for\nmany. He has actually saved many. Every conversion strengthens this\nargument. 3. From _the preservation of the living Church._ In spite\nof persecution, infidelity, lapse of time.\n\nWe may therefore make it a plea for the bestowment of saving\nblessings, as Hezekiah did.\n\nDo you believe in him? Live as you believe. Think what would be the\neffect if all did so. Tell it to the heathen. Pray for them in\npraying for yourself.--_J. Rawlinson._\n\n\n\nTHE CHRISTIAN CHURCH A CONTINUATION OF THE JEWISH.\n\n     xxxvii. 31. _And the remnant that is escaped, &c._\n\nWhen the power and splendour of the family of David were failing, the\nprophets foretold that the kingdom of the saints should one time be\nrestored. Has this promise yet been fulfilled or no? and if\nfulfilled, in what sense?\n\nThere are other prophecies parallel to the text, _e.g.,_ Jer.\nxxxi. 31-33; Ezek. xxxiv. 23; Isa. xli. 14, 15, lxii. 1, 2.\n\n_That these and a number of other prophecies are fulfilled in the\nChristian dispensation is plain from the express assertions of\ninspired persons_ (Acts xv. 13-17). This explains the language of\nMoses, in which the perpetual obligation of the law is asserted, \"Ye\nshall not add unto the word which I command you,\" &c.; and after\npunishment, return of prosperity was promised, on condition of\nreturning to the law (Deut. iv. 30, xi. 22-25).\n\nConsider one or two difficulties--\n\n1. It may be well said that the prophecies have not been, and never will be,\nfulfilled in the letter, because they contain expressions and statements which\ndo not admit, or certainly have a literal meaning. But the use of figures in a\ncomposition is not enough to make it figurative as a whole; we constantly use\nfigures of speech whenever we speak, although the main course of our\nconversation is to be taken literally. Now this will apply to the language of\nthe prophets. The words \"David,\" \"Israel,\" \"Jerusalem,\" and the like, are not\nso much figures as proper names which have a figurative origin, or words which,\nhaving first had a confined sense, come, as language proceeds, to have a wide\none. All these words convey a literal truth in their substance.\n\n2. It may be asked whether it is possible to consider the Christian\nChurch, which is so different from the Jewish, a continuation of it.\nIt may be argued that Christ founded His Church as a new thing in the\nearth. Observe--(1.) That the chosen people had in former ages gone\nthrough many vicissitudes, many transformations, before the\n_revolution_ which followed on Christ's coming. They had been\nshepherds, slaves; the place of God's presence had moved about; they\nhad been governed by a lawgiver, by judges, by kings, by priests. The\nchange when Christ came from a local into a catholic form, was not\nabrupt, but gradual; what was first a dispersion became a diffusion.\nAnd let it be observed, a change in externals was anticipated as\nregards the city of God in the Old Testament. \"Thou shalt be called\nby a new name,\" says the prophet (chap. lxii. 4). (2.) It may be\nobjected that the change was internal, not external only; it became a\nChurch of Gentiles, instead of a Church of Jews. But changes of this\nkind had occurred before, _e.g.,_ the change which destroyed the\nsubstantive existence of the ten tribes; in an earlier age, only two\nof those who left Egypt with Moses entered the promised land. The\nline of continuity, surely, was not less definite when the Church\nbecame Christian. The sacred writers show themselves aware of this\npeculiarity in the mode in which God's purposes are carried on from\nage to age. They are frequent in speaking of a \"remnant\" as alone\ninheriting the promises (Rom. xi. 2-5; Isa. i. 9; Ezek. xi. 13; Jer.\nxl. 15; Hag. i. 14; Joel ii. 32; Micah v. 8; Zech. viii. 12). There\nwas no substitution of a new Church for an old; it was the\nmanifestation of the old law of \"the remnant,\" by which the many were\ncalled and the few chosen. We may consider, then, the word \"remnant,\"\nso constantly used in Scripture, to be the token of identity of the\nCreator, before and after the coming of Christ. Paul expressly\ninculcates that the promises made to Israel are really accomplished,\nwithout any evasion, in the Divine protection accorded to Christians.\n\nTo conclude:--1. Whether we can clear up these points or no, they are\nnot greater than the difficulties which attend on other confessedly\nfulfilled and very chief and notable prophecies, as that of the\ndispersion of the Jews. They were threatened with the evils which\nhave befallen them, supposing they did _not_ keep their law; whereas\nin the event the punishment has come upon them apparently _for\nkeeping_ it; because they would not change the law for the Gospel,\n_therefore_ have they been scattered through the nations. In this it\nis implied that in rejecting the Gospel they in some way or other\nrejected their law, or that the Gospel is the continuation or\ndevelopment of the law. In a similar way are the prophecies\nconcerning the elect _remnant_ fulfilled in the history of the\nChristian Church. 2. If the prophecies in their substance certainly\nhave had a literal fulfilment, then this will follow, viz., that the\nvery appearance of separation and contrast does but make it more\nnecessary that there should be some great real agreement and inward\nunity between one and the other, whether we can discover what it is\nor not on account of which they are called one. All Scripture has its\ndifficulties; but let us not, on account of what is difficult,\nneglect what is clear. Perchance, if we had learnt from it what we\n_can_ learn by our own private study, we should be more patient of\nlearning from others those further truths which, though in Scripture,\nwe cannot learn from it ourselves.--_John Henry Newman: Sermons on\nSubjects of the Day,_ pp. 180-198.\n\n\n\nHEZEKIAH'S PRAYER.\n\n     Isa. xxxviii. 1-19.\n\nIn this narrative there are three points of difficulty and many\npoints of instruction.\n\nI. THREE POINTS OF DIFFICULTY.\n\n1. _Why was Hezekiah afraid to die?_ Answer: (1.) Even to a\n_Christian_ man, death is an event of unutterable solemnity, for\nwhich he feels it necessary to make the most serious preparation, and\nwhich he would not like to have occur to him suddenly. (2.) Hezekiah\nhad not that _clear_ view of the future which has been granted to us\n(ver. 18; 2 Tim. i. 10). (3.) His kingdom was threatened by a\npowerful enemy, and the important reforms which he had been\nprosecuting were incomplete; and even good men are apt to forget that\nGod can raise up others to do His work more efficiently than they\nhave done it. (4.) At that time he had no child, and that he should\ndie childless appeared inconsistent with God's promise to David\n(1 Kings ii. 4). Probably it was a recollection of this promise that\nprompted his reference to his integrity (ver. 3). In those words\nthere is no boastfulness; they are an appeal to the Divine\nfaithfulness. On all these accounts a prolongation of his life seemed\nto Hezekiah desirable, and he sought it from God in prayer.\n\n2. _When we compare vers. 1 and 5, do we not find an astonishing\nreversal of a Divine decree altogether inconsistent with the doctrine\nof God's unchangeableness?_ No. \"The same decree that says, 'Nineveh\nshall be destroyed,' means, 'If Nineveh repent, it shall not be\ndestroyed.' He that finds good reason to say, 'Hezekiah shall die,'\nyet still means, 'If the quickened devotion of Hezekiah importune Me\nfor life, it shall be protracted.' And the same God that had decreed\nthis addition of fifteen years had decreed to stir up the spirit of\nHezekiah to that vehement and weeping importunity which should obtain\nit\" (_Bishop Hall_).\n\n3. _What was the nature of the sign given to confirm Hezekiah's\nfaith?_ For a discussion of this point, see note.[1]\n\n\nII. MANY POINTS OF INSTRUCTION.\n\n1. _Sickness and death are the common lot of mankind._ Kings are\nliable to them as well as beggars (H. E. I. 1536, 1537). 2. _In the\nextremity of suffering, when all human help is vain, the righteous\ncan turn to God._ Pitiable would have been Hezekiah's case, monarch\nthough he was, if he could only have \"turned his face to the wall.\"\n3. _In every extremity, the most powerful of all remedies is prayer_\n(H. E. I. 3720-3724). 4. _How promptly God sometimes answers prayer_\n(2 Kings xx. 4). 5. _God answers prayer instrumentally._ In this case\nHe did it by suggesting a simple remedy (ver. 21), which perhaps the\ncourt physicians had thought it beneath their dignity to employ.\n6. _Those who have been restored from dangerous illness should make\npublic acknowledgement of God's goodness._ 7. _How great are our\nprivileges in possessing the Gospel,_ through which \"life and\nimmortality are brought to light,\" and death stripped of its terror!\nIn the market-place of Mayence stands a statue of Gutenberg, the\ninventor of printing, on the base of which there is this honourable\ninscription:--\"The knowledge which was once the exclusive possession\nof princes and philosophers he has put within the reach of the common\npeople.\" A similar statue might be erected to the honour of our\nSaviour, who has made those views of the future life which cheered\nonly a few of the noblest saints (such as David in Ps. xxiii. 6) the\ncommon heritage of the whole Church. No true believer can now be so\nmuch afraid of death as Hezekiah was (1 Cor. xv. 55-57).\n\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n [1] _\"And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the Lord: and he\n     brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had\n     gone down in the dial of Ahaz.\"_--2 Kings xx. 11.\n\n     How was this wonderful result secured? Did God arrest the\n     earth as it revolved on its axis, and wheel it round in the\n     opposite direction? No one who considers what would be the\n     natural result of such a proceeding, and what a stupendous\n     series of miracles would have been needed to have prevented\n     the destruction of all life upon the earth, will think so\n     for a moment, especially when a course much simpler, and\n     equally efficacious, is suggested by the very words of the\n     different narratives. Isaiah indeed says, \"So the SUN\n     returned ten degrees\" (xxxviii. 8). But his record of what\n     seemed to occur must be interpreted by what God had\n     promised to do: \"Behold, I will bring again the shadow of\n     the degrees, which is gone down in the sundial of Ahaz, ten\n     degrees backward.\" And in the narrative in the Book of\n     Kings it is the _shadow_ and not the sun that is spoken of\n     throughout. To reverse the shadow in the dial it needed\n     nothing more than a _miraculous refraction of the light;_\n     and we believe that this is what occurred, not because it\n     was an easier thing for God to do, but because it is in\n     harmony with all that He does to believe that when two\n     courses were open to Him, one exceedingly simple and one\n     exceedingly complex, He would choose the simple course. God\n     never wastes power. The extraordinary results produced by\n     the refraction of light are familiar to all who have given\n     any attention to natural philosophy. The atmosphere\n     refracts the sun's rays so as to bring him in sight, on\n     every clear day, before he rises on the horizon, and to\n     keep him in view for some minutes after he is really below\n     it. Contradictory as it may sound, on almost any summer\n     evening you may see the sun at least five minutes after he\n     is set. It is entirely owing to refraction that we have any\n     morning or evening twilight. That the rays of the sun can\n     be so refracted as to cause him to be seen where he\n     actually is not is thus a matter of daily experience. And\n     there are some extraordinary cases on record. Kepler, the\n     great astronomer, mentions that some \"Hollanders, who\n     wintered in Nova Zembla in the year 1596, were surprised to\n     find that, after a continual night of three months, the sun\n     began to rise almost _seventeen days_ sooner than he should\n     have done.\" This can only be accounted for by a miracle, or\n     by an extraordinary refraction of the sun's rays passing\n     through the cold dense air in that climate. In 1703 again,\n     the prior of the monastery at Metz, in Lothringen, and many\n     others, observed that the shadow of a sundial went back an\n     hour and a half. It is thus abundantly plain that the\n     result related could have been secured by a refraction of\n     the light, a common occurrence in Nature. The miracle\n     consisted _in its happening at that particular moment;_\n     just as in the case of the fish that Peter caught which\n     contained money. Many fish containing money have been\n     caught; but there was the miracle--that this fish was\n     caught at the very time which Christ had indicated. In like\n     manner the miraculous element in the regression of the\n     shadow on the sun-dial of Ahaz was its occurring just at\n     the very time at which it was needed to verify the\n     prophet's word and strengthen the monarch's faith.\n\n\n\nPREPARATION FOR DEATH.\n\n     xxxviii. 1. _Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die,\n     and not live._\n\nThis announcement was made to Hezekiah when suffering under dangerous\nillness. In answer to his prayer the sentence was mitigated. Fifteen\nyears were added to his life. It is not wrong to pray for the\nprolongation of life when important interests are concerned, and when\nwe pray with due submission to Him whose prerogative it is to fix its\nduration.\n\nThe text furnishes a theme for useful meditation. It contains--\n\nI. A SOLEMN ANNOUNCEMENT.\n\n\"Thou shalt die.\" It may be viewed either as the declaration of a\nfamiliar truth or as the prediction of an immediate event. 1. _As the\ndeclaration of a familiar truth._ Nothing is more familiar. The\nuniversal reign of death over all the generations that have preceded\nus necessitates the conclusion that, unless we are alive when the\nLord comes, we shall follow them. We are reminded of the truth by\nobituary notices in newspapers, by the spectacle of funerals passing\nquietly along the streets, by the silent departure of friends. \"The\nsentence of death has passed upon all men.\" However long life may be\nprotracted in individual instance, it never suggests the question\nwhether they will be exceptions to the general rule. It only suggests\nthe wonder that in any instance life is so far protracted. The only\nuncertain thing is how much longer or shorter than the average our\nown life will be. Death may come to us when in fullest health by the\nunexpected accident, or by the illness which has been caught we know\nnot how, or by the subtle disease which silently undermines the\nsystem, eating away the cord that has bound us to life (H. E. I.\n1536-1546; P. D. 751, 752).\n\nNor is this event a mere departure from the present life. To our\nfriends it is chiefly that. It is their deprivation of all that makes\nus interesting and valuable to them. To ourselves it is very much\nmore. It is the precursor of our appearance before the judgment-seat\nof the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Cor. v. 10; Rom. xiv. 12; Matt. xxv. 34,\n41; Rev. xx. 12). It is to us a much more serious matter than passing\ninto nothingness.\n\nIs it, therefore, a subject to be studiously avoided? Is it not one\nthat should be often before us? Look it in the face; dwell on it.\nSuch thought will not produce indifference to the present. It will\ninvest it with a deeper seriousness. Its interests and duties will be\ncontemplated in their connection with the great future. The smallest\nthing has such a connection. The attitude we assume towards God,\nChrist, the Divine commands, His kingdom. Our conduct in business,\nthe family, among men. The influence of our words, acts, spirit,\ncharacter. All these come into this great account. Death closes the\naccount. Does not this attach dignity, solemnity, earnestness to the\nwhole of life? (H. E. I. 1557-1566).\n\n2. _As the prediction of an immediate event._ Supposing, instead of\nfamiliar truth, it were announced to us on good authority that\nimmediately, or within a given time, we should die, what would be the\neffect? There are aged Christians, whose life-work is done, to whom\nit would be welcome news. There are young Christians who have\nrecently found peace in Christ but have not yet realised the\nprivilege of working for Him, to whom it would be welcome. There are\nothers to whom it would be terrible, because they have not yet found\nChrist nor surrendered to God. It would be to them like the knell of\ndoom (P. D. 684). And yet it may be the duty of some one to make that\nannouncement.[1]\n\nII. A SUITABLE DIRECTION.\n\n\"Set thine house in order.\" This direction is twofold. 1. _With\nregard to your worldly affairs._ The king was directed to give\ncommand concerning his house. His wishes respecting the succession to\nthe throne. Every business-man should keep his affairs in such order\nthat if he were suddenly called away there would be no difficulty.\nEvery one possessed of property should, in view of the uncertainty of\nlife, make his will. Many leave this duty to the last. If it has been\nso left and sickness comes, it should be one of the first things\ndone. It will not hasten death. It will save expense. It will secure\nthe rights of all. It will prevent disputes. It will relieve the\nmind. It will leave it free to attend to the soul. 2. _With regard to\nyour eternal interests._ Think of the soul's future. Are you prepared\nfor the great journey? Are you ready with your accounts? Recall your\nobligations to the Almighty. Consider how they have been discharged.\nOvercome your reluctance to a thorough conviction of sin. Let there\nbe humility, contrition, repentance. Seek mercy. There is a Saviour.\nBelieve in Him. Yield your heart. If already a Christian, survey the\nposition. If near death, all this is obviously necessary. If not near\ndeath, or death not apparently near, it is necessary on the ground of\nyour liability to death. It will come some time. The only safety is\nto close with Jesus now.--_J. Rawlinson._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] It is a distressing duty. It requires the skilful and\n     delicate hand. But it must be performed. There is the\n     tender and delicate girl who took a cold some time ago. She\n     was better and worse. It was nothing. Somehow she became\n     weaker. At length she had only strength to lie in bed. She\n     is sure that with more genial weather she will recover. All\n     has been done. One day the physician, with grace and\n     sympathetic manner, tells her mother the case is hopeless.\n     Break it to her. How can she? There is a fear that the\n     revelation may accelerate the catastrophe. It may not. The\n     sick are not usually so much alarmed at the thought of\n     death as is supposed. At any rate, it seems only fair to\n     them that they should know the seriousness of their\n     position. If they are already saved, it will probably lead\n     them to plant their feet more firmly on the Rock of Ages.\n     If they are not yet saved, it may not be too\n     late.--_Rawlinson._\n\n\n\nDUTIES OF THE SICK AND DYING.\n\n     xxxviii. 1. _Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die._\n\nThis message sent from God to Hezekiah in his sickness contains a\nwarning applicable to us all. It becomes us all to maintain such\norder in our worldly and spiritual affairs as that death, whenever he\nknocks at our door, may find us prepared to obey his summons\n(H. E. I. 1562-1566). But this is especially the duty of those who\nare visited, even now, by the forerunners and harbingers of death\n(H. E. I. 1561).\n\nMost men, when laid aside by sickness, are disposed to turn in their\npain and apparent peril to God who hath smitten, and who alone can\nheal; and to prepare for the great change in which the sickness may\nterminate. But few when thus called upon know how to set about the\nwork, which they are then ready to allow to be most necessary and\nurgent. Even those who have lived outwardly blameless lives, are apt\nto be so distressed and confused by fear of death, that they do not\nknow how to do what will turn the king of terrors into a messenger of\npeace, rest, and immortality (H. E. I. 1567, 1568, 1570; P. D. 684,\n741, 761). Therefore, let those who are now in health receive some\nhints for their behaviour under sickness.\n\nI. DUTIES TO BE PERFORMED BY THE SICK AND DYING.\n\n1. The first act of the mind on receiving any warning of our mortal\nand most frail condition should be an act of recollection, a solemn\nmeditation on the power, wisdom, and goodness of the Most High, in\nwhose hands alone we are, who can kill and make alive.[1] Let us\nthink especially of the love which He has shown us in the gift of His\nSon and the help of His Holy Spirit.\n\n2. When our minds are thus sobered and composed, we must consider\nwhat means are yet within our reach to interest God's power and mercy\nin our favour. This may be best accomplished by repentance. To this\nan examination of our past life is absolutely necessary.\n\nIn this examination let us attend to the following\ncautions:--(1.) Let it be honest, however much this may humble us.\n(2.) Let us not attempt to plead our own good deeds in extenuation of\nour sins. (3.) Let us not be too particular or dwell too long in our\nrecapitulation of such sins as are gone by and are irremediable; for\nthese regrets, however natural, are useless, and beyond a certain\ndegree injurious. With such recollections a guilty pleasure may be\nreceived in our souls; our fancy may return with more regret than\nhorror to the scenes of our former enjoyment. (4.) Let us be more\nanxious to recollect those sins, if there be any, for which it is in\nour power to make reparation. In this let us be most searching and\nhonest. Thorough restitution is essential to prove that our\nrepentance is genuine, and so also is sincere forgiveness of our\nenemies.\n\n3. Thus truly penitent, let us by faith grasp firmly God's promises\nof forgiveness through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 John i. 9).\n\n4. If we have been so unwise as to have left our worldly affairs\nunsettled, let us not be influenced by any foolish fear of alarming\nour family, or of appearing alarmed ourselves, from immediately\nmaking such a disposition of our property as we shall not fear to\ngive account of in the hour of judgment.\n\n5. Let us make up our mind to renounce the world entirely, and all\nrestless hope of recovery; resigning all our prospects entirely into\nthe hand of God, who is best acquainted with our wants and with the\nwants of those whom we are about to leave behind; and who is\ninfinitely able to protect and provide for us and them (H. E. I. 157,\n158, 4055).\n\n6. That our meditations may become holy and comfortable, our\nrepentance sincere and effectual, our restitution humble and public,\nour charity pure and edifying, our justice without taint, our\nresignation without reserve, let us give ourselves diligently to\nprayer (H. E. I. 177, 178, 3739-3746).\n\n7. In order that we may be assisted in these spiritual duties, let us\nsend promptly for the minister of the Church to which we belong.\n\nII. SINS AGAINST WHICH WE MUST BE ON OUR GUARD.\n\nThe sins to which the sick and dying are most exposed are evil and\ntrifling thoughts, unthankfulness, impatience, peevishness, and\nhypocrisy. To the first two of these men are liable on any remission\nof pain, or appearance of approaching amendment. There is no other\ncure for these than an immediate return to prayer and meditation.\nThese remedies will also keep us from murmuring and ill-temper.\nHypocrisy may seem a strange vice to impute to a sick or dying\nperson, but it is not uncommon. It is shown in seeking compassion and\nkindness by counterfeiting the appearance of greater suffering than\nreally belongs to our cases, or in the affectation of more faith, or\nresignation, or humility, or peace of conscience than either our own\nhearts or God will sanction. The desire of worldly praise will\nsometimes linger so late, and cling so closely about the affections\nof man, that some persons continue to act a part until their voice\nand senses fail them.\n\nLet the difficulty of the duties which a sick man has to perform, and\nthe number and greatness of the temptations to which he is liable, be\nan argument with us to leave as little as possible to be done in that\nstate of weakness and alarm (H. E. I. 4251-4258).--_Reginald Heber:\nSermons,_ vol. i. pp. 92-111.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] This will lead us to submit with more temper and mildness\n     to whatever means are prescribed for our recovery, and also\n     to wait their event with less querulous eagerness than if\n     we corroded our thoughts by the pangs we endure or by the\n     earthly succours whereby we hope to escape or lessen them.\n     There is something soothing as well as sublime in the\n     contemplation of greatness and power. We feel it when we\n     gaze on the great works of Nature. He whose heart expiates\n     in the prospect of the ocean or of the starry heaven is for\n     a time insensible to his own resentments or misfortune, and\n     is identified, as it were, with the glorious and tranquil\n     scene before him. One of the principal joys of heaven, we\n     are told, is the delight of gazing upon God; and even in\n     this state of mortal darkness and misery, if we can for a\n     time so forsake the thoughts of earthly things as to call\n     up to our mind whatever images of greatness, and power, and\n     perfection the Scriptures have revealed to us concerning\n     Him, our heart will be filled as by necessity with love and\n     admiration for an object so glorious, and our resignation\n     to His decree will become a matter, not only of necessity,\n     but in some respects of choice. . . . Most unreasonable is\n     their conduct who, in the beginning of sickness, drive away\n     all serious thoughts from the soul, through a fear of\n     injuring the body. Even if this were necessarily the case,\n     the risk is so far less in dying soon than in dying\n     unprepared, that the former danger should be cheerfully\n     encountered rather than incur the possibility of the\n     latter. But the cases of sickness are very few in which, at\n     the beginning of a disorder, such religious considerations\n     can do our bodily health any harm. On the contrary, that\n     awe and tranquillity of soul which are induced by them may\n     in many cases be of real advantage.--_Heber._\n\n\n\nDISTRESS IN PROSPECT OF DEATH.\n\n     xxxviii. 2, 3. _Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the\n     wall, &c._\n\nThe causes of Hezekiah's reluctance to die may be gathered from his\ncircumstances. {See Outline: _Hezekiah's Prayer,_ p. 426.] That\nungodly men should be terrified at death is what might be expected\n(P. D. 684); but reluctance to die is not confined to them (H. E. I.\n1570).\n\nI. _The Christian has naturally a feeling of repugnance at the very\nthought of the disruption of the union between soul and body._ What\nprecedes death, the stroke itself, and its consequences, all excite\nfeelings of dread (P. D. 741, 761).\n\nII. _True believers may feel reluctant to die because of the doubts\nwhich they entertain with respect to their eternal state._ After\ndeath is the judgment. Their fears may proceed from various causes.\nFrom constitutional temperament, increased by a relaxed state of the\nnervous system; from the prevalence of unbelief, the imperfection of\nknowledge and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; from the powerful\nagency of the god of this world in producing them. A last desperate\neffort is made to overthrow faith. While these prevail, recovery from\nbodily distress is felt to be a mercy of no ordinary kind (H. E. I.\n323).\n\nIII. _Religion may be in a declining state in them, and a\nconsciousness of this may render the prospect of death distressing to\nthem._ The progress of the Christian is not uniform. If, while in a\nbackward state, he is called to die, conscience is awakened, and he\nis thrown into alarm (Matt. xxv. 1-13).\n\nIV. _The prospect of death may be distressing, because the believer\nwill then be deprived of all opportunity of honouring God in this\nworld._ This was one reason for Hezekiah's unwillingness to die. He\nwas in the prime of life. Believers, at a like time, may pray to live\nin order to be useful in the Church and world. The prayer proceeds\nfrom a right principle--a desire to honour God. It seems hard for the\nminister of Christ, after a long course of laborious preparation, to\nbe smitten down to die before he has well begun the great work of\npreaching. The philanthropist, like Howard, feels a bitterness in the\nstroke. The Christian parent also. In these and like circumstances a\nrare strength of faith is called for.\n\nV. _God may see good to withhold from true believers the comforts of\nreligion under bodily distress and in their dying moments._ To what\nis the difference in the measure of comfort enjoyed on a death-bed to\nbe ascribed? The sovereignty of God must here be admitted. Objection\nagainst it here applies equally in other circumstances. The Divine\nreasons may be inscrutable to man, although assuredly dictated by\ninfinite wisdom. The newly converted may die joyfully; the veteran\nChristian may have much less comfort. But generally the faithful life\nwill end, at least, in a peaceful death (H. E. I. 1264).\n\nWould you meet death without terror? 1. _Improve by faith that\nrighteousness which Christ wrought out in our nature._ 2. _See to it\nthat your hearts are changed by the Spirit of God._ 3. _Devote\nyourselves unreservedly and unweariedly to the cultivation of\nholiness in heart and life._ The longer we are here, we are the more\nprone to get our hearts upon the world as if it were our rest. It is\nfrom this tendency that the aged Christian sometimes feels as great a\nreluctance to depart as the Christian in the morning of life (Col.\niii. 2).--_James Anderson: Scottish Christian Herald,_ iii. 569.\n\n\n\nTHE SHORTENING OF HUMAN LIFE.\n\n     (_A Funeral Sermon._)\n\n     xxxviii. 10. _I am deprived of the residue of my years._\n\nBriefly narrate the facts of Hezekiah's illness. The words of the\ntext naturally suggest this general observation, that God deprives\nmany of the human race of the residue of their years.\n\nI. WHEN GOD DEPRIVES ANY OF MANKIND OF THE RESIDUE OF THEIR YEARS.\n\n1. _When He calls them out of the world before they have reached the\nlimits of life which are to be found in Scripture_ (Ps. xc. 10).\nHezekiah undoubtedly numbered his years according to this standard\nwhen he spoke (at forty years of age) of being deprived of the\nresidue of his years. 2. _When He calls them out of the world before\nthey have reached the bounds of life fixed by Providence._ Thought\nthe Scriptures limit life to seventy or eighty years, yet Providence\noften extends it to a longer period, even to a century. Many aged\npersons enjoy a large measure of health, strength, and activity;\nshould any of these be suddenly cut down by disease or accident, they\nwould be deprived of the residue of their years which they had\nanticipated, according to the course of Divine providence in fixing\nthe limits of life to the aged. 3. _Even those who die before they\nhave reached the bounds of life which are imposed by the laws of\nNature, may be said to be deprived of the residue of their days._\nNature sets bounds to every kind of life in this world, not excepting\nhuman life. What the natural limit of human life is we cannot tell,\nbut from the fact that some have survived for over a century and a\nhalf, we may infer that God has deprived the vast majority of the\nhuman race of the residue of their years, and has not allowed even\none in a million to reach the bounds of life which Nature has set.\n\nII. WHY GOD THUS SHORTENS THE LIVES OF MAN AND CUTS OFF THEIR\nEXPECTED YEARS.\n\n1. Sometimes it is _to teach the living that He is not dependent on\nthem in the least degree._ Though He can and does employ them in His\nservice, yet He can lay them aside whenever He pleases, and carry on\nHis designs without their assistance. Let eminent and useful men like\nHezekiah remember this, that they may not yield to the temptation of\npride (H. E. I. 2218-2219). 2. In order _to teach mankind their\nconstant and absolute_ dependence upon Himself. This they are\nextremely inclined to forget, and their forgetfulness arises in a\ngreat measure from the consideration of the general bounds of life\nwhich Scripture, Providence, and Nature have set. To these well-known\nperiods they naturally extend their views, desires, and expectations.\nBut to make them sensible that they still live, move, and have their\nbeing in Himself, God continually deprived one and another, and much\nthe larger portion of mankind, of the residue of their years. 3. _To\nteach the living the necessity of being continually prepared for\nanother life_ (H. E. I. 1543-1546). 4. _To teach the living the\nimportance of faithfully improving life as long as they enjoy it._\nAll men are naturally slothful and strongly inclined to postpone\npresent duties to a more convenient season. The best and most\nindustrious of men need the sharp spur of the possibility of sudden\ndeath, and of being called away before their work is complete. When\nGod cuts down the active and useful in the midst of their days, He\nwarns us most solemnly (Eccl. ix. 10; H. E. I. 1562-1566). 5. God\nsometimes cuts short the days of the wicked _to prevent their doing\nevil in the time to come_ (Ps. lv. 23; Prov. x. 27; Eccl. vii. 17).\n6. God sometimes shortens the lives of His faithful servants to\nprevent their seeing and suffering public calamities. It seems to\nhave been in mercy to Hezekiah that God added only fifteen years to\nhis life; had fifty years been added (and then at death he would only\nhave been ninety), he would have been involved in the dreadful evils\nwhich were coming upon both his family and his kingdom (Isa. lvii. 1).\n\nAPPLICATION.--1. If God does not always deprive men of the residue of\ntheir years, _there is a propriety in praying for the lives of the\naged as well as for the lives of the young._ Even the oldest persons\nliving, though labouring under pains, infirmities, and diseases which\nseem to indicate the near approach of death, may yet pray for the\nremoval or mitigation of their disorders, and for a longer space of\nlife. Life is a blessing, and to pray for its continuance is a duty.\n2. If God so often deprives men of the residue of their years, _it is\nextremely unreasonable and dangerous to flatter ourselves with the_\n_hope of living a great while in the world._ What ground have we to\nexpect that our days will be greatly prolonged; that _we_ shall\nescape all the dangers and diseases which have proved so fatal to\nothers, and live as long as men can live according to the course of\nnature? This expectation is as dangerous as it is absurd. It\nencourages the wicked to continue in sin. It is the strangest and\nmost fatal error that mankind ever embraced (James iv. 14; Matt.\nxxii. 44). 3. Since God deprives so many of the residue of their\nyears, _we ought to beware of placing too much dependence upon the\nlives of others, as well as of our own._ Others are as liable to\nleave us as we are to leave them (Ps. cxlvi. 3-5). 4. If God so often\ndeprives men of the residue of their years, then _long life is a\ngreat as well as a distinguishing favour._ It is a talent capable of\nbeing improved to the highest public and private advantage We should\ndesire it for the sake of having greater opportunity of getting good,\nand still more of doing good. Had Hezekiah, Joseph, Joshua, Caleb,\nand David died in early manhood, how little comparatively they could\nhave done for Israel! Since good men are to be rewarded according to\ntheir works, the longer they are permitted to live, the greater\nopportunity they enjoy of promoting their own future blessedness.\n5. If God always has wise and good reasons for depriving men of the\nresidue of their years, then _it is as reasonable to submit to His\nprovidence in one instance of mortality as another._ He knows all the\ndisappointment which a strong man feels in being cut down in the\nmidst of his days, all acute sorrow that is caused by an untimely\ndeath and He sympathises with it all. He never afflicts willingly,\nnor grieves the children of men; He takes no pleasure in giving\nanxiety and distress to the dying, nor in desolating the hearts of\nthe living; and when He does either, it is for a reason that is\ninfinitely wise and infinitely kind. It behoves us then to say with\nJob: (Job xiii. 15, or Job i. 21).--_Dr. Emmons: Works,_ vol. iii.\npp. 79-92.\n\n\n\nA CRY FOR HELP.\n\n     xxxviii. 14. _O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me._\n\nThis prayer ascended from a sick-bed. State Hezekiah's circumstances.\nFrom many sick-beds it still ascends. 1. From the sick-bed of the\nChristian who is distressed by thoughts of what may befall his wife\nand children after his removal from them. 2. From the sick-bed of the\nChristian who perceives that the world has been gaining much on his\nheart. Overtaken in the very strength and flower of his days by a\nsudden and dangerous illness, he sees that in the midst of the bustle\nand business of an honest calling he has gradually drawn off from a\nlife of watchfulness and prayer, and that, while keeping the forms of\ngodliness, he has lost much of its power. Death apparently at hand,\nhis soul starts up alarmed. 3. From the sick-bed of the worldly man,\nwho at length perceives his guilt and danger. His awakened conscience\nfills him with darkness and fear (H. E. I. 1334-1339), and the\napproach of death terrifies him (H. E. I. 1567).\n\nShow how graciously God deals with all these suppliants when they\nsincerely call upon Him.--_Richard Monks: Sermons,_ pp. 230-249.\n\n\nA good prayer:--1. _For the young man entering upon the duties of\nlife._ Surrounded by the snares of the world, exposed to many\ntemptations, and having in himself no strength or wisdom to deal with\nthem aright. 2. _For the young man entering upon his Christian\ncourse._ Experimentally sensible of the deceitfulness of the heart,\nand conscious that there is one ever watchful, every willing to\nencourage him in evil (H. E. I. 1061). 3. _For the Christian\nperplexed in the path of duty._ 4. _For the Christian on his dying\nbed_ (H. E. I. 1570-1593).--_H. Montagu Villiers, M.A.: Sermons,_ pp.\n194-211.\n\n\nHezekiah's prayer reminds us of _man's need of a Divine Helper._ We\nneed some one who can undertake to be our guide through life; to\nsustain us under the sorrows of life; to strengthen us against the\ntemptations of life; to effect reconciliation between us and a justly\noffended God; to succour us in death; to welcome us in heaven, and to\nassign us our place in it.--_Horace Monod._\n\n\n\nTHE SURETYSHIP OF CHRIST.\n\n     xxxviii. 14. _Undertake for me._\n\n+I. That man needs a surety.+ This is evident from several\nconsiderations. Man--1. _Is an insolvent debtor;_ 2. _a captive;_\n3. _a criminal;_ 4. _helpless and mortal._\n\n+II. That a surety has been provided+ (Heb. vii. 22, viii. 6, ix. 15,\nxii. 24). Christ was constituted a surety; not _for God to us,_ but\n_for us to God._ He undertook to do for us, and in us, what we could\nnot do for ourselves. Is man a debtor? Christ has paid the debt. Is\nman a captive? Christ came to set the captive free. Is man a\ncriminal? Christ has endured the curse (Isa. liii. 6; 2 Cor. v. 21).\nIs man helpless and mortal? Christ has provided everlasting strength\n(2 Cor. xii. 9).\n\n+III. That there must be a believing application made to that\nSurety.+ We must put in claim for share in the suretyship of\nChrist--must say in faith, \"Lord, undertake for me; be surety for me.\"\n\n+IV. The effects of such application.+ These are many and most\nimportant. In case of Hezekiah several are mentioned. God had sent\nhim an alarming message. He wept and called upon God. His prayer was\nanswered. A sign was given. During his sickness and after his\nrecovery he had great exercises of soul. He thought of death (ver.\n10); was annoyed because he was about to be cut off from the worship\nof God (ver. 11), and that by a premature death (ver. 12). But was\nthere not a _remedy_? Yes. _What?_ A believing application to the\nLord as surety. \"O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me.\" And what\nwas the _consequence_? The whole tone of his thoughts was changed. He\nnow recognises God's hand in the dispensation (ver. 15); sees these\nthings to be good for his soul (ver. 16); believes his recovery\ncertain--realises the forgiveness of sin--is enabled to praise God\n(ver. 19); can now resolve to teach his children about God's truth\nand determine with them to bless and magnify God for ever (vers. 19,\n20). Thus the realisation of God as surety, and a believing\napplication to Him for help, proved the _turning-point_ for good in\nHezekiah's experience.\n\nAPPLICATION.--1. _In the way of warning._ (1.) Not to depend on\nourselves for salvation. (2.) Not to neglect the means of grace.\n2. _In the way of encouragement._ (1.) Jesus Christ is surety for all\nwho believe in Him. (2.) All who are oppressed in body or soul may\nand should, by God's grace believe in Jesus as their surety.--_T.\nOliver: The Study and the Pulpit,_ New Series, 1876, pp. 419-421.\n\n\n\nHEZEKIAH'S RESOLUTION.\n\n     (_A New-Year Motto._)\n\n     xxxviii. 15-20. _I shall go softly all my years, &c._\n\nThis resolution grows out of that singular experience of sickness and\nrecovery recorded in the preceding verses. It furnishes an excellent\nmotto for the year. Our translation is somewhat defective, but if we\nsubstitute _\"on\"_ for _\"in,\"_ the correct sense will be clear. The\nmeaning is that the recovered king would walk through the fifteen\nyears that were added to his life in salutary remembrance of his\ndangerous illness, and of the goodness of God in prolonging his days\non earth. The memory of that trouble and of the mercy that rescued\nhim would put a staff in his hand to make his walk more devoted,\ncircumspect, and consistent. Understood thus, the words are\napplicable to all. Some of you may be able to trace a close\nresemblance between your experience and that of Hezekiah. Like him,\nyou may have escaped from a well-nigh fatal illness. But all of us\ncan look back on similar periods--on mercies received and dangers\naverted--and in recollection of them we may say, \"I shall go softly\nall my years _on_ the bitterness of my soul.\"\n\nI do not know any better commentary on these words than the opening\nstanza of Tennyson's _In Memoriam_:--\n\n        \"Men may rise on stepping-stones\n         Of their dead selves to higher things.\"\n\nA good New Year's motto, which harmonises so sweetly with it. Our\npast experiences, our dead selves, may be made stepping-stones on\nwhich we may climb to a clearer vision and a loftier devotion. What,\nthen, was the nature of that pathway of life which this good king\nengaged to pursue? What was the prospect which opened up before him?\n\n1. _A walk of humble dependence on God._ This element in the\nresolution is distinctly expressed. In vers. 15, 16, God's Word and\nacts are viewed as the real supports of life. Looking above all\nsecondary causes and natural agencies, the king acknowledges God as\nthe Source and Giver of life. This is a great lesson, and one which\nan experience like that of Hezekiah can teach. It seems to us a\nnatural thing to live on; we count on continued health and long life\ntill some sickness lays us low, and we are brought to feel as we\nnever felt before that our times are in God's hand. But whether we\nhave passed through a dangerous illness or not, the resolution befits\nus all. Let us remember that God sustains and orders our lives.\n\nIt was, indeed, a singular position in which Hezekiah was placed. He\nknew precisely how long he would live. The duration of our pilgrimage\nis just as fixed as his was, only we do not know it (P. D. 2252). The\nthread of our life is in God's hand. Thus was Hezekiah taught to \"go\nsoftly.\" His soul had passed through \"great bitterness,\" and he shall\nbear it in mind, and his rescue from it deepen his dependence on God.\n\n2. _A walk of usefulness._ It was on this plea that he had prayed for\nthe prolongation of his life (ver. 3). He had rendered valuable\nservice and had borne a consistent testimony. The convalescent king\nsaw a prospect of further work for God on earth. He who a short time\nbefore this seemed about to leave his kingdom in confusion without an\nheir to the throne is now able to say, \"The father of the children\nshall make known thy truth.\" Does it not become us to ask, Why is my\nlife prolonged? Why have I been permitted to enter on a new year? Is\nit not for this reason, among others, that we may become increasingly\nserviceable in advancing the cause of truth? Better far that life\nshould terminate than that we should live to no purpose, for every\nyear adds to our responsibilities. Advance, then, into this year\nresolved that, God sparing you, you will live more useful lives\n(H. E. I. 3228-3251; P. D. 2269).\n\n3. _A walk of thankfulness_ (vers. 19, 20). How thankful this\nconvalescent was for his restoration to health, and all the more so\nbecause to him, as to other saints of his age, the grave seemed dark\nand gloomy (ver. 18). It needed the Gospel of Christ's resurrection\nto dispel the darkness and the gloom. This psalm is itself a proof of\nHezekiah's thankful spirit, and perhaps the 118th Psalm is another\nproduction of his pen, containing as it does words of hope suitable\nto this period of his history (Ps. cxviii. 17, 18). Are we too\nresolved that our remaining years shall be years of thanksgiving, our\nlives a psalm of praise?\n\n4. This fifteen years' walk was to be _a walk of peace_ (ver. 17).\nThe meaning here is that the affliction was sent with a view to his\nobtaining a more settled and abiding peace; it teaches us, as nothing\nelse can, the secret of inward peace. What are the sources of\ndispeace? One of them is found--(1.) In our _earthly strivings and\nambitions._ \"There is no peace to the wicked.\" He is constantly on\nthe rack of avaricious struggles, unsatisfied longings, sensual\ndesires. Affliction can show us the utter vanity of earthly things.\nHow poor the world looks as seen from within the curtains of a dying\nbed! The sufferer who has come back from the gates of death is able\nto estimate earthly things at their right value. He ceases from the\nlow ambitions and carnal desires that once raged within him.\n(2.) _Bodily pain and weakness_ is another cause of unrest. An\nexperience of this bitterness brings peace when the patient is\nrestored to health. We set greater value on a blessing which we have\nlost and regained. One of our poets describes a convalescent\ngathering strength, and coming forth after long confinement to look\nupon the scenes of Nature--\n\n        \"The common earth and air and skies\n         To him are opening paradise!\"\n\nTo have such feelings we must have known affliction. For the\nenjoyment of this peace we must have tasted \"great bitterness.\"\n(3.) But the greatest source of dispeace is _unpardoned sin_ (ver.\n17). How complete is the forgiveness of sin as thus expressed! What a\npeace is enjoyed when guilt is removed and God's love shed abroad in\nour hearts! (H. E. I. 1893, 1894; P. D. 2675, 2677).\n\nWhat more do we need to make this year a happy one than to set\nforward with this resolution? We cannot break away from the past. We\nare now what it has made us. Our \"dead selves\" make our living\npresent selves. From our trials and sorrows we may gain supports for\nnobler endeavour. \"I shall go softly,\" meekly, submissively,\nprayerfully, \"on the bitterness of my soul.\" Do you wish some spring,\nsome impulse to send you forward thus in life's pathway? Think of\nsome bitterness in your past experience, some Marah which the Lord\nsweetened for you, some trouble from which He rescued you when you\nlay on the brink of death, or under the accusations of a troubled\nconscience, and make that \"dead self\" a support for the path before\nyou.--_William Guthrie, M.A._\n\n\n\nTHE RESTORATION OF BELIEF.\n\n     xxxviii. 15. _I shall go softly all my years, &c._\n\nIn the case of Hezekiah, belief was restored by a great shock which\nbrought him into contact with reality. He had been living, as many of\nus live, a pleasant, prosperous life, till he had really grown to\nbelieve that this world and its interests were the only things worth\ncaring for. His treasures, his art collections, the beauty of his\npalace, made him love his life and dream that it was not a dream. God\nappeared to him not as to Adam, in the cool of the day, but as He\ncame to Job, in the whirlwind and the eclipse, and Hezekiah knew that\nhe had been living in a vain show. The answer of his soul was quick\nand sad, \"By these things men live, O Lord;\" these are the blows\nwhich teach men what life really is.\n\nMany are prosperous, happy, and at ease. It will be wise for these to\nremember that thoughtless prosperity weakens the fibre of the soul\n(H. E. I. 3997-4014).\n\nThe blow which sobered Hezekiah was a common one. It did nothing more\nthan bring him face to face with death. The process whereby his\ndependence on God was restored was uncomplicated. But there are far\nworse shocks than this, and recovery from them into a godlike life is\nlong and dreadful.\n\n1. One of these is the advent of irrecoverable disease--protracted\nweakness or protracted pain. Then we ask what we have done: we curse\nour day. But our misfortune brings round us the ministering of human\ntenderness: slowly the soul becomes alive to love; and through the\nbenign influence of human love the first step towards the restoration\nof belief has been made, the soil is prepared for the work of the\nSpirit of God. Then the Gospel story attracts and softens the\nsufferer's heart. Afterwards he reads that Christ's suffering brought\nredemption unto man, and begins to realise how he can fill up what is\nbehindhand of the sufferings of Christ. This is not only the\nrestoration of belief--it is the victory of life.\n\n2. More dreadful than protracted disease is that shipwreck which\ncomes of dishonoured love--\n\n        \"When all desire at last, and all regret,\n         Go hand in hand to death, and all is vain,\n         What shall assuage the unforgotten pain,\n         And teach the unforgetful to forget!\"\n\nFor some there is no remedy but death. Others live on in a devouring\nmemory. And the memory poisons all belief in God. But there are many\nwho recover, and emerge into peace and joy. Can we at all trace how\nthis may be? Lapse of time does part of the work. It does not touch\nthe memory of love. The pain of having a gift thrown aside has\npassed; the sweetness of having given remains. When we thought\nourselves farthest from God, we were unconsciously nearest to Him.\nAnd so we are saved, faith is restored. Like Christ, we can say,\n\"Father, forgive them, for they knew not what they did.\"\n\n3. Many are conscious, in later life, that their early faith has\npassed away. It was unquestioning, enthusiastic. It depended much on\nthose we loved. Religious feelings which had been without us and not\nwithin, slowly and necessarily died away. Becoming more and more\nliberal, we also become more and more unbelieving, and at last\nrealised that our soul was empty. Are we to settle down into that? It\nis suicide, not sacrifice, which abjures immortality and prefers\nannihilation. Our past belief was borrowed too much from others.\nResolve to accept of no direction which will free you from the\ninvigorating pain of effort. Free yourself from the cant of\ninfidelity. It boasts of love, it boasts of liberality. Its church is\nnarrower than our strictest sect. Bring yourself into the relation of\na child to a father. We need to come to our second self, which is a\nchild--to possess a childhood of feeling in the midst of\nmanhood.--_Stopford A. Brooke: Christ in Modern Life,_ pp. 380-392.\n\n\n\nA GREAT DELIVERANCE.\n\n     xxxviii. 17. _Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it\n     from the pit of corruption: for Thou hast cast all my sins\n     behind Thy back._\n\nThe text forms part of a king's song on recovering from a severe\nillness. \"When we are raised from deep distress, our God deserves a\nsong.\" But it points beyond temporal deliverance to salvation from\nthe power and punishment of sin.\n\nI. THE SINNER'S CONDITION.\n\nIn \"the pit of corruption.\" This description\nsuggests--1. _Loathsomeness._ It is a fit simile of the world in\nwhich the unconverted live. It is not a quagmire, but a pit; not a\ndry pit, but one full of corruption--filth, death, worms. To God,\n\"glorious in holiness,\" every man in the pit of corruption must be\nloathsome. He may be educated, loving, philanthropic, and worldly\nwise, but being _dead in trespasses and sins,_ he is fit only for\nbeing buried out of the sight of God and good men. 2. _Helplessness._\nA man in a pit is helpless, like Joseph. No man ever yet got out of\nthe pit of corruption by his Latin, his logic, or his mother wit. It\nis not for him to postpone the date of a deliverance once vouchsafed.\n3. _Increasing danger._ Men never mend in the pit.\n\nII. THE SINNER'S HELPER.\n\n\"Thou,\" &c. In vain does the sinner look within himself or to his\nfellow-men for help, but God gives it. Every saint praises God for\nhis salvation: _\"Thou,\"_ &c. Note, 1. The _freeness_ of God's\nredeeming love. There is nothing in a man wallowing in a pit of\ncorruption to draw out love. Where it is shown, it is a free gift.\n2. The _fulness_ of that love. \"Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy\nback.\" Some wink at our sins others cast them into our teeth on all\noccasions. God does neither. He abhors sin, but when He forgives the\nsinner, He forgets the sin (Jer. l. 20; Rom. viii. 33; Ps. xxxii. 2;\nH. E. I. 2322-2337).\n\nIII. THE SINNER'S DUTY.\n\nHe is not to lie quiet, but to cry for a deliverer. Wishing, hoping,\nthinking will not do. The crying, to be effectual, must be made\n_now._ Now God says, \"My arm is not shortened,\" &c. (lix. 1). When\nonce gone, to all your cries His reply will be, \"Because I called,\"\n&c. (Prov. i. 24-26).\n\nWhy will you die? Bring forth your strong reasons against\nsalvation.--_M.: Christian Witness,_ xviii. 392-393.\n\n\n\nFORGIVENESS OF SIN.\n\n     xxxviii. 17. _For Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy\n     back._\n\nThis is part of the song which Hezekiah wrote when he had recovered\nfrom his sickness. He had betaken himself to prayer. The nation,\nthreatened with invasion from the powerful kingdom of Assyria, could\nill afford to lose its head. His prayer was heard. The prophet was\nsent with a new message. The Divine hand was visible, although\nordinary means were employed. This the king fully recognised (ver.\n20). God's mercies should not be forgotten when the occasion has\npassed.\n\nThe king sees the connection of his disease with sin, and the removal\nof disease with the removal of his sins. From the text we observe\nthat the forgiveness of sin is necessary, possible, complete,\nknowable.\n\n+I. Forgiveness of sin is necessary.+ Scripture traces suffering to\nsin. The fact of sin is prominent in the history of mankind. Its\nuniversality is the groundwork of the revelation of its remedy. It is\nwritten on the conscience. However, oblivious to the fact in health\nand prosperity, men in sickness and disaster usually think of their\nsins as the remote or immediate cause. It is sometimes God's way of\nawakening attention (H. E. I. 56-89).\n\nUntil sin is forgiven, it is before the face of God (Ps. xc. 8; Heb.\niv. 13). The accountability of men would be an unmeaning phrase if it\ndid not involve the idea that an account is taken of his actions.\nThey are all noted, good and bad, and tested by the Divine standard.\nEvery man's are before the face of the Supreme Ruler and Judge for\nthe purpose of being dealt with. This is his case until it is changed\nby the exercise of forgiveness. It is useless to ignore the need of\nforgiveness under the impression that we can, in some way, remove the\nstain. However much good a man may do, the fact of sin remains; and\nso long as he is under a law which requires unsinning obedience, the\ngood cannot be set against the bad in the hope that the former will\nwipe the latter away. Forgiveness of the past is the first necessity.\n\n+II. Forgiveness of sin is possible.+ The Gospel builds on the\ngroundwork laid. It provides and makes known a way by which\nforgiveness may be obtained. It is not by the enactment of a law\nobedience to which will have this effect. Law brings the sinfulness\ninto clear relief and renders escape impossible. Nor is it by the\ndeclaration of a general amnesty, which would virtually neutralise\nthe law and its penalties. Nor is it by an exercise of the Divine\nsovereignty in the way of mercy to all men, nor even to the penitent,\nsimply as such. God's way of forgiveness provides for the exercise of\nmercy by the satisfaction of the claims of righteousness. For its\nmanifestation He prepared during long ages of teaching. In due time\nHe sent His Son (Gal. iv. 4, 5). The interposition of Christ renders\nforgiveness possible. It includes His taking the sinner's obligations\non Himself (Col. i. 14). This is the Divinely appointed way of\nforgiveness. It satisfies all the requirements of the case. It\nprovides an adequate Mediator. It provides forgiveness on honourable\nterms. It is, so far as the sinner is concerned, a free forgiveness.\nIt imposes no impossible condition. It says to the sinner under the\nburden of the law, which is impossible to him, is no longer demanded,\nbecause it has been rendered by His great Substitute. It simply calls\nupon him to believe, repenting of his sins. If you see your\nsinfulness, if your soul is troubled by it, if you are anxious to\nobtain mercy, the Gospel bids you come to Jesus, and come at once. It\nassures a present, immediate, free pardon.\n\n+III. Forgiveness of sin is complete.+ \"Thou hast cast all my sins\nbehind Thy back.\" They were previously before the face of God. They\nare now taken thence and cast behind His back. You do that with a\nthing you have done with and intend to see no more. It is a most\nexpressive representation of the Divine forgiveness. It attracts\nattention to its completeness. \"All his sins,\" without exception or\nreservation, have been cast out of sight. They will never be produced\nagainst him. This is complete forgiveness. We can realise it better\nby comparison with the forgiveness exercised by men. Man's\nforgiveness is often very poor. \"I can forgive, but I cannot forget.\"\n\"I forgive, but I shall have no more to do with that man.\" Many do\nnot even pretend to forgive. But God forgives, completely, fully\n(H. E. I. 2328-2348).\n\n+IV. Forgiveness of sin is knowable.+ The text is the language of\nassurance. Hezekiah inferred it from his recovery. We may be\ncertified--1. By the written Word. 2. By consciousness of the\nSpirit's work in us--repentance, faith, love, surrender. 3. By the\nmoral effects. Put all these together (H. E. I. 309, 310, 324, &c.)\n\nDo you possess assurance? Your experience--1. Illustrates the Divine\ncharacter: \"merciful and gracious.\" Its most attractive light.\n2. Produces grateful love. The greatest boon has won the heart.\n3. Invites to holy obedience. Appeals to what is best. 4. Suggests\nevangelic action. Tell others. Seek the salvation of the worst.\n\nAre you not forgiven? Perhaps indifferent. Perhaps desirous, but\nhesitating. Perhaps procrastinating. Do not trifle. Do not neglect.\nDo not delay. Be reconciled to God.--_J. Rawlinson._\n\n\n\nTHE SONG OF HEZEKIAH.\n\n     (_Sermon to the Young._)\n\n     xxxviii. 18, 19. _For the grave cannot praise Thee, &c._\n\nThis is part of Hezekiah's song of praise to God. He was very ill. A\ngood man, yet rather afraid of death; certainly very anxious to live.\nWhen we are strong and full of life, it is easy to talk of braving\nall worldly sorrows; but when the time comes for us to prove our\nwords, many who are now in heaven have said, \"Spare me a little\nbefore I go hence and be no more seen.\" In what affecting terms did\nHezekiah bewail his sickness! \"I said, in the cutting off my\ndays. . . . I shall not see the Lord,\" in His holy sanctuary on\nearth; \"I shall behold man no more;\" never again behold the human\nface divine, never meet again the welcoming smile of child or friend.\n\nGod heard Hezekiah's prayer, took pity upon him, turned back the\nsundial of his life fifteen years. The good king rejoiced in this\ngift of lengthened life: \"The grave cannot praise Thee,\" &c.\n\nLet us follow out this rejoicing of the king, this setting forth the\nadvantages of the living above the dead. 1. The living are in\npossession of the time which is given to make reconciliation with God\nand secure an everlasting interest. We are all by nature strangers to\nGod, enemies to Him in our mind and inclination. We are defiled and\nguilty creatures; this is the hour of cleansing, whilst the fountain\nstands open in which our sins may be washed away (2 Cor. vi. 2). We\nare by nature utterly unfit for heaven; this is the day of repentance\nas well as of pardon. At the summons of death we must go, whether\nprepared or unprepared, holy or unholy, hoping or despairing. While\nyour hearts were unholy, your death, had it happened, must have been\ndreadful. Let those who have improved this gift of life to make their\nreconciliation with God highly value it, and magnify its important\nadvantages with all the gratitude and zeal of the king of Judah.\n2. Life is a precious and golden gift, because it affords a field for\nincreasing in good works. We are required to be \"zealous of good\nworks.\" _Zealous;_ not to touch a good work as if we were afraid of\nburning our fingers. Such works \"are good and profitable to men.\" The\ndays and years of life should be numbered by the multitude of good\nworks, as by the revolutions of the earth. Lost and wasted time\nshould not come into the account of life. Ah! if we reckoned thus,\nwhat a shrinking and contracting would take place! A Roman emperor, a\nheathen, used to say, \"I have lost a day,\" if he had not done any\ngood action in it. How many are there who live to no purpose at all,\nwhom the world will not miss when they are gone! How many live to\nwicked purposes, and the world is glad to get rid of them! Some are\nmere cumberers of the ground; they bear the Christian name, but how\ndifferent from Christ! \"The night cometh,\" said He, \"in which no man\ncan work.\" \"Ye are the light of the world,\" said Christ to His\ndisciples, and how dark would this earth be were there no disciples\nof Christ upon it! \"Ye are,\" said He, \"the salt of the earth;\" if the\nsalt were gone, what corruption of manners, what filthy\ncommunications, what odious practices would overspread and defile\nsociety! One child of God in a family is like the ark in the house of\nObed-Edom, of which we read, \"The Lord hath blessed the house of\nObed-Edom,\" &c.; or like Joseph in Potiphar's house, of whom we read,\n\"The Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake,\" &c. We may\nfollow up this idea, and say if one child of God is so great a\nblessing in a family, many may bless and save whole cities and\nnations. We find this to have actually been the case from what is\nsaid of Noah, Daniel, and Job. God said three thousand years ago,\n\"Righteousness exalteth a nation,\" and it is equally certain that\nwickedness overthroweth it. In all the Old Testament history, we see\nhow He ascribes prosperity to the keeping of His commandments, and\nruin to the breaking of them. We cannot suppose that it is in any way\ndifferent now; that the Ruler of the Universe is in slumber, or,\nbeing awake, has altered the rules of His government. Life, and\nespecially youthful life, is the time for good works and good\nactions; not one can be done in the grave.\n\nCONCLUSION.--Let young persons value life. It has been said that we\n\"take no note of time save from its loss;\" let not this be said of\nyou. It is the gift of _time_ that alone places you in a position to\nprofit by all other gifts. Make good use of life; of this its\npleasant morning; be obedient, be diligent, love each other, avoid\nquarrelling and evil words. Live so that the end will conduct you to\na world where, though time will be no longer, life will continue for\never.--_George Clark, M.A.: Sermons,_ pp. 239-246.\n\n\n\nPRAISE FOR PRESERVATION.\n\n     (_Last Sunday of the Year._)\n\n     xxxviii. 19. _The living, the living, he shall praise Thee,\n     as I do this day._\n\nSuch was Hezekiah's burst of thankfulness when God heard his prayer,\nand gave him fifteen years more of life. While the danger lasted, he\nwas surprised into more of alarm than became his place and character;\nbut now, marvellously spared, he calls upon the living everywhere to\npraise God for His goodness. _His_ case, he feels, was _theirs_ too.\nAll men alike live upon God's bounty, and are debtors to His\npatience. He guards them from evil,--sends them good things, without\nwhich life must be presently extinguished,--renews their being, and\nmakes it over to them by a fresh grant, not only when the closing\nyear reminds us of the gift, but at each day's working time.\nTherefore Hezekiah is not satisfied with a solitary strain of\nthanksgiving. He looks round upon a world teeming with animated,\nintelligent beings, and in every brother who God hath made and kept\nalive he finds one who should bring in his tribute of praise. He\nwants a chorus of rejoicing worshippers.\n\n1. This season naturally makes us thoughtful. We think of what life\nhas been to us lately, and what it might have been. We have nearly\npassed another stage on our journey to the grave, and we miss some\nwho began it with us. We stand, like unwounded soldiers on the\nbattlefield with the dead and the dying all round them. This is all\nGod's doing. He who gives life sustains it. If to have lived on be\ndeemed a blessing, and praise for the boon be due anywhere, it can\nonly be to Him whose providential government of the world is like an\nhourly repetition of the creative power which called it out of\nnothing.\n\n2. But is life worth having? Is prolonged life a blessing, and may we\nfairly require men to be grateful for it? This is assumed by\nHezekiah. Life and praise may go well together, because to so great a\ndegree life and happiness go together. Not always. Some are so\nunhappy that they cry out under their burden, and almost wish, for a\nmoment, for deliverance at any cost. But the settled feeling of men's\nminds is the other way. To almost all of them life is the hoarded\ntreasure which they will guard at any price. They will put up with\nthe worst they have to bear before they will accept release on the\nterms of being banished straightway to an unknown world. The reason\nis, that by the side of this harvest of woe, of which they reap a few\nears now and then, there groweth a harvest of blessing, of which they\nare constant reapers (P. D. 2282, 2256).\n\n3. Remember the \"common mercies\" of which through another year we\nhave been partakers. Our very senses are so many curious inlets by\nwhich pleasures, more or less vivid, come thronging in from the wide\nworld around us. Continued health. Senses and faculties marvellously\nkept from injury. The happiness of our houses; specially to be\nremembered at this season. When we call upon the living to praise\nGod, we have much more to show for the demand than the bare fact that\nGod lets them live. He lets most of them live happily. He causes\ntheir cup to run over with blessings. He does all this, in spite of\nforgetfulness and disobedience on their part that would wear out any\nother love but His (H. E. I. 2307-2309). Praise God for the \"common\nmercies\" of another year.\n\n4. While we live we are on mercy-ground. _That_ is the special mercy\nbeyond all our common mercies. Life, while it lasts, connects us with\nall that is blessed and glorious in the scheme of salvation. While we\nare here, \"there is but a step between us and death;\" but while we\nare here, too, the door stands wide open through which we may pass\ninto the presence-chamber of our King. _While you are here,_ if you\nwill make Christ your friend, sin may be cast out, and the blessed\nSpirit of truth become your daily Teacher, and your future years be\nall rich in blessing and bright with hope. Praise God for the\nprolongation to you of this great opportunity, and embrace it now!\nLet the new year find you serving Christ.\n\n5. Living saints, as well as spared sinners, should praise God for\nHis preserving mercy. They have had fresh opportunities for serving\nGod and for growth in grace. They have no righteousness of their own\nwherein to stand before God, and never will have; but talents\nimproved and laid out for God will bring a blessing. He is too\nbountiful a Master to let any of His servants work for nought. Heaven\nitself is not alike to all, though it shall be satisfying to the\nmeanest child in God's family. The disciple whom Jesus specially\nloved leant on His bosom at the Last Supper; and at the\nmarriage-supper, when all the guests shall be assembled from many\nlands, they who have attained to the godliest stature in their days\nof conflict shall sit nearest to the King, and wear the brightest\ncrowns (H. E. I. 2751-2753, 3288; P. D. 412, 1752). Every year is a\nfresh sowing-time for a more abundant harvest.\n\n6. Some among you have special reasons for saying with Hezekiah, \"The\nliving,\" &c. (1.) This strain belongs to the aged man or woman, who\nhas already lived beyond the allotted term of human life. In your\nfeebleness, God has carried you through another stage. Beyond your\nexpectation, perhaps, you have seen another Christmas. Many are the\nmercies of one year, but when they come to be multiplied by near\nfourscore, what an array we have then! Praise the Lord! (2.) Some\nbefore me, while the year was running out, thought they should never\nsee the end of it. Like Hezekiah, you prayed for life when death\nseemed to be close upon you. God restored your life to you. What have\nyou done since to show yourself grateful for that mercy? Have a care\nthat your mercies do not make your case worse. If they do not melt,\nthey harden.\n\n7. If the living should praise God, how largely is He defrauded of\nHis due! We are surrounded with living men. Each one of these has a\nfresh grant of life with each day's sun-rising. What a tide of praise\nshould be going up unceasingly to His throne! Do we find the world so\nfull of praise? Alas! no; if praise be the sign of life, we seem to\nbe walking among the tombs. God is forgotten in His own world. While\ncommon friends are thanked for trifling favours, the Giver of\nmercies, repeated with every breath, is to many of us an unheeded\nstranger.--_John Hampton Gurney, M.A.: Sermons, chiefly on Old\nTestament Histories,_ pp. 297-312.\n\n\n\nHEZEKIAH'S STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS.\n\n     xxxix. 1, 2. _At that time Merodach-baladan, &c._\n\nA study of the character of Hezekiah is profoundly instructive. The\nsacred writers impartially present him to us in his strength and in\nhis weakness.\n\nI. HEZEKIAH IN HIS STRENGTH.\n\nHe was in the full sense of the word a good king (2 Kings xviii. 3,\n5). He was conspicuous--1. For his religious zeal. Though,\npolitically, it was a hazardous thing to do, he utterly abolished\nidolatry in his kingdom. 2. For his religious wisdom (2 Kings.\nxviii. 4).[1] 3. For his strong faith. This was shown especially in\nhis conduct in the matter of the siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib.\nWhen we consider these things, we may well understand the high praise\ngiven to Hezekiah; certainly there were few kings like him; perhaps\nnone who exhibited a ripeness of religious knowledge and a strength\nof character so remarkably superior to the times in which he lived.\n\nII. HEZEKIAH IN HIS WEAKNESS.\n\nThe weakness of his character was displayed--1. When the king of\nBabylon sent messengers and a present to him to congratulate him on\nhis recovery from his illness. Then he must needs take them over his\nhouse and his armoury, and parade before them all the strength of his\ndominions (2 Kings xx. 12-13). It was natural and right that he\nshould be pleased with the conduct of the king of Babylon; it was\ngratifying to him personally; it augured well for the future, as\nconcerning his kingdom, that he should be on good terms with the king\nof Babylon, now rising into power; but it was unworthy of him to lose\nhis self-possession in the manner described. (1.) He was evidently\novercome for the nonce by silly feelings of vanity. He seems to have\nthought that inasmuch as the king of Babylon had considered him\nworthy of the compliment of sending to him, he on his part must show\nthat he was indeed a very magnificent king, as the king of Babylon\nhad no doubt heard that he was. (2.) His vanity caused him to forget\nhow little service his armoury and his treasures had been to him in\nthe hour of peril (H. E. I. 3998, 4000, 4001, 4011). (3.) His vanity\ncaused him to forego an opportunity of honouring God and of\ninstructing his neighbours in Divine truth.[2] Doubtless it was his\nfailure in duty in this respect that brought upon him so severe a\nrebuke (vers. 3-7). 2. The weakness of his character had already\nmanifested itself in his conduct during his illness. In the prospect\nof death his strength of mind quite broke down (ch. xxxviii.) But\nthere was a difference: in the other case he acted unworthily of his\nknowledge; in this case he was weak because he was, compared with\nourselves, weak in religious privileges. He looked to his grave with\nsuch melancholy feelings because he could not clearly see a life\nbeyond it. The answer of the great riddle of humanity had been\nguessed by many before Christ, but His resurrection made the truth\nclear (2 Tim. i. 10; H. E. I. 3415). If it were not for the light\nwhich our Lord has thrown into the grave, we should mourn like\nHezekiah, and our eyes would fail as did his. Having more light than\nhe had, it is our duty to live a nobler life than he did, and not to\nbe cowards in prospect of death (H. E. I. 1570-1643).--_Harvey\nGoodwin, M.A.: Plain Truth Sermons,_ Third Series, pp. 78-92.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Amongst other idolatrous forms of worship which he\n     destroyed, he broke in pieces the brazen serpent which\n     Moses had made in the wilderness (2 Kings xviii. 4). Many\n     men would have been ready to destroy all the heathen forms\n     of idolatry; they would have made no peace with Baal, or\n     Dagon, or any other gods of the nations, but they would\n     have hesitated to destroy a relic of the life of Israel in\n     the wilderness; they would have thought it sacrilegious to\n     break up an image which Moses himself had made, and they\n     would have reasoned that the religious feelings of the\n     people were so entwined about this memorial of their early\n     days, that it would do more harm than good to violate their\n     feelings, and take away that which excited in their minds\n     religious thoughts. If a king of Judah had so argued, it\n     would not have seemed right to confound him with the mere\n     rabble of idolaters. If Hezekiah had destroyed all other\n     forms of idolatry and left this remaining, we could easily\n     have found an excuse for his conduct; but forasmuch as he\n     took a higher view of his duty, we are bound to give him\n     credit for that higher view, and to remark his spiritual\n     discernment. Hezekiah was not deceived by any flimsy\n     arguments about the sacred nature of the relic which the\n     people adored; it was a cause of idolatry, that was enough.\n     It had been sacred once. In the wilderness, when it was\n     held up as an object upon which the people might gaze, it\n     would have been a sacrilege to mutilate it; but now it was\n     but \"a piece of brass,\" and if that piece of brass be the\n     centre of a system of idolatry, there is but one safe\n     course, and that is to destroy it.--_Goodwin._\n\n [2] If his purpose was to impress upon the Babylonians the\n     greatness of his strength, the story of the destruction of\n     Sennacherib would have answered his purpose much better. If\n     Hezekiah had taken the ambassadors to the Temple, and told\n     them how he had spread Sennacherib's letter before the\n     invisible presence of his God in that holy house, and how\n     he had prayed that the designs of his enemy might be\n     brought to nought, and how that eventually the Assyrians\n     had all either perished or fled, the men of Babylon would\n     have been far more impressed with the power of Hezekiah,\n     believing as they would that he was under the protection of\n     an unseen Hand, than they possibly could be by the mere\n     vulgar display of treasures and armour, which their own\n     country would show in abundance, and which was the very\n     thing calculated to excite their desire of\n     plunder.--_Goodwin._\n\n\n\nHOME LIFE AND INFLUENCE.\n\n     xxxix. 4. _What have they seen in Thy house?_\n\nState briefly the circumstances that gave rise to this question. It\nevidently suggests to Hezekiah that he has not made the best use of\nthe visit of the Babylonians. He might have turned it to greater\naccount than the gratification of his vanity by displaying his\ntreasures. Instead of magnifying the greatness and glory of God, and\nthus lifting the minds of his visitors to the highest themes, he had\nonly held out a bait to their covetous desires, and tempted them to\nsteal the treasures so vainly displayed. This was to be the result of\nhis folly (ver. 6). This is how we miss the great opportunities of\nour life. There come to us golden seasons when we might bear valuable\ntestimony for God; but we have some petty, personal desires of our\nown to carry out, and they pass away unimproved. Then comes the\nprophetic message, borne by our own conscience, that the plan we\nadopted to gratify our improper desires will only lead us to\nconfusion and unhappiness.\n\nThe extent to which Hezekiah came under the censure of God in this\nmatter we shall not now further consider. We shall extend the\napplication of this question to the matter of _home life and home\ninfluence._ So it has a bearing on all of us. \"What have they seen in\n_thy_ house?\"\n\nI. It should be seen that our home is the common centre of attraction\nfor all the family (P. D. 1828-1830, 1836).\n\nII. In the home each member of the family should be seen faithfully\ndischarging the duties of his or her relationship to it; husbands,\nwives, fathers, &c.\n\nIII. It should be seen that every Christian gift and grace is\ncarefully cultivated. \"For Christ's sake,\" should be the motto of the\nwhole family. In all they do, every member of it should seek to\ndisplay love such as He manifested when He dwelt among us: His love\nwas patient, magnanimous, sympathetic. This is the way to make the\nhumblest home happy (P. D. 1823, 1834, 1838, 1839).\n\nCLOSING REFLECTIONS.--1. If we do not thus exhibit Christianity at\nhome, it may be questioned whether we possess it at all (H. E. I.\n2994). 2. If others know that there is no practical Christianity\ndisplayed by us at home, they will rightly set but little value upon\nour religious performances abroad. 3. It is from the culture of home\nlife that our hopes are to spring with regard to the spiritual life.\nIn the home lurk the disorders that disturb society. The true way to\nbring these disorders to an end is to endeavour to make the homes of\nour land the nurseries of every Christian grace and virtue. 4. Let us\naim at the accomplishment of the needful national reforms, by each of\nus doing what we can to make _our own home_ all that it ought to\nbe.--_William Manning._\n\n\n\nHEZEKIAH TRIED.\n\n     xxxix. 8. _Then said Hezekiah, &c._\n\nIn the narrative connected with the text we find much in Hezekiah to\nbe avoided and much worthy of imitation.\n\n+I. We find Hezekiah in great affliction.+ He had recently escaped\nfrom great public and national calamity; he is speedily involved in\nprivate and personal suffering (ch. xxxviii. 1). \"He was sick,\" and\nIsaiah was sent to prepare him for death. He was greatly alarmed at\nthe approach of death (ch. xxxviii. 9-14) How different from St. Paul\n(Phil. i. 23). He lived in a dark and imperfect dispensation; few\nthen had clear views of the world to come (2 Tim. i. 10). Hezekiah's\nfaith failed him greatly, and he clung to life with pertinacity.\n\n+II. In his trouble he sought the Lord+ (ch. xxxviii. 2, 3). He made\nsolemn vows of what he would do if spared (ch. xxxviii. 15). When\npartially restored, he renewed his vows (ch. xxxviii. 19). Thus\nbelievers in every kind of trouble should seek comfort of God in\nearnest prayer; nor is it improper then solemnly to give ourselves to\nGod, and renew our vows. We are encouraged to do this by the speed\nwith which a gracious answer was sent to Hezekiah (ch. xxxviii. 4,\n5). Isaiah was hardly gone out from pronouncing the judgment when he\nwas sent back with a message of mercy (2 Kings xx. 4-5). How\nwonderfully compassionate is God to His feeble people! Their poor,\ntrembling prayers, uttered in fear and doubting, are heard and\nanswered. He not only hears prayer, but answers directly (Dan.\nix. 20-23).\n\n+III. We find him speedily forgetful of the mercy he had received.+\nAmbassadors arrive at his court. Whence and for what purpose? (vers.\n1, 2). What an opportunity for him to redeem his vows, and to\nproclaim the power and goodness of God to these heathens! Alas! he\nshows them all his riches, &c., but of God and His temple he says\nnothing. Flattered and betrayed by the world (vers. 3, 4), what a\nheart his and ours must be! _How could this be?_ We are told\n(2 Chron. xxxii. 31) that such is man when left to himself! We are\nnever in greater danger than after seasons of great mercy and special\nprovidences (H. E. I. 4902-4904).\n\n+IV. He humbly received the rebuke that was sent to him+ (text).\nHere the habit of his mind appeared: he had fallen into the sin of\nvanity, but humility and resignation to the will of God, especially\nto His afflicted dispensations, were his usual characteristics. A\nclear evidence of true godliness, meekly and cheerfully to submit to\nfatherly correctives. Aaron (Lev. x. 1-3), Eli (1 Sam. iii. 18), the\nbereaved mother (2 Kings iv. 26), David (Ps. cxix. 75).\n\nLESSONS.--1. _Let us cultivate humility, watchfulness, and jealously\nof ourselves_ (H. E. I. 4883, 4901). 2. _Let us not be disconsolate\nbecause we are conscious of weakness and unworthiness._ The errors\nand failings of the best of men are left on record, not to extenuate\nour sins, but to save us from despair. They were men of like passions\nwith ourselves--the same infirmities and corruptions--yet God bore\nwith them, and saved them out of all their distresses. Let us\ntherefore \"hope to the end,\" and \"patiently continue in well-doing,\"\nbelieving that we shall be \"more than conquerors through Him who hath\nloved us\" (H. E. I. 1117, 2376).--_F. Close, A.M.: Fifty-two Sketches\nof Sermons,_ pp. 52-55.\n\n\n\nSUBMISSION UNDER GOD'S REBUKE.\n\n     xxxix. 8. _Then said Hezekiah, &c._\n\nI. THE REBUKE.\n\nThe character of Hezekiah is well known. One of the very best of the\nkings of Judah (2 Kings xviii. 3-7). Nevertheless even in this\nexcellent man there were moral weaknesses which were displayed when\nhis physical malady was removed. The arrival of the Babylonian\nambassadors excited within him hopes of political advantages arising\nfrom alliance with the idolatrous king whom they represented, and in\norder to impress the envoys with a sense of his importance, he made\nan ostentatious display of his wealth (ver. 2). This displeased the\nLord. Why? 1. Because Hezekiah let slip a favourable opportunity of\nmaking known to the heathen the glory and the goodness of the God of\nIsrael.[1] 2. Because his ostentation made it plain that pride was\nusurping the throne of his heart (2 Chron. xxxii. 26).\n\nBut this was not the habitual frame of Hezekiah's mind; he was a good\nman, and therefore God lovingly chastened him. If it had been the\nwicked Ahab who had done this deed, the Lord might possibly have\ntaken no notice of it; He might have left that idolatrous sinner to\nhave followed his own devices. But seeing this evil spirit begin to\nshow itself in a pious and humble man, the Lord mercifully and\nsavingly interposes to check it in the beginning (vers. 3-7).\n\nII. THE MANNER IN WHICH IT WAS RECEIVED.\n\nSharp as was the rebuke sent him by Isaiah, Hezekiah so received it\nas to give a rare example of pious and cheerful resignation (text).\nBoth parts of his reply are remarkable. 1. _\"Good is the word of the\nLord which thou hast spoken.\"_ None but a child of God could have\nused this language in sincerity, under such trying circumstances. But\nhe has such faith in God, that although it is impossible for him to\nforesee what wickedness his posterity would commit, he knows that the\ndecree will be found to be righteous (1 Sam. iii. 18). But doubtless\nhe meant something more than submission to God's sovereignty; he\nmeant to acknowledge the goodness of the Lord to himself, of which\nthis very rebuke was a new manifestation (H. E. I. 190-196, 162-165).\n2. _\"He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my\ndays.\"_ That is, God hath been pleased to inform me that my children\nare to be carried into captivity and to suffer much affliction; but\nin my grief for this, I must not forget to thank Him for His tender\nmercies to myself. He has declared that I shall have peace, and this\nis far more than I deserve.\n\nAPPLICATION.--1. We may learn what exceeding sinfulness and immense\ndanger there often is in sins which we are apt to pass over as\ntrifles, and hardly to notice in ourselves (H. E. I. 4897, 4898,\n4516). 2. Remark an inestimable privilege of the children of God's\nlove: they may fall into the very same troubles as their naughty\nneighbours, but in the one case calamity is the angry lash of the\nlaw, in the other it is the faithful rebuke of an anxious Father.\n3. For the history of God's dealings with Hezekiah we may infer what\nmust be the wisest wish for any man to make, viz., that God would\ntake us into His holy keeping and choose our inheritance for us. If\nwe were left to determine for ourselves, some would choose one thing,\nand some another. Yet \"sorrow is better than laughter;\" and the\nhistory of Hezekiah is proof of it (H. E. I. 211, 3986, 3998-4001).\n4. If sin have brought rebuke unto you, search and try your ways,\nthat you may see what your transgression and weakness is; and then\naccept the chastening of the Lord as a token of His love (H. E. I.\n144-147). 5. Whatsoever may have befallen you, remember always that\nthe mercies which remain are far greater than you deserve; and that\nin the day of prosperity, no less than in the evil, there is need for\nperseverance and watchfulness (H. E. I. 4888-4890).--_Archdeacon\nBather: Sermons on Old Testament Histories,_ pp. 275-285.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] If, instead of showing them his treasures, he had related\n     to these idolatrous Chaldeans, who were worshippers of the\n     sun, the account of his marvellous cure, and especially the\n     miracle by which the shadow was made to go ten degrees\n     backward on the dial, he might have been the means of\n     bringing them to the knowledge of the true God who made the\n     heavens, and of convincing them that He was master even of\n     that glorious luminary, which they ignorantly adored\n     instead of its Creator.--_Bather._\n\n\n\nADDITIONAL OUTLINES.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *\n\nINSTINCT FOLLOWED--REASON DISREGARDED.\n\n     i. 3. _The ox knoweth his owner, &c._\n\n\"We are wise.\" So spake the Greek of old in the pride of his\nintellectual powers, and so speak many in our own day who have\nimbibed the spirit of the Greek. Reason is a wonderful faculty, and\nthere have not been wanting, in any age of the world, those who have\nfelt elated by their successful exercise of it. It can look before\nand after, deriving experience from the past and suggestions\nprovision against the future. It can explore the hidden secrets of\nNature and render the world of matter subservient to man; it can turn\nin upon itself and speculate upon its own processes; nay, it can\nteach us something of the existence and attributes of the Most High.\nSuch being the triumphs of reason, it can hardly be matter of wonder\nthat the wise men of this world plume themselves on the attainment of\nthose triumphs.\n\nThe vainglorying of men, however, whatever form it may assume, is\nabomination in the sight of God. In the scheme of salvation which God\nhas devised there is no room for boasting either of our moral or\nintellectual endowments: \"It is excluded.\" That scheme is essentially\nhumbling in its character; it is so constructed as to shut out pride\nat every cranny where it could possibly insinuate itself; it is such\nas to stop every mouth and bring in all the world guilty before God.\nAnd not only guilty, but blind also. He will have all the world\nconvicted in the court of Conscience of folly, no less than of sin.\nIn order to bring His people to this conviction, he expostulates with\nthem in many passages of His Word on the vainglorious boasts they\nwere in the habit of uttering, shows them their utter emptiness, and\nexhibits the inconsistency of man's moral conduct with his\npretensions to wisdom and enlightenment (cf. Jer. viii. 7, 8).\n\nOur text implies two things--1. That the religion subsisting between\nthe brute creation and man is in some measure similar to that which\nsubsists between man and God; and, 2. That the acknowledgement made\nby dumb animals of their relation to mankind strangely contrasts with\nthe natural man's refusal of acknowledgement to God.\n\n+I. We are to compare the relations subsisting between an inferior\nand a superior creature with those subsisting between a superior and\nthe Creator.+ Note, though these relations may be susceptible of\ncomparison, and may be used to lift up our minds to apprehension of\nthe truth, there is an insufficiency in the lower relation to type\nout the higher. The distance between man and the inferior creatures,\nif great, is measurable; whereas the distance between finite man and\nthe Infinite God is incalculable.\n\nThe dumb creature recognises the master whose property it is: \"The ox\nknoweth his owner.\" What constitutes man's right of ownership in the\nox? Simply the fact that he bought it. He did not create it. If he\nsupports its life, it is only by providing it with a due supply of\nfood, not by ministering to it momentarily the breath which it draws,\nnor by regulating the springs of its animal economy. That is the sum\nof his ownership. _But what constitutes God's right of ownership in\nus, His intelligent and rational creatures?_\n\n1. We are the work of His hands. Creation constitutes a property in\nall our faculties and a claim to our services which no creature hath\nor can have in another.\n\n2. Our property is most entire, our claim of right most indisputable,\nin those things which, having been once deprived of them by fraud or\nviolence, we have subsequently paid a price to recover. The flocks\nand herds in the possession of civilised European settlers in\nuncivilised countries are often swept away by a barbarous horde of\nnative freebooters. Imagine, then, a case in which, it being\nimpossible to bring the offenders by justice (by reason of their\nnumbers and strength), the owners of the cattle should effect a\nransom of their property by laying down a sum equivalent to its\nvalue. Is it not thenceforth theirs by a double claim--the claim of\noriginal ownership and the claim of subsequent ransom? Such is the\nclaim which God has over us. That claim, grounded originally upon the\nfact of creation, has been confirmed, enlarged, extended a\nthousand-fold by the fact of redemption (1 Cor. vi. 20; 1 Pet. i. 18,\n19).\n\n3. Our text suggests another detail of the claims which our Heavenly\nOwner has upon our allegiance: \"The ass knoweth his master's crib.\"\nHe knows the manger at which he is fed and the hand that feeds him.\nHere is a palpable claim upon regard, although by no means so high as\nthose previously advanced. It is a claim appreciable by the senses,\ncapable of being understood and responded to by the mere animal\nnature. In palliation of man's neglect of those claims of God which\nare established by creation and redemption, it might haply be pleaded\nthat he is a creature of the senses, and that the facts of creation\nand redemption are not cognisable by them. These stupendous facts are\ntransacted and past. But even this paltry justification is entirely\ncut off by the fact here implied, that man is indebted to God for his\ndaily maintenance, for the comfort and the convenience even of his\nanimal life.[1]\n\nObserve, also, that it is not the brute creation _in a savage state_\nwhose relations towards men are here drawn into comparison with the\nrelations of man towards God. To illustrate his argument the inspired\nwriter has chosen instances from the domestic animals, who share\nman's daily toils, live as his dependants, and are familiarised by\nlong habit with their master's abode and ways of life. In drawing out\nthe contrast, he does not mention mankind generally, but \"_Israel_\ndoth not know, _my people_ doth not consider.\" It were in some\nmeasure excusable that the heathens should refuse acknowledgement to\nthe living God, whom they know not. But what shall we urge in\nextenuation of the indifference of \"Israel,\" who from his very\ninfancy has been of the household of God, domesticated by the hearth\nof the Universal Parent, and furnished with every means of access to\nHis presence?\n\n+II. A contrast is drawn between the acknowledgement made by dumb\nanimals of their relation to their owners and Israel's refusal of\nacknowledgment to his God.+\n\nThe cattle \"know\" or recognise the voice of their owner; his call\nthey heed, in his steps they follow; irrational creatures though they\nbe, they are not insensible to their benefactor's fond cares. What a\ncutting reproof of the insensibility of God's people!\n\n1. They recognise not God in His warnings, whether they be addressed\nto them as individuals or to the nation of which they are members.\nAfflictions arrest them not in their career of vanity and sin.\nJudgments stir them not out of their lethargy of indifference. They\nhear not, see not, God in them.\n\n2. They do not acknowledge God in His mercies. God's blessings of\nNature and Providence are accepted by them as a matter of course. If\nregarded at all, they are traced no higher than to secondary causes.\nThe continual experience of them renders them not one whit more\nsubmissive to the yoke of God's service. As to the higher blessings\nof forgiveness and grace, they feel no need of them, and evince no\ngratitude for them.\n\nWant of consideration is the root and reason of this strange\ninsensibility. It is not that \"Israel\" lacks the faculty of\napprehending God, but he will not be at pains to exercise that\nfaculty. It is not that he lacks a speculative knowledge of the\ntruths now set forth, but that he does not lay to heart this\nknowledge, nor allow it its due weight.--_E. M. Goulburn, D.C.L.:\nSermons,_ pp. 153-181.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Of this fact a strongly figurative but very beautiful\n     statement is contained in a passage of Hosea--a passage\n     remarkably illustrative of that before us, inasmuch as\n     there also the imagery is drawn from man's dealings with\n     the cattle. \"I drew them,\" says God, \"with the cords of a\n     man, with bonds of love: and I was to them as they that\n     take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto\n     them.\" _\"I was to them as they that take off the yoke on\n     their jaws.\"_ The owner of the ox does not overtask his\n     strength, does not cause him to toil in the furrow without\n     intermission. At the approach of evening the faithful\n     animal is driven homewards, and freed from the shackles of\n     the galling and burdensome yoke. An image this of God's\n     dealing with His human children. Our every period of\n     refreshment and repose, of ease and relaxation from toil,\n     is from the unseen hand of our heavenly Owner. Those many\n     fractions of comfort and happiness which lighten the load\n     of life--those numerous (although momentary) glimpses of\n     sunshine which relieve the plodding routine of our daily\n     career--those flowers with which the path of the great\n     majority is more or less strewed: the innocent sally of\n     mirth, the smile of affection, the expression of sympathy,\n     the cheering word of encouragement from those whose\n     encouragement is justly valued--these, like all other\n     mercies, are from God, and (though these be but a small\n     part of what we have to be thankful for) are designed to\n     draw us towards Him in bonds of gratitude and love.\n\n     _\"And I laid meat unto them.\"_ By those who avail\n     themselves of their services, the cattle are supplied with\n     provender. God not only called us into being, but maintains\n     us in being. He it is who gives us our daily bread, and\n     spreads our board with food convenient for us; for food,\n     for health, for continuance of life our dependence upon Him\n     is absolute. By means of these and similar mercies it is\n     that God establishes a claim to the gratitude and\n     devotedness even of those among His rational creatures who\n     have most deeply buried themselves in the things of time\n     and sense, and whose hearts seem to be stirred by no breath\n     of spiritual aspiration, and troubled by no prospect of\n     eternity.--_Goulburn._\n\n\n\nTHE CESSATION OF WAR.\n\n     ii. 4. _They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and\n     their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up\n     sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any\n     more._\n\nA prediction of times yet to come. It is never yet been fulfilled. It\nis true that when the religion of Christ came to the world it came\nwith the spirit and principles of an all-pacific dispensation (_\"On\nearth peace, goodwill towards men\"_); and true that, in the degree of\nits actual prevalence, this has been the effect. But how far is this\nfrom anything adequate to the terms of the prediction, which exhibit\na bright and ample idea of this spirit and tendency of Christianity\nrealised, reduced to fact, on the great scale!\n\n+I. War has been a prominent character of all ages.+\n\n1. Man, when he came fresh from his Creator's hands, must have had in\nhis soul the principle of all kind affections (Gen. i. 27), a state\nof feeling that would have been struck with horror at the thought of\ninflicting suffering. Yet in the first family of man war and\nslaughter began. Men may argue and quibble against our notion of\n_\"the fall,\"_ but here was fall enough! and demonstration enough!\n\n2. War prevailed among the antediluvians (Gen. vi. 5, 12). We are\ntold of some that \"became mighty men, men of renown.\" How? Partly\nperhaps in a war against savage beasts, but far more in the exploits\nof that \"violence\" which filled the earth, and doomed it to be\noverwhelmed.\n\n3. War prevailed among the race descended from Noah. It was by the\ndescendants of the only faithful friend and servant of the Almighty\nfound on earth that the desolated world was to be repeopled, and we\nmight have hoped for a better race, if human nature were\nintrinsically good, or corrigible by the most awful dispensations.\nBut the Flood could not cleanse the nature of man, nor the awful\nmemory of it repress the coming forth of selfishness, pride,\nambition, anger, and revenge. (1.) The history of the Jews is to a\nlarge extent a history of wars. (2.) The history of the other races\nis a history of their conflicts with each other, of a terrible\nprocess by which the smaller states were absorbed in others, until\nthey were all included in the Roman empire. How many millions of\nhuman beings were destroyed in the process! (3.) Since that period\nthe history of the world has been to a large extent written in\nblood.[1]\n\n_Reflections:_--1. What a state of the spirit of mankind is here\ndisclosed to us! 2. What a state of Christianity, or to any real\nprevalence of it, among the nations denominated Christian! 3. How\nnecessary that all religious persons, especially tutors and parents,\nshould set themselves systematically, as opportunities offer, to\ncounterwork that maddening enchantment of the \"glory\" of war; of war\nconsidered merely as the field of great exploits. Let them strive to\nbreak up, in the view of young and ardent minds, this splendid,\npestilent delusion about heroes, conquests, fame, and glory.\n\n+II. War is not necessarily sinful, nor are those engaged in it to be\nalways condemned.+ Defensive war does not violate Christian\nprinciples. Nay, it is sometimes a duty.[2] An opposite opinion is\nheld by some who rest on the literal and extreme construction of a\nfew expressions, such as \"Resist not evil,\" \"Give place to wrath,\"\n\"Love your enemies,\" \"To him that smiteth thee on one cheek, turn\nalso the other.\" These interdict revenge. But their unqualified\nliteral interpretation requires that Christianity should subject\nmankind universally to the unrestrained will of whoever is the most\nunjust and wicked; should teach that so long as there are men who\nhave more of Satan and Moloch in them than the rest, and are intent\non practicing oppression and cruelty, it is the absolute duty of\nChristians, as such, individually and nationally, to let them do\nit,--at least rather than resist them in such a way as to endanger\ntheir persons. This would be a delightful doctrine to all the\ntyrants, bigots, slave-drivers, robbers, and murderers! But the\nmagistrate is not _so_ to leave the matter to God's disposal, or to\nrefrain from using the \"sword\" against the doers of evil. And the\ngovernment of a nation is but a magistracy on a large scale.\n\nBut those principles upon which a Christian casuist would justify\nwar, under certain possible circumstance, would not justify perhaps\none in twenty of the wars that have been waged. Very rare has been\nthe instance of a war, on either side, strictly and purely defensive,\nof either the nation itself or any other endangered or oppressed\npeople depending on its protection. Hence--\n\n+III. We rejoice over this prediction that war is to cease on the\nearth.+\n\n1. This prediction spreads a visionary sense before us so new,\nstrange, and delightful, that nothing but prophecy, and faith in the\nDivine power and goodness, could enable us to expect its\nrealisation.[3]\n\n2. It is difficult to conceive the practicability of its attainment.\nFor it is something intrinsic in the soul and nature of man,\nthroughout the whole race, that war has sprung from. _There_ is the\nhot and terrible element that has burst abroad in so many thunders.\nAnd yet is it _man_ that is to be universally at peace! How can it\nbe? (2 Kings vii. 2). Vicious selfishness, ambition, envy, rivalry,\nrapacity, revenge, these are the things in men that cause wars\nbetween them, on the small scale and the great. How can these ever be\nso repressed, subdued, extirpated, that all war shall cease?\n\n3. Certainly not by experience, philosophy, or civilisation.[4]\n\n4. Nothing will operate efficaciously to this grand effect that does\nnot go deep into the constitution of men's souls, and quell\ninternally those fatal passions which have perpetuated external war.\nAnd that is what cannot be done by any civilisation, national\nrefinement, science, or even an enlightened theoretical policy. All\nthese may be but like fair structures and gardens extended over a\nground where volcanic fires are in a temporary slumber below. All\nthese may be shattered and exploded by some mighty impulse of\nambition or some blast of revengeful anger. No; there must be a\ngreater, nobler power brought into prevalence among mankind. Nothing\nspringing merely from the action of the human mind can suffice. It\nmust be something coming from heaven. CHRISTIANITY is the appointed\nand qualified agent.\n\n+IV. It is credible that Christianity will cause wars to cease upon\nthe earth.+\n\n1. It has accomplished something in this direction already. To _it_\nis mainly attributable the mitigation of ferocity and exterminatory\nrage, so evident in modern wars. We dare not assert even that it may\nnot have prevented some wars.\n\n2. It is essentially a peacemaker. Look at its genuine tendency, as\ndisplayed on the smaller scale, in a family, a neighbourhood, a\ndistrict: a family in a constant state of hostility within itself,\nbut at length the members of it are converted by the religion of\nJesus Christ. The consequence how happy! (H. E. I. 1126.)\n\n3. Precisely as it progresses among any people it will produce a\ndistaste for war.[5]\n\n4. Consequently its progress among the nations is a progressive\nabolition of war. Every extension of this blessed religion is so much\ngained against war; quenching still another and another spark of\ninfernal fire; repressing in some more minds those evil passions\nwhich are the prompters and the essential power of war.\n\n5. Christianity _is_ progressing among the nations.\n\n6. Consequently it is reasonable to cherish the hope of a scene of\nuniversal peace (P. D. 2675).\n\nCONCLUDING REFLECTIONS.--1. The universal cessation of war means much\nmore than merely the cessation of much mischief. Think what will be\neffected when the wealth, time, labour, art, ingenuity, of truly\nChristian nations are directed to the noblest purposes of peace!\n2. Extirpate the war-spirit from your own breast. The selfish, proud,\narrogant, envious, revengeful, are essentially of the _war tribe,_\nhowever, little they have to do with actual war, however much they\nmay condemn and profess to deplore it. Such individuals are not fit\nfor that future terrestrial \"kingdom of heaven.\"--_John Foster:\nLectures, Second Series,_ pp. 142-173.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] What a vision of destruction! Think of all that tormented\n     and desolated the earth during the long period of the fall\n     of the Roman Empire,--of that inundation of revenge and\n     death, the progress and utmost extension of the Mahomedan\n     power; of the mighty account of slaughter in the Spanish\n     conquest of America; of the almost incessant wars among the\n     states of civilised Europe down nearly to the present hour.\n     Think even of the bloody wars within our own island,\n     especially on the border between its northern and southern\n     divisions; the hundreds of remaining fortresses, monumental\n     of war. And to complete the account--as if the whole solid\n     earth were not wide enough--the sea has been coloured with\n     blood, and received into its dark gulf myriads of the\n     slain, as if it could not destroy enough by its tempests\n     and wrecks!--_Foster._\n\n [2] Almost four or five years since, our Government had a war\n     with the Pindarees--a terrible assemblage of outlaws,\n     robbers, and murderers, to the number of fifty thousand,\n     occupying a strong and almost inaccessible tract on the\n     northern frontier. Thence with impetuous rapidity, they\n     rushed down, all horsemen, on the country, inhabited by a\n     population of cultivators; seized whatever could easily be\n     carried off, and with furious eagerness demolished, burnt,\n     destroyed the rest. But far more than this, they were\n     universally possessed with the spirit of murder; they\n     killed the people without regard to sex or age. Not only\n     so, but when sufficiently at leisure for such amusement,\n     they inflicted excruciating tortures previous to death.\n\n     Now, when the Governor-General had intelligence of\n     this--_what was he to do? what,_ acting as a Christian?\n     _Nothing?_ What, as a great magistrate, did he \"bear the\n     sword\" for? What was he Governor at all for? To lie in\n     splendid state, and number and tax the people? Or was he to\n     direct that prayer should be made in the churches for\n     something very like a miracle? And on failure of that,\n     prayers that the wretched people he governed might be all\n     meekly resigned to their fate? and that even should the\n     fell and fiendish legion, being unresisted, choose to\n     pursue their way all down to Calcutta, all the people in\n     their tract could not escape, and at last himself and the\n     people of the city, might be enabled calmly to submit to a\n     sovereign dispensation of Providence?\n\n     He did not do this. He chose rather to set out on the rule\n     of his appointment, to be \"a terror to evil-doers,\" \"a\n     minister of God, a revenger, to execute wrath upon them\n     that do evil\" (Rom. xiii. 4). But if war is in all possible\n     cases wrong, he perpetuated an enormous crime against\n     Christianity in marching his armies with a celerity\n     unparalleled in that climate, and encountering,\n     intercepting, and exterminating the murderers, so that the\n     surviving people could feel themselves in peace.\n\n            *       *       *       *       *       *       *\n\n     Put the stronger case of an immense host of northern\n     barbarians being landed on our coasts (Tartars, Cossacks,\n     Calmucks), and joined there by the legions of the Popish\n     states, what would happen if we all, as Christians, judged\n     it wrong and wicked to fight? Unless, indeed, we should\n     suppose a divided opinion in the nation with respect to the\n     Christian principle of the case, and that so a very large\n     and powerful proportion was resolute to resist in all the\n     array and action of war. Now, while with the utmost\n     sacrifice and peril they were doing so, and suppose\n     successfully, what a remarkable phenomenon would be\n     presented! namely, the other division of the people\n     deploring these very proceedings and successes by which\n     their houses are saved from ravage and\n     desolation,--deploring them as an awful outrage against\n     Christian rectitude,--praying for the instant _conversion_\n     of these deluded men to a right apprehension of Christian\n     duty,--that they might immediately throw away their arms\n     and allow the barbarian inundation to burst forward! Or,\n     having failed in this prayer (and a mighty victory having\n     finally cleared the land of the infernal irruption), then\n     lamenting that a dreadful national violation of Christian\n     principles had been irretrievably consummated! And as\n     success purchased by crime can in the result be little else\n     than a calamity and a judgment, they might be alarmed and\n     dismayed to find themselves still in possession of their\n     former freedom of worship, of speech, of action, and of all\n     their rights as citizens.--_Foster._ (Written in 1823.)\n\n [3] It is difficult to realise the fact to our imagination. No\n     fighting on the face of the whole earth! no armies, no\n     military profession, no garrisons, nor arms, nor banners,\n     nor proclamations! No leagues, offensive or defensive; no\n     guarding of frontiers; no fortresses; no military prisons!\n     No celebrating of victories in gaudy pomps and revelries\n     for the vulgar, or in prostituted poetry for the more\n     refined! A wondering what kind of times those could be in\n     which mankind accounted it the highest glory to kill one\n     another! Truly this is a state of things we are ill\n     prepared even to conceive!--_Foster._\n\n [4] Such things will be _included,_ certainly, in whatever\n     process can and shall reduce the world at length to peace;\n     they will be taken as accessories and subsidiaries to the\n     Master Power in operation. But whoever would reckon on such\n     things alone should be strangely mortified, one thinks, in\n     adverting to many facts of old and recent history. What,\n     for example, is he to do with the history of Greece? or of\n     the Italian Republics? Or nearer home, Britain and France\n     account themselves the most enlightened and civilised\n     states in the world; they have not been, with all their\n     might, fighting and slaying each other and neighbouring\n     nations for centuries, almost without intermission, down to\n     this time! In the French revolutionary government, which,\n     after a time, became essentially warlike, there were more\n     philosophers, speculative, literary men, than ever in any\n     other. In our own country, through the last half-century,\n     the enlightened and civilised people (often so described\n     and lauded at least) have needed but a little excitement,\n     at any time, to rush out into war. Our institutions of\n     learning, and even theology, have constantly abetted the\n     spirit. An ever-flowing, impetuous stream there has been of\n     oratory, poetry, and even pulpit declamation, mingling with\n     and inspiriting the coarse torrent of the popular zeal for\n     battles and victories. We have had both poets and divines\n     actually sending the most immoral heroes to heaven, on the\n     mere strength of their falling in patriotic combat. All\n     this tells but ill for the efficacy of civilisation,\n     literature, refinement, and the instruction of experience\n     to promote the spirit of peace, without the predominance of\n     some mightier cause.--_Foster._\n\n [5] What will the natural consequences be in respect to war?\n     Will it not be coldness towards that pernicious phantasm,\n     martial \"glory\";--a loathing of that sort of eloquence and\n     poetry that are making a god of it;--a hatred of the very\n     name of ambitious conquerors;--horror at the image of vast\n     masses of men waiting to destroy one another;--a sense of\n     the flagrant absurdity, as well as iniquity, of the\n     avenging some little wrong at the cost of so mighty a\n     portion and variety of misery;--and a faith that Providence\n     has not so abandoned the world that we are not to wait one\n     moment for any interposition from it in favour of justice,\n     but, the instant the scales of justice are poised, we must\n     throw in the sword? Such would be the spirit and temper of\n     a nation predominantly Christian.--_Foster._\n\n\n\nGOD EXALTED IN THE GREAT DAY.\n\n     (_Advent Sermon._)\n\n     ii. 17. _The Lord alone shall be exalted in that day._\n\nTwo questions: What is \"that day?\" How shall the Lord then be exalted?\n\nI. _\"That day.\"_ \"The first five verses of this chapter foretell the\nkingdom of the Messiah, the conversion of the Gentiles, and their\nadmission into the Church. From the sixth verse to the end is\nforetold the punishment of the unbelieving Jews for their idolatrous\npractices, their confidence in their own strength, and distrust of\nGod's protection; and, moreover, the destruction of idolatry in\nconsequence of the establishment of Messiah's kingdom.\"--_Lowth._ But\nhere, as in many other portions of Scripture, a larger and remoter\nmeaning looms beyond and behind the first sense of the expressions,\nwhich would otherwise be too big and swelling for the actual\ninterpretation of them. Compare the description in which the text\ntwice occurs with the almost parallel passages in chap. v. 14-16. How\nmagnificent! What startling terms! What emphatic iterations! Surely a\nwant of fitness and congruity would almost be felt if expressions\nsuch as these referred _only_ to some temporal calamity of the Jewish\nnation; surely we cannot mistake in looking onward to some mightier\ncatastrophe, to some final exaltation of God and abasement of all\ncreatures. By \"_that_ day,\" therefore, we mean what is elsewhere\ncalled \"_the_ day,\" \"the great day,\" \"the day of judgment,\" \"the\ngreat and terrible day of the Lord\"--the consummation of all things.\n\nWhen that day shall come I do not know, and I am content to remain in\nignorance. It may come suddenly, without warning, unannounced. Then\nit is for men always to have their lamps burning and their hearts in\nreadiness, lest they be taken by surprise. It may come with great\nsigns preceding and accompanying it. Then it is for men, according to\ntheir capacity, to note and discern those signs. It is the very\nuncertainty connected with it that is to make us watchful (Matt.\nxxiv. 36, 42). We are to be vigilant and observant, without\npretending to determine what God has left unrevealed. Such attempts\nhave in all ages been made, and in all ages have been falsified. The\nfailure of those attempts has not only covered those who made them or\nbelieved in them with ridicule, it has brought into discredit the\nsacred Book which the aim was to expound. It is our first duty and\nhighest interest to be at every moment prepared; but a far other and\nbetter preparation may, and must be made for it, than in the futile\nendeavour to discover its precise date.[1]\n\nEqually unwise is the disposition to specify with a minute\nparticularity the events which are to usher in the great day of the\nLord, or the convulsions of nature which shall herald and proclaim\nit, or the astonishing circumstances with which it shall be arrayed.\nGod has chosen to involve them in a mysterious and solemn\nindistinctness. In bold and sublime figures the inspired writers have\ndelineated a scene which must stand singular and by itself, without\nany precedent or parallel, and which, therefore, neither human\nlanguage can directly express nor human understanding adequately\ncomprehend. Instead of endeavouring to explain the images and symbols\nemployed, prudence will lead us to confine ourselves to the very\nwords of Scripture, such as Dan. xii. 2; Joel iii. 11-15; 2 Cor.\nv. 10; Matt. xxv. 31, 32; Rev. xx. 11-13; 1 Cor. xv. 51-53.[2] On\nthese declarations we should meditate with serious and chastened\nminds, for if Scripture be true these words cannot be without a real\nand solemn meaning, and that meaning can only be that there shall be\na day in which the world shall be judged by God in Christ, and that\nfrom before the Divine tribunal the good and the evil, separated from\neach other, shall depart to destinies final and irreversible (P. D.\n2109).\n\nII. _In that day the Lord alone shall be exalted._\n\n1. How is this possible? Is not God always exalted far above all\nblessing and praise? He will then be exalted in the sense in which He\nis now said to be glorified. He will be exalted in the visible homage\nand submission of an assembled universe. He will be exalted by the\nfull manifestation of His attributes, in their unclouded and\neffulgent lustre, but the exhibition, before men and angels, of His\nomnipotence and justice, His wisdom and truth, His love and mercy, of\nthe holiness of His law, the equity of His administration, the\nabundance of His grace, so that all hearts shall be bowed down at His\nfootstool, and every mouth shall be stopped.\n\n2. In that day God shall be exalted _alone._\n\n(1) The text may lead our minds to other deities as opposed to\nJehovah. They shall indeed be gone; in that day they shall be seen to\nbe less than the least of all their worshippers.\n\n(2) It will be the great day of the disclosure of all things; and all\ncreatures shall see the Lord as He is, and themselves also as they\nare. Therefore shall all the highest orders of celestial\nintelligences, the cherubim and seraphim, and all the ranks of\nexistence which may occupy the interval between man and His Maker,\nveil their faces before His throne; they shall be as nothing in _His_\nsight. Then shall all creatureship fall low before the one Creator;\nall derived, dependent being shall shrink into its true dimensions\nbefore the Absolute, the Eternal, the I AM.\n\n(3) Even Christ Himself, His office as the Messiah having been\naccomplished, and His administration of the Church, in His human\ncharacter, being brought to a close, shall resign His mediatorial\nsway (1 Cor. xv. 24-28; H. E. I. 985).\n\n(4) But our chief concern, as we are men, is with humanity: \"The\nlofty looks of _man_ shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of _man_\nshall be bowed down; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.\"\n\nThat day shall indeed declare the impotence of human power, the\nemptiness of human ambition, the nothingness of human renown.[3] The\nvery circumstances on account of which men have most lifted\nthemselves up in their lifetime will be the occasions of their\nprofoundest humiliation then.\n\nIn that day our sinfulness shall sink us into the dust, and cover us\nwith shame and confusion even more than our vanities. Shall any one\nof us hope then to be exalted, when the memories of us all shall\nretrace so many sterile and unproductive intensions, so many good\nimpressions never fostered and ripened into fruits of righteousness,\nso many talents misused by our iniquity, or buried by our idleness?\nThen there shall be no more concealments, no more deceits, no more\nfalse excuses, no more of those pretences, equivocations,\nsubterfuges, and sophisms which our reason is now so fatally\ningenious in playing off upon itself (P. D. 661, 2106). Oh, think of\nthese things, and let not your sins be dearer to you than your\nsalvation. Think of them ere the night cometh, and the sun of your\nprobation has quite gone down.\n\n\"The Lord _alone_ shall be exalted in that day.\" Will He then\nconfound the righteous with the wicked? As compared with God there\nshall be no distinctions between men. All men on that great day at\nthe bar of the Omniscient and the All Holy shall have upon them a\nuniversal sense of imperfection, unworthiness, insufficiency,\nnothingness. But as compared with each other there will be immense\ndifferences between them. It is one purpose of the great day to make\nmanifest to all orders of being the infinite value and superiority of\nmoral goodness, the infinite preciousness of a holy obedience above\nand beyond all else; then God, who sees it in secret, will reward it\nopenly. When the wicked shall be turned into hell, with all the\npeople that forget God, the righteous shall shine forth as the stars\nof heaven. Therefore estimate all things _now_ as you will estimate\nthem then. Lean less upon earth and man and the things present, set\nyour affections more upon the things to come, upon heaven, and upon\nthe Ruler of heaven. Cultivate diligently those dispositions which\nare pleasing in His sight. For then, when all social forms shall have\nvanished away, when all material substances shall have been\nobliterated, as the shapes in a cloud, and dissipated as the morning\ndew, your moral temper will abide with you, and your spiritual state,\nas discerned by the unerring Judge, will decide, and will attend,\nyour immortal destiny (H. E. I. 720).--_James Shergold Boone, M.A.:\nSermons,_ pp. 359-399.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] During the fifth century Chrysostom expressed himself in\n     language which sounds almost like an anticipation of much\n     that we hear at the present day. \"No long time now remains\n     until the consummation; but the world is hastening to its\n     end. This the wars declare, this the afflictions, this the\n     love which hath waxed cold. For as the body, when in its\n     last gasp and near to death, draws to itself ten thousand\n     sufferings; and as when a house is about to fall, many\n     portions are wont to fall beforehand from the roofs and\n     walls; so is the end of the world nigh and at the very\n     doors, and, therefore, ten thousand woes are everywhere\n     scattered abroad\" (_Homily_ xxxiv.) Towards the close of\n     the tenth century, Bernhard, a hermit of Thuringia, and\n     other persons, spread or encouraged the belief, that after\n     the end of the thousandth year, the fetters of Satan were\n     to be broken; and that, after the reign of Antichrist\n     should be terminated, the world would be consumed by sudden\n     conflagration. This wild and extraordinary delusion\n     pervaded and possessed every rank of society. It seized on\n     nobles, princes, and even bishops, as well as on the common\n     people. Many renounced their pursuits and professions;\n     abandoned their friends and families; gave themselves up to\n     superstitious prayer and terrifying expectations, and made\n     over all their substance to some adjacent church or\n     monastery. Almost all the donations which were made to the\n     Church in this century proceeded from this avowed motive,\n     that the end of the world was drawing near. The form ran,\n     _\"Appropinquante jam mundi termino,\"_ &c. Others permitted\n     their lands to lie waste, and their homes to decay; or\n     betook themselves in hasty flight to the shelter of rocks\n     and caverns, as if the temples of nature were destined to\n     preservation amidst the wreck of man and his\n     works.--_Boone._\n\n [2] I forbear to expatiate on the phenomena or the tokens which\n     shall be the premonitory of the Millennium or of the day of\n     judgment. God has not seen fit, even in Scripture, to\n     withdraw the curtain of obscurity from between us and that\n     supreme future. We may well be content that our\n     apprehensions should be vague, when the language of the\n     Bible is not definite, and when we find rather the sublime\n     and half-luminous gloom with which poetry or painting can\n     invest its delineations, than the sharp and precise outline\n     which the chisel can carve.--_Boone._\n\n [3] What shall they all be, the strong rivalries and\n     contentions, which shall have been hushed in the grave; the\n     towering structures of vanity and earthly hope, which shall\n     have been crushed before the moth; the schemes and\n     plottings, the contrivances and expectations, the struggles\n     and triumphs, which shall have been dropped into the\n     burial-place where the worm is feeding on them! Oh, the\n     thrones and dominions of mortality, the crowns and\n     sceptres, the regal splendours and the imperial sway, how\n     shall they then be reduced to their real and intrinsic\n     insignificance! The victories of the warrior who conquered\n     in a hundred fights, and the projects of the politician,\n     whose statesmanship could grasp the globe; the famous men\n     and heroes of the earth, with the poets who celebrated\n     them, and the historians who recounted their exploits, what\n     shall they be before the word of Omnipotence! The learning\n     and science of the philosophers who framed their system of\n     the universe for the admiration of posterity, what shall\n     they be, before the blaze of illumination which shall be\n     poured upon us in another world! The pageantries of courts\n     and palaces; the banquets and the wine-cups, the spectacles\n     and the entertainments, the mirrors and the lamps, the\n     golden furniture of pomp, and the flowing robe of luxury;\n     the great and the affluent, whose patronage was requested\n     for busy undertakings, who were besieged with flattery and\n     obsequiousness from morning to night; the noble and the\n     beautiful, who gathered homage as they moved; the writers\n     and the orators, whose popularity was unbounded, and who\n     lived amidst the incense of human applause; they, and all\n     that appertained to them, where and what shall they be, as\n     we stand poor, and naked, and miserable before Him with\n     whom we have to do! They, the heedless and the selfish,\n     swimming in pleasure, who thought that the whole voyage of\n     life was to be like Cleopatra's passage along the Cydnus,\n     one scene of mirth and gorgeousness; of prodigal\n     dissipation and fatal revelry, with soft music and delicate\n     odours floating in the air; what shall become of _them_!\n     How black and cold shall be the cinders of their joy!\n\n     All human dynasties will then have crumbled to pieces, and\n     all the gradations in the scale of human rank will then\n     have been blotted out; for all must be dwarfed and\n     prostrated before the ineffable majesty of the Most High\n     God. All other differences must fade when the Divine\n     summits are placed in contrast with them; as from the top\n     of an exceeding high mountain the whole ground beneath is\n     as a level plain, because from that vast altitude all\n     smaller elevations are lost, all minuter inequalities of\n     surface vanish. Human celebrity will then be as a sound,\n     the very echoes of which will have departed. The pompous\n     titles with which the vanity of man was pampered; the\n     distinctions which kings could confer, or heraldry\n     emblazon; privileges of caste, nobility of blood, the pride\n     of ancestry, the blaze of reputation, the splendour of\n     talents, shall then be confounded, one and all, as\n     frivolous toys and trifling baubles. The mighty ones of the\n     earth shall be no more than they who were of the poorest\n     condition; the great shall stand abashed with the mean, the\n     learned with the ignorant, monarchs with their subjects,\n     senators and princes, commanders of fleets and armies, the\n     loftiest and most renowned by the side of the husbandman\n     and the labourer; for what shall they all be in contrast\n     with Him, the Universal Creator, whose dwelling-place is\n     eternity, and to whom belong, throughout all ages, all\n     glory and dominion, sovereignty and praise!--_Boone._\n\n\n\nTHE INEXCUSABILITY AND HOPELESSNESS OF UNBELIEF.\n\n     v. 4. _What could have been done more to my vineyard that I\n     have not done in it?_\n\nIn a subsequent verse God condescends to explain what is here meant\nby His \"vineyard,\" so that there might be no doubt as to the scope\nand import of the passage (ver. 7). God has done everything which\ncould be done for the spiritual culture of His ancient Church (vers.\n3, 4). This assertion that \"as much had been done as could be done\"\nis very affecting and startling. And if this could be said of the\nJewish vineyard, what shall be said of the Christian?\n\nThere is a peculiar argument thus suggested, which, wrought out, will\nshow that men are inexcusable in persisting in their unbelief, since\nnothing more could have been done to win them to the side of\nrighteousness and to turn them to God. Notice carefully _the variety\nof the arguments addressed in Scripture to the thoughtless and\nobdurate._ At one time they are attacked with terrors, the picture\nbeing set before them of Divine wrath; at another they are acted on\nby the loving-kindness of God, and allured by the free mercies of the\nGospel. In the text it is not precisely either the one or the other\nof these methods. There is nothing alleged but the greatness of what\nhas been done for us--a greatness such that nothing more can be done,\nconsistently, at least, with that moral accountableness which must\nregulate the amount of influence which God brings to bear on men. If\nthis be so, if we are not convinced and renewed under the existing\ninstrumentality, there is nothing that can avert from us utter\ndestruction.\n\nBut is this so? Review the means provided and proffered for our\nrescue, and let us see whether any of us can be other than silent. If\nwe were arguing with a man who disbelieved the existence of God, we\nshould probably reason up from the creation to the Creator. Our\nadversary might challenge us to prove that nothing short of Infinite\nPower could have built and furnished the planet. It may be allowed\nthat certain results lie beyond human agency, and yet disputed\nwhether they need such an agency as we strictly call Divine. We do\nnot, therefore, maintain that the evidences in creation are the\nstrongest which can be conceived. Hence we should not perhaps feel\nwarranted in saying to the atheist, \"What more could have been done\nto produce belief in you if you resist all these tokens of God in\nNature?\" But if we cannot say to the atheist, when pointing to the\nsurrounding creation, \"What more could have been done that has not\nbeen done for your conviction?\" we can ply the worldly-minded with\nthis question when pointing to the scheme of salvation through\nChrist. We deny that the worldly-minded can appeal from what God has\ndone on their behalf to a yet mightier interference which imagination\ncan picture. It is the property of redemption, if not of creation,\nthat it leaves no room for imagination. Those who turn with\nindifference from the proffers of the Gospel are just in the position\nof the atheist who should remain such after God had set before him\nthe highest possible demonstration of Himself. It is not, we think,\ntoo bold a thing to say that, in redeeming us, God exhausted\nHimself--_He gave Himself._ And we may not argue that, resisting what\nhas been granted, you demonstrate that you cannot be overcome, and\nthus your condemnation is sealed by the incontrovertible truth\ninvolved in the question of the text?\n\nLooked at more in detail, the argument is--+I. As much has been done\nas could have been done, because of the Agency through which man's\nredemption was effected.+ In looking at the cross, considering our\nsins as laid on the Being who hangs there in weakness and ignominy,\nthe overcoming thought is, that this Being is none other than the\nEverlasting God, and that however He seem mastered by the powers of\nwickedness, He could by a single word, uttered from the altar on\nwhich He immolates Himself, scatter the universe into nothing, and\ncall up an assemblage of new worlds and new creatures.--_What a\ncondemning force this throws into the question of the text!_ If it\ngive an unmeasured stupendousness to the work of our redemption, that\nHe who undertook, carried on, and completed that work was \"the\nbrightness of the Father's glory and the express image of His\nperson,\" then surely what has been done for the \"vineyard\" proclaims\nus ruined if we bring not forth such fruits as God requires at our\nhands.--_If the extent of what has been done may be given in evidence\nthat if it prove ineffectual there remains nothing more to be tried,\nwhat say you to the justice of the question? what to the condemnation\nunder which it leaves the worldly-minded and rebellious?_\n\n+II. As much has been done as could have been done, regard being had\nto the completeness and fulness of the work, as well as to the\ngreatness of its Author.+ We might have been sure beforehand that\nwhat the Divine Agent undertook would be thoroughly effected. The\nsins of the whole race were laid on Christ. There is consequently\nnothing in our own guiltiness to make us hesitate as to the\npossibility of _forgiveness._ The penalties of a violated law have\nbeen actually discharged.\n\nThe scheme of redemption provides also for our _acceptance,_ so that\nhappiness may be obtained. If it met our necessities only in part,\nthere might be excuse for refusing it our attention. When you add to\nthe unsearchable riches of grace in Christ _the continued and earnest\nagency of the Holy Spirit,_ have you a word to plead against the\nremonstrance of God in the text?\n\n+III. We are bound to regard the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the grand\nrevelation of future punishment and reward.+ Until the Redeemer\nappeared and brought more direct tidings from the invisible world,\nthe sanctions of eternity were scarcely, if at all, brought to bear\non the occupations of time. So imperfect had been the foregoing\nknowledge regarding the immortality of the soul that Paul declared of\nChrist that He \"abolished death, and brought life and immortality to\nlight by the Gospel.\" Much of what has been done for the \"vineyard\"\nconsists in the greatness of the reward which the Gospel promises to\nrighteousness, and the greatness of the punishment which it denounces\non impenitence.\n\nIt was not redemption from mere temporary evil that Christ effected.\nRedemption does not make men immortal, but, finding them so, it sheds\nits influence throughout their unlimited existence, wringing the\ncurse from its every instant, and leaving a blessing in its stead.\nThe Gospel sets before us an array of motives, concerning which it is\nno boldness to say, that, if ineffectual, it is because we are\nimmovable; if heaven fails to attract, hell to alarm--the heaven and\nthe hell opened to us by the revelation of Scripture--it can only be\nbecause of a set determination to continue in sin. _What more could\nhave been done for the vineyard?_ If you are waiting to be forced,\nyou are waiting to be ruined. \"Seek the Lord while He may be found;\ncall on Him while He is near.\"--_Henry Melvill, B.D.: Golden\nLectures,_ pp. 485-492.\n\n\n\nMORAL PERVERSITY.\n\n     v. 20. _Woe unto them that call evil good, &c._\n\nIf the judgments of men are habitually influenced by their\naffections, it is not surprising that their speech should bear the\nimpress of the same controlling power. What we hear men say in the\nway of passing judgment upon things and persons, unless said\ndeliberately for the purpose of description, will afford us, for the\nmost part, a correct idea of their dispositions and prevailing\ninclinations. There is, indeed, a customary mode of talking in which\nfamiliar formulas of praise and censure as to moral objects are\nemployed as if by rote; but this dialect, however near it may\napproach to that of evangelical morality, is still distinguished from\nit by indubitable marks. One who thus indulges in the use of such\nexpressions as imply a recognition of the principles of Biblical\nmorality, but whose conduct repudiates them, in expressing his\nopinions on moral subjects avoids, as if instinctively, the terms of\ncensure and of approbation which belong to Scripture. He will speak\nof an act or a course of acts as wrong, perhaps as vicious,--it may\neven be as wicked, but not as _sinful._ There are crimes and vices,\nbut no sins in his vocabulary. Vice and sin are referable, it would\nseem, to an abstract and perhaps variable standard, while sin brings\ninto view the legislative and judicial character of God. Two men\nshall converse together upon truth and falsehood, employing the\n_same_ words and phrases; and yet when you come to ascertain the\nsense in which they severally use the same language, you shall find\nthat while the one adopts the rigorous and simple rule of truth and\nfalsehood laid down in the Bible and by common sense, the other holds\nit with so many qualifications and exceptions as almost to render it\na rule more honoured in the breach than the observance. But who does\nnot know that men are often worse in the bent of their affections\nthan in the general drift of their discourse? If we err, therefore,\nin the application of the test proposed, we are far more apt to err\nin favour of the subject than against him. He who is invariably\nprompted, when there is no counteracting influence, to call evil good\nand good evil, is one who, like the fallen angel, says in his heart,\n\"Evil, be thou my good!\" and is, therefore, a just subject of the woe\ndenounced by the prophet in the text.\n\n+I. The expression is descriptive of those who hate good and love\nevil--not of those who err as to what is good and what is evil.+ A\nrational nature is incapable of loving evil, simply viewed as evil,\nor of hating good when simply viewed as good. Whatever thing you\nlove, you thereby recognise as good; and what you hate or abhor, you\nthereby recognise as evil. No man can dislike a taste, or smell, or\nsound which at the same time he regards as pleasant, nor can he like\none which he thinks unpleasant. But change the standard of\ncomparison, and what appeared impossible is realised. The music which\nis sweetest to your ear may be offensive when it breaks the slumber\nof your sleeping friend; the harshest voice may charm you when it\nannounces that your friend still lives. The darling sin is hated by\nthe sinner as the means of his damnation, though he loves it as the\nsource of present pleasure. When, therefore, men profess to look upon\nthat as excellent which in their hearts and lives they treat as\nhateful, and to regard as evil and abominable that which they are\nseeking after and which they delight in, they are not expressing\ntheir own feelings, but assenting to the judgment of others. And if\nthey are really so far enlightened as to think sincerely that the\nobjects of their passionate attachment are evil, this is only\nadmitting that their own affections are disordered and at variance\nwith reason. It is as if a man's sense of taste should be so vitiated\nthrough disease, that what is sweet to others is to him a pungent\nbitter. So the sinner may believe, on God's authority or man's, that\nsin is evil and holiness is good, but his diseased eye will still\nconfound light with darkness, and his lips, whenever they express the\nfeelings of his heart, will continue to call good evil and evil good.\n\nThe three forms of expression in the text appear to be significant of\none and the same thing. The thought is clothed first in literal and\nthen in metaphorical expressions. The character thus drawn is\ngenerally applicable to ungodly men. If the verse be taken merely in\nthis general sense, the woe which it pronounces is a general woe, or\ndeclaration of Divine displeasure and denunciation of impending wrath\nagainst the wicked generally, simply equivalent to that in chap.\niii. 11.\n\nSuch a declaration, awful as it is, would furnish no specific test of\ncharacter, because it would still leave the question undecided who it\nis that chooses evil and rejects good. But the prophet is very far\nfrom meaning merely to assert the general liability of sinners to the\nwrath of God. In view of the context, then, consider--\n\n+II. An enumeration of particular offences then especially\nprevailing.+ The text is the fourth in a series of six woes denounced\nupon as many outward manifestations of corrupt affection then\nespecially prevalent, but by no means limited to that age or country;\nand these are set forth, not as the product of so many evil\nprinciples, but as the varied exhibition of that universal and\nprofound corruption which he had just asserted to exist in general\nterms. 1. _The avaricious and ambitious grasping after great\npossessions, not merely as a means of luxurious indulgence, but as a\ndistinction and a gratification of pride_ (ver. 8). To such the\nprophet threatened woe (ver. 9), and to such the Apostle James also\n(James v. 4). 2. _Drunkenness_ (ver. 11). Here also the description\nof the vice is followed by its punishment, including not only\npersonal but national calamities, as war, desolation, and captivity.\n3. _Presumption and blasphemy_ (vers. 18, 19). 4. _Moral perversity,_\nas set forth in the text. 5. _Overweening confidence in human reason\nas opposed to God's unerring revelation_ (ver. 21). 6. _Drunkenness,\nconsidered,_ not as in the former case, as a personal excess,\nproducing inconsideration and neglect of God, but _as a vice of\nmagistrates and rulers, and as leading to oppression and all\npractical injustice_ (vers. 22, 23).\n\nThis view of the context is given for two reasons--1. To show that in\nthis whole passage the prophet refers to species of iniquity familiar\nto our own time and country; and 2. Chiefly to show that we have in\nthe text the description of a certain outward form in which the\nprevailing wickedness betrayed itself. An outward mark of those who\nhate God and whom He designs to punish is their confounding moral\ndistinctions in their conversation. Consider, then--\n\n+III. How moral distinctions are confounded.+ When one admits in\nwords the great first principles in morals, yet takes away so much as\nto obliterate the practical distinction between right and wrong,\ntruth and falsehood, religion and irreligion, he does virtually,\nactually, call evil good and good evil. When one admits generally the\nturpitude of fraud, impurity, intemperance, malignity, &c., and yet\nin insulated cases treats these as peccadilloes, inadvertences, &c.,\nhe cannot be protected by the mere assertion of a few general\nprinciples from the fatal charge of calling evil good. And as a\ncounterpart of this, he who praises and admires all goodness in the\nabstract, but detests it when realised in concrete excellence, really\nand practically calls good evil. And he who, in relation to the\nself-same acts performed by different men, has a judgment suited to\nthe case of each, all compassion to the wilful transgressions of the\nwicked, and all inexorable sternness to the infirmities of godly men,\nto all intents and purposes incurs the woe pronounced on those who\ncall evil good and good evil. These distinctions may at present\nappear arbitrary, frivolous, or false, and, as a necessary\nconsequence, the guilt of confounding them may almost fade to\nnothing,--to a stain so faint upon the conscience as to need no blood\nof expiation to remove it. But the day is coming when the eye of\nreason shall no longer find it possible to look at light and darkness\nas the same, and the woe already heard shall then be seen and felt.\nFrom the darkness and bitterness of that damnation may we all find\ndeliverance through Jesus Christ our Lord!--_J. Addison Alexander,\nD.D.: The Gospel of Jesus Christ,_ pp. 568-578.\n\n\n\nTHE SERVICE OF THE SERAPHIM.\n\n     vi. 1, 2, 5-7. _I saw also the Lord, &c._\n\nIn that perfect prayer which our Lord bequeathed to His disciples we\nare taught to ask that God's will may be done in earth as it is done\nin heaven. Thus angelic service is set before us as a model and\npattern. Not that the services we are called upon to render are the\nsame with those assigned to angels. Their sphere is heaven, ours for\nthe present is the earth; and each of these spheres has its distinct\nand peculiar duties, appropriate to the nature and faculties of its\noccupants. But the spirit in which the employment of angels and men\nshould be prosecuted is the same. One common sentiment--the sentiment\nof adoration and devotedness--should animate and govern them all.\nHence the passage before us, although containing a record of the\ntransactions of another sphere, contains a lesson, if not respecting\nthe nature of our duties, yet respecting the method in which we\nshould seek to fulfil them.\n\n+I. The twofold life of a servant of God, whether human or angelic,\nis here very beautifully exhibited to us.+ The seraphim are\nrepresented as veiling their faces and feet with their wings while\nthey stand in adoration before the throne of God. But although\nengaged in ceaselessly adoring the Divine perfections, they do not\nlead a life of barren contemplation. The words, \"with twain he did\nfly,\" intimate to us that they are also engaged in the active\nexecution of those errands with which God has charged them. The\nChristian's life, like that of the seraphim, branches out into the\ntwo great divisions of contemplative devotion and active exertion. It\nis the life of Mary _combined_ with that of Martha (P. D. 2417).\n\n1. _The devotional branch of the Christian's life._ In the exercises\nof the closet and of the sanctuary are to be found the springs of the\nChristian's exertions in his Master's cause. These exercises are not\noriginating sources of grace, but they are channels and vehicles\nthrough which God's Spirit conveys Himself to the soul--pitchers in\nwhich may be drawn up the waters of the River of Life to refresh and\nrecruit the energies of him whom a painful resistance to evil within\nand without has rendered weary and faint in his mind (H. E. I. 3426,\n4107, 4108, and 3438-3448). If devotion be essential to the\nperfection of a seraph's service, how much more essential must it be\nto ours, our necessities being so immensely greater than those of the\nbright inhabitants of heaven! The exigencies of our time make\ndevotion especially needful now. The present is emphatically a period\nof the world's history in which \"many run to and fro, and knowledge\nis increased.\" Moreover, there is a revival of outward energy and\nactivity in the cause of religion. This is a blessing. But remember,\ndays of excitement are not days of deep devotion. There may be much\nof rapid movement abroad in the world without a corresponding\nadoration of God in the secret chamber of the heart--much of flying\nwithout veiling of the face.[1]\n\n2. _The outward manifestation of the Christian life_ discernible by\nthe world. Care must be taken not only that the lamp shall be filled\nwith oil, but that there shall be a light shining before men (Matt.\nv. 16; H. E. I. 1042, 1044, 3906). The seraphim are not so wrapt up\nin adoration of God that they are forgetful of active service. \"With\ntwain they did fly\" for the execution of the errands on which they\nwere commissioned.\n\nHere is a reproof of the monastic principle, that seclusion from the\nsociety of our fellow-men and from the active duties of life is\nnecessary in order to secure an uninterrupted period of leisure for\nsolitary spiritual exercises. Undue predominance is thus given to one\nbranch of God's service, to the prejudice and neglect of the other\nand no less important branch. Exercise as well as nourishment and\nrepose is essential to the health of the body, and so toil in the\nvineyard--earnest endeavour to advance the kingdom of God in our own\nhearts and the hearts of others--is no less essential to the health\nof the soul. \"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their\nstrength;\" but for what purpose? That they may walk in good works,\nand run with patience the race that is set before them (chap. xl. 31;\nH. E. I. 1736-1742).\n\n+II. Some practical lessons concerning the maintenance and\nmanifestation of the twofold Christian life.+\n\n1. _A lesson as to the spirit which should pervade all devotion._\nThese bright and glorious beings are without sin. Still, such is\ntheir sense of the infinite distance between themselves and their\nCreator, that they veil their faces and their feet before His throne\nin token of adoring reverence. The first and most essential element\nof devotion is a feeling of deep awe flowing from a sense of God's\ntranscendent excellences and leading to profound self-abasement\n(H. E. I. 3798, 3799, 5074). If reverence was befitting in the\nseraphim, how much more is it necessary in sinful men! (Luke\nxviii. 13; Ezra ix. 6).\n\nThe vision of God wrought in Isaiah a feeling almost akin to despair.\nIt seemed to him as if the perfect holiness of God was engaged to\nbanish for ever every creature possessing the slightest taint of\nmoral evil (ver. 5). In vers. 6, 7 we have the glorious remedy. What\nis the significance of the symbols? By the work of the Son of God a\nmighty Altar of Propitiation has been reared up, and thence there\ncomes to the penitent sinner cleansing as well as pardon. The \"live\ncoal\" is an emblem of that love and zeal in God's service with which\nthe Holy Spirit imbues the souls of these who flee to the Altar of\nAtonement as their only refuge from the wrath to come. A\nparticipation in that Spirit's influence is absolutely essential to\nour true participation in the chorus of the angelic host (H. E. I.\n2887).\n\n2. _A few words on that active service which is the outward\nmanifestation of the principles nourished by devotion._ (1.) We must\nprepare for it by the care and culture of our own heart.[2]\n(2.) There is also an outward work which God has made binding on all\nof us. He has assigned to each of us a certain position in life.\nEvery such position involves its peculiar responsibilities, snares,\nand occupations. The responsibilities must be cheerfully and manfully\nmet, the occupations diligently fulfilled, as a piece of task-work\nallotted to us by the Lord of the vineyard (Eph. vi. 7). Besides, God\nhas intrusted to us, in various measures, substance, time, abilities\ninfluence, and these we are diligently to use for the promotion of\nthe cause of God in the world. In our busy path through life, which\nbrings us in contact with so many individuals, opportunities are ever\nand anon presented to us of being useful to our fellow-men; and to\nwatch for, seize, and improve such opportunities is not the least\nimportant of these branches of active service (P. D. 40, 3567, 3569).\n\nCONCLUSION.--1. It is not the intrinsic dignity of our duties, nor\nthe large result of our fulfilment of them, which renders the\ndiligent performance of them an acceptable work in God's eyes. The\ngreat design of our being places in this world is not that we may do\nsome signal service, or large amount of service, to our Creator, but\nrather that we may execute the service (be it great or small)\nallotted to us in a spirit of fidelity, zeal, and love. The spirit\nwhich is thrown into and pervades the work is everything--the work\nitself (comparatively) nothing. Be the sphere what it may which\nDivine Providence has assigned to us, let the duties of it be\nexecuted in a seraphic spirit (P. D. 1484). 2. We have overwhelming\nmotives, if we did but rightly appreciate them, to devotedness of our\nevery faculty to the services of our God. The redeemed sinner owes to\nGod far more of allegiance than the angel who has retained his\nintegrity. Angels no such Fall have known, \"angels no such Love have\nknown,\" as we.--_E. M. Goulburn, D.C.L.: Sermons,_ pp. 77-99.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] If this be the case with any of us, if, with the busy\n     occupation of the hands in the furtherance of religious\n     objects, we have glimpsed the inward life of communion with\n     God to decline, how painfully do we resemble those virgins\n     who took no heed to provide for their dying lamps a\n     continual supply of oil! The profession which we have made\n     before men, however bright its blaze, will one day be shown\n     to have been delusive--to have been destitute of those\n     animating principles of faith and love from which alone can\n     flow an acceptable service.--_Goulburn._\n\n [2] God requires us to set a strict watch over its outgoings--a\n     watch such as sentinels keep over the persons and goods\n     which pass out of a city whose allegiance to the sovereign\n     is suspected--to curb and quell at the earliest outbreak\n     every rising of vanity, temper, bitterness, passion, and\n     lust--to drag forth from its dark recesses and to stay\n     every cherished iniquity which has found there a harbour\n     and a hiding-place. Our own heart is a vineyard over which\n     God hath set every one of us to dress it and to keep it. We\n     are to extirpate the soil's poisonous produce, and to\n     implore upon the soil of this vineyard the precious dews of\n     the Divine Spirit, which may remedy its native barrenness\n     and turn it from a desert into the garden of the\n     Lord.--_Goulburn._ See also H. E. I. 1841, 1842, 2695-2708.\n\n\n\nTHE MORAL HISTORY OF A RISING SOUL.\n\n     vi. 5-8. _Then said I, Woe is me, &c._\n\nWhilst holiness is the normal, depravity is the actual state of man.\nA restoration to that spiritual condition is his profoundest\nnecessity, his want of wants. The recovery of holiness involves the\nrecovery of all other good. There seem to be, in the nature of the\ncase, _five states through which the soul must pass in this\nall-important and glorious transit._\n\nI. A VISION OF THE GREAT RULER AS THE HOLIEST OF BEINGS. Isaiah had\nthis: \"Mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.\" Three facts\nwill show that a spiritual vision of God is the first step of the\nsoul towards holiness. 1. _There can be no excitement of the moral\nsensibilities and powers without a vision of God._ Show me a soul\nthat has never had an inner vision of God, and you show me a soul\nwhose conscience, whose moral powers, are entirely dormant. The\npassions, the intellect, the imagination may move, but the\nconscience, the heart, the moral essence, the _self_ of the man,\nmoves not--is dead. 2. _The means which God has ever employed to\nrestore men are visions of Himself._ What is the Bible but a record\nof Divine visions and manifestations to man? What is the\nGospel--\"God's power unto salvation\"--but the manifestation of the\nEternal in Christ? Here He appears to man in the \"face of Jesus\nChrist.\" 3. _The history of all restored souls shows that the\nimprovement commences at this stage._ The explanation which Paul\ngives of the first upward movement would generally be true of all:\n\"When it pleased God to reveal His Son in me,\" &c. What the sun is to\nthe plant, God is to the soul.\n\nII. A PROFOUND CONSCIOUSNESS OF OUR FALLEN STATE. \"Then, said I, Woe\nis me,\" &c. His consciousness included four things--1. _A deep sense\nof his personality._ \"_I_ am undone.\" He feels himself singled out\nfrom the millions. When conscience is touched, she breaks the bond,\nindividualises the man, and makes him feel as if he stood alone\nbefore the Eternal Judge. 2. _A sense of personal ruin._ \"Woe is me,\nfor I am undone.\" My prospects are blighted, my hopes are gone. 3. _A\nsense of personal ruin arising from a sense of personal sin._ \"I am a\nman of unclean lips;\" I am a sinner, and therefore \"undone.\" 4. _A\nsense of personal sin, heightened by the remembrance of his\nneighbour's sins._ \"I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean\nlips.\" So long as conscience is torpid, men often make the sinful\nconduct of others an apology for their own; but when conscience\nawakes, such sophistries depart.\n\nIII. A REMOVAL OF THE CRUSHING SENSE OF GUILT. \"Then flew one of the\nseraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand,\" &c. Three thoughts\nare suggested by this--1. _There are Divine means for the removal of\nsin._ This \"live coal,\" this altar, and seraphim in the vision,\nsymbolise this truth. 2. _The means are something in connection with\nsacrifice._ Fire is a purifying element, and is regarded as the\nemblem of purity. This \"live coal\" was taken from the altar of\nburnt-offering. The fire of that altar as at first kindled by the\nLord, and ever afterward kept burning. What is the power that takes\naway sin? The Divine Word in connection with Christ's sacrifice--the\ndoctrine of the Cross. This, like \"fire,\" has a purifying power.\n3. _The means are employed by a Divinely-appointed ministry._ Let\nthat seraph stand as the emblem of a true minister, and we see that\nhis work is to take the purifying elements from the altar and apply\nthem to men.\n\nIV. AN EVER-OPEN AND SENSITIVE EAR TO THE VOICE OF GOD. \"I heard the\nvoice of the Lord, saying,\" &c. Three thoughts will develop the\ngeneral and practical meaning of these words--1. _God has deep\nthoughts about our race._ The Bible reveals some of these thoughts,\nand so does Nature. 2. _Just as the soul is cleared of sin does it\nbecome conscious of these thoughts._ Let the conscience be thoroughly\ncleared of sin, and it will hear the voice of God in every sound and\nsee His glory in every form. The universe to a holy being is the\ntongue of God (P. D. 2545, 2552, 2560, 2563, 2564). 3. _This\nconsciousness of the Divine thoughts about our race is a necessary\nstage in the moral progress of the soul._ It is only thus we walk\nwith God, as Enoch did of old.\n\nV. A HEARTY READINESS TO DO WHAT THE SUPREME WILL COMMANDS. \"Here am\nI; send me.\" I am ready to do whatever Thou commandest. Send me\nanywhere, at any time, to do any work; I am ready to catch the\nslightest whisper of duty; my soul stands with plumed\npinions.--_David Thomas, D.D.: The Homilist,_ vol. v. pp. 411-418.\n\n\n\nSANCTUARY IN GOD.\n\n     viii. 14. _And He shall be for a sanctuary._\n\nNot a few mourn, in the midst of a busy, bustling age, the loss of\nsacredness in life. Not the false \"sacred\"--that which is merely\nascetic separation from life and duty; nor that which is merely\nsolemn \"sacred\"--the dull heavy monotony of gloominess.\n\nWe naturally say that if this is God's world, if civil and civic\nduties, social responsibilities, are God-ordained, it is likely, at\nleast, that _here_ we may be able to secure a heavenly citizenship\namid earthly cares and customs. This is exactly what God reveals in\nthe text. Sanctuary, He says, is _not_ in mere place; _not_ in\nseparation from manly duty; I open up my very _nature_ to you. How\noften this idea recurs in the Scriptures! God is our refuge and rest,\nour hiding-place, our dwelling-place.\n\nI. THE SACREDNESS THAT A REVERENT HEART DESIRES. Something within us\nasserts its dignity when society is frivolous and gay, and when the\nroutine of life brings us into association with lives where the light\neven of conscience burns low, when the reverent _wonder_ that filled\neven pagan hearts has given place to scientific explanations of every\nspiritual function. When we are brought into contact with all this,\nthen it is that we find how the high tides of the world cover the\nlittle green knolls of devotion, and sweep away alike the altar of\nprayer and the harp of praise. In all earnest natures there comes, at\ntimes, resentment at all this. We believe the Divinity within us. We\nbelieve the high call of seer and prophet to nobler ends; we believe,\nabove all, that Lord of life and light who tells us that the life is\nmore than meat, and who fed His own life by the mountain prayer and\nthe garden solitude. We should seek to secure the sacredness we feel\nwe need, not in morbid methods, but in ways that are human, and ways\nthat are Divine because they are human. Christ lived and worked\namongst men. We, too, may secure sacredness for our lives; we may\ncarry in our mien and breathe in our converse the springs of hope and\nfaith and love which flow still from Zion's sacred hill.\n\nII. THE SACREDNESS THAT MAKES SANCTUARY IN GOD HIMSELF. \"_He_ shall\nbe for a sanctuary.\" He whom wicked men dread and flee from; for, as\nof old, darkness cannot dwell with light, nor irreverence with\nreverence, nor mammon-worship with devotion to God. We may carry very\nbad hearts into very beautiful places. Place is easily made unsacred,\nbut into fellowship with God there can enter nothing that is false,\nor worldly, or vile. \"Sanctuary in a person?\" Yes; for even here, in\nthis dim sphere of earthly friendship, our best sanctuaries, apart\nfrom Christ, have been men and women,--those who bear His likeness,\nand who do His will. \"Sanctuaries?\" Yes; for with them we are ashamed\nof unworthy motive, of impure thought, of unsacred aim. Take Christ\nwith you, and every place is sacred. This is our living sanctuary; we\nabide in Him who says, \"I am He that liveth, and was dead, and behold\nI am alive for evermore.\" And if by His own Divine nature He is a\nsanctuary, He is also by _experience_ too. How much the human\nsanctuary of friendship is beautified when there is _oneness of\nfeeling_ about the battle and burden of life! It is nothing, then,\nthat when we speak of sanctuary in Christ we should mean \"sympathy,\"\nall that belongs to a brother born for adversity--to Him who, as a\n\"Man of Sorrows,\" was \"acquainted with grief\" (liii. 9)? We know\nindeed but little of the realities of religion unless we have found\nsuch a living sanctuary in Christ Jesus the Lord (H. E. I. 968-975).\n\nIII. THE SACREDNESS OF ALL THE FUTURE DAYS. \"He shall be.\" Names vary\nin interpreting what God is to suit need and experience. We translate\nthe want, and then God's name is translated to meet it. I am\nhungry--He is Bread; thirsty--He is Water, &c. The word \"sanctuary\"\nmeets special wants. Life is not always a seeking for a refuge, but\nit is so especially at certain times and in strange and desolate\nexperiences. We are alone in a strange city. The child must leave\nhome to teach, to toil, to live; the weakness will come which\npresaged decline and death; the soul does feel that some lights are\nlost to faith and that others are going dim. He _shall_ be for a\nsanctuary. Let the hours come; He will come too. Who can make retreat\ninto his own heart and find perfect sanctuary there? Christ alone\ncould do _that._ We cannot. Nature cannot afford us the sanctuary we\nneed; she has healthy anodynes of atmosphere that afford us deep and\nquiet retreats, but sanctuary, in the highest sense, she has not.\nChrist, and He alone, will be now and for ever a sanctuary (H. E. I.\n2378-2387).\n\nIV. THE SACREDNESS OF PERSONAL LIFE IN GOD. We can have no safety or\nrest in Churches as such. They are helpful; they are houses of\nfellowship and centres of usefulness. But we cannot say, as\nMedi\u00e6valism said, \"Enter the Church and be saved.\" The soul's\nrelation to God is personal and individual. Whether this relation of\nfaith is real, vital, each soul can attest for itself; and that\nliving relationship is all that can ever make life sacred to any man.\nWhen the life is hid with Christ in God, all is well, for all is\nsacred; and nothing that He has created us to do or to enjoy is\ncommon or unclean. So may God help us to keep a sacred life which\nfinds sanctuary in the Saviour, until we find it where there is no\ntemple, but where there is sanctuary in God (Rev. xxi. 22,\n23).--_W. M. Statham: Christian World Pulpit,_ vol. xvii. pp. 131-133.\n\n\n\nWISE LESSONS FROM WICKED LIPS.\n\n     ix. 10. _The bricks are fallen down, &c._\n\nJesus said, \"The children of this world are in their generation wiser\nthan the children of light,\" meaning that they excel them in\nshrewdness and tact. Men of the world do not readily submit to defeat\nand failure, but strive to convert defeat into victory, and failure\ninto success. In this respect, therefore, the children of this world\nare worthy of imitation. Within the spiritual, Christian sphere we\nmight well emulate them in the determined, hopeful, persevering,\nprogressive, patient spirit with which they prosecute their affairs.\nOf this the text affords illustration. The children of this world, of\nwhom it speaks to us, are worthy of our imitation in the following\nrespects:--\n\n+I. They proceed with a defined purpose.+ The bricks mentioned as\nhaving fallen down were not a heap of burned clay, which somehow had\ngot piled up, no one could tell how. They had been built by human\nhands, and the builders had heads as well as hands. But now that the\nbricks had fallen, in making up their minds as to what should be\ndone, they proceed with a defined purpose. The architect precedes the\nbuilder; the head leads the hand. They build not at random. They\nfirst say what they will build, and how. They also resolve once more\nto beautify their surroundings with trees, and they make their\nchoice. This time they will not have sycamores, but cedars.\n\nThe same principle should underlie the building up of all Christian\ncharacter and work. Knowledge and zeal should ever be in partnership.\nThe hand should be under control of the head. Everything should be\ndone well, because done wisely. One purpose should run through and be\nsupreme in each life. Striving, and toiling, and fighting, we should\nhave it first settled what we are to strive, and toil, and fight for.\nAnd as to this we are left in no difficulty. A plan is made for us,\nand our wisdom is to work it out. A number of young men were one day\npractising archery, when the arrows of one invariably stuck in the\nground. Seeing this, one of his companions cried out, \"Do aim\nhigher.\" That is what we have to do. We substitute our own low,\nfaltering purposes for the high, glorious purpose of God (Rom.\nviii. 29; 1 Pet. ii. 21). So, also, in connection with our work, a\nhigh purpose should be our aim. We should not make up our minds to do\nas little as possible, neither should our only object be to do as\nmuch as possible. Our question should be, What is my Master's will?\nObedience is better than sacrifice. They who would work for their\nLord with acceptance must wait on Him, and He will give \"to each man\nhis work.\" Further, with our plan fixed, we must set our whole heart\nupon the working of it out. Here Israel teaches us. When her first\neffort failed, she tried again. The spirit of enthusiasm must inspire\nus. This is what makes labour rest, and turns the yoke into a crown.\n\n+II. They were inspired with hopefulness.+ Their bricks fell down,\nbut their spirits fell not into the pit of despair. Their sycamores\nwere cut down, but their ambition was not. They viewed the desolation\nnot without sadness, but in the midst of it all _\"Nil Desperandum\"_\nwas the song which they sang. And that is the spirit of the world\nto-day. So the Christian ought to be hopeful. You have fallen! Say,\n\"I will rise again.\" Your schemes have failed! Say, \"I will try\nagain.\" You are afraid you have laboured in vain! Say, \"In labours I\nwill be more abundant.\" You went into what you thought the paradise\nof God, but lo! it turned out to be a dreary wilderness. What then?\nStill hope in God. Seek on, O seeker, and thou shalt find. Knock on,\nlouder and louder; the door will be opened.\n\nNight must give way to day. Mystery after mystery will unfold itself.\nLight will appear to every man having eyes and using them. The\nchildren of this world hope; greater reason have they to hope who are\nchildren of God.\n\n+III. They show a spirit of industrious perseverance.+ Their hands\nresponded to the impulse of their hearts. What they were ready to say\nthey were ready to do. They were prepared by hard, persevering toil\nto make good their hope. These men of Israel were at this time\nwithout God, but they were not without common sense. They dreamed not\nthat by mere wishing their ruined walls would rise again. If they\nwanted new temples and goodly cedars, they must build and plant them.\nThe moral here is plan (Matt. vii. 21). Hoping will not do\neverything. It must be backed by earnest effort. The way to heaven is\nnot reached by flying, but by toiling. I am a son of God; let me then\nsubscribe myself \"Servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.\" Beautiful city\nof God! we hope some day to reach thy gates of pearl and enter it,\nbut till then--\n\n        \"Many a sorrow, many a labour,\n           Many a tear.\"\n\nTo your hope add diligence. Watch and wait, but forget not to work.\n\n+IV. They improve matters.+ These tumble-down buildings were, after\nall, but brick; but now they would build, not with bricks, but with\nhewn stones. Around them had flourished sycamores, but now that these\nwere cut down they would plant cedars. Such is the spirit of the\nworld. To-day is to be an improvement upon yesterday. _\"Excelsior\"_\nis added to _\"Nil Desperandum.\"_ Is not this the spirit which ought\nto animate us? There is no temper but may be improved. You never did\na thing for Jesus, let it be ever so trifling, but you may do better\nnext time you try. The text speaks to us of failure and ruin; and it\nshows us that out of these greater and better efforts arose. So\nshould it be with us. Has your faith given way under the severe\nstrain put upon it? Then for the future you must not only have faith,\nbut stronger faith. In the pride and stoutness of their hearts Israel\nsaid, \"In the future we will do better than we did before;\" and we\nmust say, not in the pride of our hearts, but in humble dependence\nupon God, strengthened with His might, \"We count not ourselves to\nhave attained, neither are we already perfect; but this one thing we\ndo,\" (Phil. iii. 13, 14).\n\nCONCLUSION.--Looking at what Israel proposed to do, three words are\nsuggested, which would be good motto words for us to adopt. They are\n_strength, beauty, growth._ 1. \"We will build with stones.\" They\nwould now erect a strong building, one not easily to be overthrown.\nThis should be our first concern. We are building not for time, but\nfor eternity. What is to last must be strong. 2. They said, moreover,\n\"We will build with hewn stones;\" we shall go in for beauty as well\nas for strength. Some of us are strong, but we are lacking in beauty.\nWe are robust characters, but we are also rough. There is a more\nexcellent way. Perfection of character is reached only in so far as\nstrength and beauty are blended together. 3. There must also be\ngrowth. Israel resolved to plant cedars, trees which should live and\ngrow on for centuries. So we, rooted and grounded in faith, and love,\nand hope, should grow up in strength and beauty. So, on and\non--changing bricks for hewn stones, and sycamores for cedars.--_Adam\nScott: Christian World Pulpit,_ vol. xvii. pp. 230-232.\n\n\n\nTHE DIFFUSION OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.\n\n     (_For Whit-Sunday._)\n\n     xi. 9. _The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the\n     Lord, as the waters cover the sea._\n\nIt was promised that \"the waters should no more become a flood to\ndestroy all flesh;\" and yet a flood there was to be, all-compassing,\nall-absorbing, in God's good time and in His merciful foreknowledge\nwhen He spake the former world; but not to destroy all flesh, but to\nsave it; and in the season the rain of grace descended (xlv. 8; Matt.\nvii. 29; Ps. xcviii. 8).\n\nHow different a fulfilment was this from that for which the apostles\nhad been waiting! No doubt they imagined that such as Christ had been\nwould be the Paraclete who was to come--One whose individuality and\nintelligence they could not doubt, and need not take on faith. When\nthey were waiting for the Angelic Messenger, Prophet, and Lawgiver,\nOne higher than all created strength and wisdom suddenly came down\nupon them; yet not as a Lord and Governor, but as an agency or power\n(Acts ii. 2-4).\n\nSuch was the coming of the Comforter, He who is infinitely personal,\nwho is the One God, absolutely, fully, perfectly, simply; He it was\nwho vouchsafed to descend upon the apostles, and that as if not a\nPerson, but as an influence or quality, by His attribute of ubiquity\ndiffusing Himself over their hearts, filling all the house, poured\nover the world, as wholly here as if He were not there, and hence\nvouchsafing to be compared to the inanimate and natural creation, to\nwater and wind, which are of so subtle a nature, or so penetrating a\nvirtue, and of so extended a range. And most exactly have these\nfigures, which He condescended to apply to Himself, been fulfilled--\n\nI. IN THE COURSE OF THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. His operation has\nbeen calm, equable, gradual, far-spreading, overtaking, intimate,\nirresistible. What is so awfully silent, so mighty, so inevitable, so\nencompassing as a flood of water? Fire alarms from the first: we see\nit and we scent it; there is crashing and downfall, smoke and flame;\nit makes an inroad here and there; it is uncertain and wayward;--but\na flood is the reverse of all this. It gives no tokens of its coming;\nit lets man sleep through the night, and they wake and find\nthemselves hopelessly besieged; prompt, secret, successful, and\nequable, it preserves one level; it is everywhere; there is no\nrefuge. And it makes its way to the foundations; towers and palaces\nrear themselves as usual; they have lost nothing of their perfection,\nand give no sign of danger, till at length suddenly they totter and\nfall. And here and there it is the same, as if by some secret\nunderstanding; for by one and the same agency the mighty movement\ngone on here and there and everywhere, and all things seem to act in\nconcert with it, and to conspire together for their own ruin. And in\nthe end they are utterly removed, and perish from off the face of the\nearth. Fire, which threatens more fiercely, leaves behind it relics\nand monuments of its agency; but water buries as well as destroys; it\nwipes off the memorial of its victims from the earth.\n\nSuch was the power of the Spirit in the beginning, when He vouchsafed\nto descend as an invisible wind, as an outpoured flood. Thus He\nchanged the whole face of the world. For a while men went on as\nusual, and dreamed not what was coming: and when they were roused\nfrom their fast sleep, the work was done; it was too late for aught\nelse but impotent anger and a hopeless struggle. The kingdom was\ntaken away from them and given to another people. The ark of God\nmoved upon the face of the waters. It was borne aloft by the power,\ngreater than human, which had overspread the earth, and it triumphed,\n\"Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of\nHosts.\"\n\nII. IN EVERY HUMAN HEART TO WHICH HE COMES. By attending to the\nfigure we shall understand (what concerns us most intimately) whether\nwe are personally under His influence, or are deceiving ourselves.\n1. _Any spirit which professes to come to us alone and not to others,\nwhich makes no claim of having moved the body of the Church at all\ntimes and places, is not of God, but a private spirit of error_ (Ps.\nlxv. 10-12). 2. _Vehemence, tumult, confusion, are no attributes of\nthat benignant flood with which God has replenished the earth._ That\nflood of grace is sedate, majestic, gentle in its operations. If at\nany time it seems to be violent, that violence is occasioned by some\naccident or imperfection of the earthen vessels into which it\nvouchsafed to pour itself, and is not token of the coming of Divine\nPower. Ecstasies and transports often proceed from false spirits, who\nare but imitating heavenly influences as best they may, and seducing\nsouls to their ruin. 3. _The Divine baptism wherewith God visits us\npenetrates through the whole soul and body._ It leaves no part of us\nuncleansed, unsanctified. It claims the whole man for God. It is\neverywhere, in every faculty, every affection, every design, every\nwork (2 Cor. x. 5). Thus--\n\nIII. THE HEART OF EVERY CHRISTIAN OUGHT TO REPRESENT IN MINIATURE THE\nWHOLE CHURCH. One Spirit makes the whole Church and every member of\nit to be His temple. As He gives peace to the multitude of nations,\nwho are naturally in discord one with another, so does He give an\norderly government to the soul, and set reason and conscience as\nsovereigns over the inferior parts of our nature. As He leavens each\nrank and pursuit of the community with the principles of the doctrine\nof Christ, so does that same Divine leaven spread through every\nthought of the mind, every member of the body, till the whole is\nsanctified. And let us be quite sure that these two operations of the\nSpirit depend upon each other. We cannot hope for peace at home while\nwe are at war abroad. We cannot hope for unity of the faith if we are\nat our own private will make a faith for ourselves. Break unity in\none point, and the fault runs through the whole body. The flood of\nGod's grace keeps its level, and if it is low in one place it is low\nin another.\n\nCONCLUSION.--As we would forward that blessed time when the knowledge\nof the Lord will in its fulness cover the earth, as the waters cover\ntheir bed, let us look at home, and wait on God for the cleansing and\npurifying of ourselves. Till we look at home, no good shall we be\nable to perform for the Church at large; we shall but do mischief\nwhen we intend to do good, and to us will apply that proverb,\n\"Physician, heal thyself.\" And let us not doubt that if we do thus\nproceed we shall advance the cause of Christ in the world. Let us but\nraise the level of religion in our hearts, and it will rise in the\nworld. And, meantime, we shall have our true reward, which is\npersonal, consisting in no mere external privileges, however great,\nbut in the \"water of life,\" of which we are allowed to take freely\n(Ps. xxxvi. 7-9; i. 3; Isa. xxxii. 18; Ps. xxiii. 2).--_John Henry\nNewman: Subjects of the Day,_ pp. 126-136.\n\n\n\nTHE PROUD CITY DOOMED.\n\n     xiii. 1. _The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of\n     Amoz did see._\n\nIn 2 Kings xvii. we find an account of the invasion of Israel by the\nAssyrians (vers. 1-6). Then follows a long enumeration of the sins\nwhich had brought this Divine visitation upon the ten tribes, ending\nwith the words, \"So was Israel carried away out of their own land to\nAssyria unto this day\" (ver. 23). If the scourge was no longer in the\nhands of the king of Assyria, it would be transferred to other hands\nnot less terrible.\n\n1. Would this scourge destroy the life of the Jewish nation? This was\nthe awful question which presented itself to the minds of the\nprophets when they saw one and another limb of this nation lopped\noff, when they saw that a great numerical majority of the tribes\nwould be carried away. Isaiah's eyes were opened to see whence the\npermanence of the race was derived, how great critical moments in its\nlife discovered Him who was everlastingly present with it. The child\nborn in hours of trouble and rebuke had borne witness to him of the\ncontinuance of the regal family as well as of the people of God's\ncovenant, when the rage of their enemies as well as of their own\nfaithlessness were threatening them with destruction. Nor was this\nall. In the miserable, heartless reign of Ahaz the vision had been\npresented to him of a \"Rod coming out of the stem of Jesse, which\nshould stand for an ensign of the people. To it should the Gentiles\nseek, and His rest should be glorious.\" Consider _the Rod out of\nJesse, what it betokened_ (Isa. xi. 10-12). The immediate fruits\nwhich Isaiah saw coming out of this root might have appeared in the\ndays of any patriotic and prosperous prince, and did actually appear\nin the latter days of Hezekiah. No doubt Hezekiah might become, and\ndid actually become, \"an ensign to the nations,\" just as Solomon had\nbeen before him, one to whom they brought presents, whose alliance\nthey sought, whose elevation out of a deep calamity was a proof that\nsome mighty God was with him. But--\n\n2. Though we need not seek in any more distant days than those of\nHezekiah for a very satisfactory fulfilment of these predictions (and\nlet it never be forgotten that what may seem to us, when we look back\nover 3000 years, an exaggerated description of deliverance and\nrestoration, must have seemed inadequate and almost cold to those who\nexperienced the blessing),--though Hezekiah was a rod out of the stem\nof Jesse, and though the Spirit of the Lord did rest upon him\n(xi. 2),--though the peacefulness and order of his last years might\nfaithfully carry out the symbols of the wolf and the lamb lying down\ntogether, yet it was no less impossible for the prophet to think\nchiefly of Hezekiah when he was uttering these words than it would\nhave been for him to fancy that he was the King whom he saw sitting\non the throne, and his train filling the temple in the year that\nUzziah died (chap. vi. 1-4). There was, however, this great blessing\nwhich came to Isaiah from his being able to connect the Divine King\nwith an actual man--the belief that a man must embody and present the\nGodhead, that only in a man could its blessedness and glory appear,\nacquired a force and vividness from his hope of Hezekiah's government\nand from his actual experience of it, which we may say, without\nrashness or profaneness, would have been otherwise wanting in him. In\nusing that language, we are only affirming that any method but the\none which we know the Divine Wisdom has adopted for conveying a truth\nto a man's spirit must be an imperfect method. Hezekiah's existence\nwas necessary to the instruction of Isaiah, and through him of all\ngenerations to come. Perhaps Shalmaneser and Sennacherib were, in\nanother way, scarcely less necessary.\n\nApparently the prophet passes in this chapter to an entirely new\nsubject. The Assyrian seems to be forgotten. He opens with the burden\nof Babylon; he goes on to the burden of Damascus, &c. But Babel or\nBabylon represented to the prophets the attempt to establish a\nuniversal society, not upon the acknowledgment of the Divine care and\nprotection, but upon the acknowledgment of a mere power in nature\nagainst which men must try to measure their own. The order and\nhistory of the Jewish nation were made, from age to age, silently to\ntestify against it. \"Babylon is the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of\nthe Chaldees' excellency\" (ver. 19); her time is near to come, and\nher days shall not be prolonged (ver. 22). But these and similar\nwords must refer to more than the destruction of a certain Chaldean\ncity then or afterwards. How can we limit them to it when we find\nsuch words as those in vers. 11-13? Instead of being, as some\nsuppose, an interpolated fragment, the burden of Babylon comes in to\nmake all the visitations upon the other tribes of the earth\nintelligible. They are diverse but harmonious portions of the same\nDivine message to man--a message of terror, but also of deliverance\nand hope. In chap. xiv. we find how wonderfully these are combined.\n\nBut though most feel something of the grandeur of this poetry, and a\nfew the truth of this prophecy, we do not enough consider upon what\nboth are founded. The God-Man was the ground upon which the Jewish\nnation stood; here you have the contrast--the man-god; he would\nascend up to heaven and exalt his throne above the stars of God. This\nis the natural ruler of a society which counts the gold of Ophir more\nprecious than human beings. We have here the Babylonian power and the\nJerusalem power, that parody of human and Divine greatness which is\nseen in an earthly tyrant, that perfect reconciliation of Divinity\nand humanity which is seen in the Redeemer. Consider both images\nwell. Both are presented to us; we must admire and copy one of them;\nand whichever we take, we must resolutely discard the other. If we\nhave ever mixed them together in our minds, a time is at hand that\nwill separate them for ever. The Babylonian mark and image, your own\nevil nature, a corrupt society, the evil spirit, have been striving\nto stamp you ever since your childhood. Each hour you are tempted to\nthink a man less precious than the gold of Ophir; the current maxima\nof the world take for granted that he is; you in a thousand ways are\nacting on those maxims. Oh, remember that in them, and in the habits\nwhich they beget, lies the certain presage of slavery for men and\nnations, the foretaste of decay and ruin, which no human contrivances\ncan avert, which the gifts and blessings of God's providence only\naccelerate. May God grant us power to cast Babylonian principles out\nof our hearts, that when they come before us we may despise them and\nlaugh them to scorn, knowing that not against us but against the Holy\nOne the enemy is exalting himself. In that day may we be able to sing\nthe song which the prophet said should be sung in the land of Judah\n(xxvi. 1-4).--_F. D. Maurice, M.A.: Prophets and Kings,_ pp. 272-290.\n\n\n\nTRUE NATIONAL GREATNESS.\n\n     xix. 1-3, 14. _The burden of Egypt, &c._\n\nThe prophecies of Isaiah take a wide range, embrace the fortunes of\nalmost every nation, however remote, with whom the Israelites were\nbrought into common relation, whether of policy or commerce--Moab,\nDamascus, Tyre, Babylon, Ethiopia, Egypt. The prophet records the\npolitical and social phenomena of his day, not with the eye of a mere\nstatesman or diplomatist, but as reviewing the moral as well as the\npolitical aspects of things, the eternal governing laws as well as\nthe fitful moods and changes of a nation's life, the spiritual as\nwell as the material forces of the world.\n\nIsrael, in their dread of the great Assyrian monarchy, often cast\nwistful eyes towards Egypt, where they hoped to find a sure and\npowerful ally. The Egyptians accepted their subsidies, but thought\nthey consulted their own interests best by observing what has been\ncalled amongst ourselves a \"masterly inactivity.\" Their strength was\nto sit still. They had a large standing army; but as Rabshakeh\nshowed, on a memorable occasion, that he knew (chap. xxxvi. 6) the\nnation, with all its outward semblance of prosperity, was being eaten\nup with a thousand moral and social cankers, which corrupted the very\nsource of all national life. This chapter lays bare those wounds and\nbruises and putrefying sores.\n\n1. _There was a day when Egypt had been famous for its wisdom._ This\nwisdom had become a thing of the past (vers. 11, 12).\n\n2. _There was no unity of purpose, no coherence of action in the body\npolitic._ The true ideas of the family, of the municipality, of the\nnation, were lost. Every man was fighting against his brother (ver.\n2). It is history eternally repeating itself; it is the lament of\nThucydides over Greece; of Horace, Livy, and Tacitus over the\ncorruption of guilty imperialism, and over the absence of the\nmasculine, simple, republican virtues of ancient Rome.\n\n3. _With the decay of public virtue comes the decay of public spirit,\nand then soon follows the decay of national strength._ Then comes\nwhat these old Hebrew seers called the \"judgment;\" God coming out of\nHis place to visit the earth; anarchy, internal dissolution,\ncollapse, conquest by the foreigner; the giving over of the nation\ninto the hand of a cruel lord; the establishment of a military\ndespotism.\n\nIt were easy to point these remarks elsewhere, but let us look at\nhome. Many feel that during the last decade of years or more England\nhas been parting with many of her old traditions. Some of those\nprinciples which were merely corrupt remnants of a social and\npolitical system which has passed away--feudalism--we have\nundoubtedly gained by losing. _But there are others which we have\nlost, or are fast losing, to the great detriment of the\ncommonwealth._ The high sense of duty to the State overruling the\nsense of interest in the individual citizen; the true measure of a\nnation's wealth and greatness, not by its revenue in pounds sterling,\nbut by its revenue in the heavenly bodies, and honest hearts, and\npure, healthy homes of the people; the noble, self-sacrificing spirit\nof devotion to the call of duty; the principle of right recognised as\na higher principle than that of expediency; a temper of loyalty in\nthe strict sense of the word, of willing obedience to the law and\nthose who represent the law; strict commercial integrity, and not the\ntricks of trade which have been generated by an unwholesome\ncompetition--these are maxims of ancient wisdom which made England\ngreat, and the loss of which will make England small. Our greatness,\nwhatever it has been, has not rested so much upon material forces,\nbut, like Israel's of old, upon moral. We can only hope that our\nposition among the peoples will be maintained as long as we hold fast\nthe principles by which it was won. These privileges are not things\nof chance, but the direct result of moral laws as immutable and\nirreversible as the laws which govern the physical world. God send us\nstatesmen who will turn the nation's mind away from delusive and\npartisan aims, and direct them seriously to efforts which may unite\nus all in one great crusade against evil; in which every soldier\nmight certainly feel that he was fighting under the banner of Christ,\nin a righteous war, for objects which surely have a place in the\nredemption which Christ accomplished for the world.--_Bishop Fraser:\nChristian World Pulpit,_ vol. xvii. pp. 177, 178.\n\n\n\nA MOMENTOUS INQUIRY.\n\n     xxi. 11. _Watchman, what of the night?_\n\nSome calamity or sad moral condition is foreseen by the prophet.\nMoral evil is fitly compared to darkness. The term \"night\" is used to\nexpress error and sin. This was a time of darkness. The burden of\nDumah was: \"Watchman, what of the night?\" What is the prospect? Are\nthere any signs of coming day?\n\nThe world in its moral history had been for the most part in\ndarkness. It commenced with a bright and sinless morning; but this\nwas succeeded by a time of dark clouds and desolating storms. After\nthe Deluge the world started anew from another head. The new world,\nhowever, differed but little from the old. Then God called Abraham,\nand made his seed His chosen people, through whom He might accomplish\nHis beneficent designs. Outside of Judea there was not much to dispel\nthe darkness. Greece furnished a Socrates and a Plato; but because of\nher vices and crimes Greece soon went down to ruin. The once\nmagnificent empires Egypt, Assyria, Greece, and Rome were alike\ninvolved in the moral night of error and sin. We may inquire, as the\nvoice out of Seir did, \"Watchman, what of the night?\" What prospect\nis there for this sin-darkened world? And we may respond in the words\nof the prophet: \"The morning cometh.\" The morning cometh; but also\nthe night--a night whose duration we may not be able to tell.\n\n+I. How will this inquiry apply to Isaiah's time?+ It was indeed for\nthe chosen people a time of darkness. But the day is about to break!\nThe breathings of better things come like the morning air. \"The\nmorning cometh,\" but also the night--the morning to the sad-hearted\nJews, but the night to others--to the Idumeans, who had long\ncherished unfriendly feelings to the Jews, and appear to have\nrejoiced in their sorrow. The voice from Dumah was probably a\nsneering taunt, \"Where is now your God in whom ye trusted?\"\n\nIsaiah had a grander vision and saw another morning. The long night\nof the olden dispensation still lingered, but the prophet saw the\nbreaking day, and told of the advent of One who was to be the light\nand glory of the world (ix. 6, 7, lx. 2, 3, 20). The vision which\nIsaiah saw we also are permitted to see. To him it was the Saviour to\ncome, to teach, to suffer, to scatter the darkness; to us it is the\nSaviour who _has_ come, and taught, and suffered, and died, and rose\nagain, and whose glorious light has not only gilded the\nmountain-tops, but is spreading over all the whole land. And there\nare signs which will not fail that his grandest visions will be\nrealised.\n\n+II. How will this inquiry apply to our own times?+ 1. What mysteries\nhas science unveiled! How great the historical and geographical\nresearch of our day! How successful our time has been in bringing\nunity out of the variety of the universe and harmony out of its\napparent discord! 2. Ours has been a time of moral progress. Slavery\nhas been abolished from our realm. A great work has been done for the\narrest of intemperance. The cause of missions has grown into large\nproportions. 3. The religious progress of the world is remarkable.\nReligious liberty is rapidly spreading. There is encouraging advance\nin the social or loving element. In the Church the working element is\ngrowing. Never has the giving element assumed such proportions. Amid\nthis varied growth there is a strong tendency towards Christian\nunity. The enemy is vigilant; it is yet the night of battle, of\ntemptation, and of peril, but the morning surely cometh.\n\n+III. How will this inquiry apply to ourselves personally?+ 1. _There\nis a night of scepticism,_ or partial scepticism, in which some are\ninvolved. There are two classes of sceptics: some are sceptics\nbecause they want to be so; some are honest doubters, as Thomas the\ndisciple was--constitutionally a doubter, but honest withal. And\ntherefore he did not turn away from the light, and \"My Lord and my\nGod!\" exclaimed the enlightened, convinced, and believing Thomas. To\nthe earnest and sincere inquirer the response must be, \"The morning\ncometh;\" if thou art willing to be convinced, thou art not far from\nthe kingdom of God. If thou shouldst reject Jesus, whither wilt thou\ngo for a refuge and for a guide? 2. _There is a night of\nworldliness._ Many are living for selfish gratification and for this\nlife only. For the worldly the morning waiteth. Behold, Christ stands\nat the door and knocks! His is the light and the life of men; with\nHis entrance into the heart the morning cometh. 3. _There is the\nnight of penitential sorrow._ When the morning cometh to the awakened\nsinner, the light is sometimes, as with Saul of Tarsus, a blinding,\nas well as revealing light. To him--the sorrowing, praying, believing\npenitent--the morning came. And so it ever is. 4. _There is the night\nof suffering._ There never comes an hour in this world when suffering\nis unknown. Count it all joy, if it must needs be that ye shall\nsuffer. 5. _There is the night of weariness and disappointment._ The\nChristian worker, toil-worn, may sometimes inquire, \"Watchman, what\nof the night?\" He has wrongly hoped, it may be, at the same time to\ncarry the seed-basket, to put in the sickle, and to bring his sheaves\nwith him. Learn to labour faithfully and to wait. The Son of God is\ncome!\n\nCONCLUSION.--Fail not to remember that while the morning cometh for\nall who willingly hear and obey the Gospel, the night also cometh for\nthe disobedient and unbelieving. Come, ye who wander in the darkness,\nwhile yet there is room, to Him who is the bright and morning star,\nthe sun of righteousness, the light and life of the world, and for\nyou there will come a morning which will be the beginning of a\nblissful, glorious, and never-ending day.--_D. D. Currie: Christian\nWorld Pulpit,_ vol. vi. pp. 213-215.\n\n\n\nTHE BLESSINGS OF THE GOSPEL.\n\n     (_Missionary Sermon._)\n\n     xxv. 6-8. _And in this mountain, &c._\n\nWhat the spirit of prophecy has here recorded is the testimony of\nJesus and of His salvation, the subject presented to our view being\n_the blessings of the Gospel of the Son of God._ They are described\nin their general nature, in their unrivalled excellence, and in their\nuniversal extent.\n\n+I. The blessings of the Gospel are here described in their general\nnature,+ as including instruction for the ignorant, consolation for\nthe sorrowful, and life for the dead. They thus correspond to the\nstate of man without the Gospel, which is a state of darkness,\nmisery, and death.\n\n1. _The natural state of fallen man is a state of moral darkness._ A\nveil is upon him, by which those things which make for his peace and\nessentially affect his well-being are hidden from his eyes. It is a\ntriple veil. (1.) There is the fold of _native ignorance._ The merely\nnatural man is totally ignorant of God and eternity. He knows not\nwhence he came or whither he is going. He is altogether \"sensual,\nhaving not the Spirit,\" and cannot know those things of the Spirit of\nGod which are only spiritually discerned. Hence, ever since the Fall,\ndarkness has covered the earth and gross darkness the people.\n(2.) There is the yet thicker fold of _moral corruption._ Sin has\nexactly the same tendency in each particular case as in the case of\nAdam. It darkens the understanding by its deceitfulness, as well as\nhardens the heart by its malignity. It tends to extinguish that\ncandle of the Lord which shines in the conscience, and to render\nuseless and unavailing those other means which God has provided for\ndelivering us from the night of Nature. Those in whom it reigns\nchoose the darkness rather than the light because their deeds are\nevil (cf. Eph. vi. 17, 18). (3.) There is the fold of _Satanic\ninfatuation._ \"The whole world lieth in the wicked one.\" He rules in\nthe hearts of all the children of disobedience; and his kingdom is\nthe kingdom of delusion and darkness. He beguiled Eve through his\nsubtilty; and he still labours to corrupt and darken the minds of men\n(2 Cor. iv. 4).\n\nAll this is true of all the unregenerate, however diversified may be\ntheir external condition and local circumstances. Hence multitudes\neven of nominal Christians are fit objects of our compassionate care\nand exertion. But the description of the text is still more\napplicable to the case of heathen nations not yet visited by the\nGospel. They have not the light which nominal Christians do not allow\nto shine into them; in general, they have _no_ effectual light. Over\nthem is cast the veil not merely of ignorance and sin, but of\n_superstition_ and _false religion,_ than which nothing can be more\nfatally opposed to the entrance of light and the operation of Divine\ngrace. Their very systems of religion are the means of perpetuating\nfolly and vice, instead of reclaiming them to wisdom and\nrighteousness. In many cases that \"religion\" sanctions and prescribes\nthe most cruel of sacrifices and the most licentious of rites. In\nChristendom men may be superstitious and wicked, licentious and\ncruel, but it is _because they neglect their religion._ In heathen\nand Mohammedan countries, they are so _because_ they attend to their\nreligion. They breathe its genuine spirit and exemplify its proper\ntendency. All that is deemed sacred and authoritative in the name of\nreligion unites with all the ignorance and depravity of fallen man,\nand with all the subtilty and power of the Prince of Darkness to\nproduce and perpetuate a system of error and iniquity. False religion\nmay pretend to be a sun which enlightens, but it is really a veil\nwhich darkens all who come under its power--a veil much more\neffectual to favour the ravages of sin, misery, and death than even\nany of the coverings previously mentioned.\n\n2. _Man is described in the text as the child not only of darkness\nand error, but also of misery and death._ For ignorance is the\nmother, not of devotion, but of sin, in all its multiplied forms. And\nsin is invariably linked to misery! The wretchedness of men bears an\nexact correspondence to their ignorance and wickedness (Rom. iii. 16,\n17).\n\nIf this statement be true of natural men in general, it is still more\nawfully verified in the condition of the heathen world in particular.\nInfidel travellers who have cheated the public from time to time by\nhighly-coloured pictures of the happiness of pagans, ought not on\nsuch a point to be believed. It cannot be that in the dark places of\nthe earth, the habitations of cruelty, no groans should be heard, no\ntears be seen. The fact is, that while heathenism leaves its votaries\nto the unmitigated operation of all these natural and moral causes of\ndistress which are common to man in general, it opens many new\nsources of misery, inflicts many additional desolations, causes many\nforms of terror, suffering, and destruction, which are peculiar to\nitself. All men are born to tears, because born in sin; but the tears\nof pagans are often tears of blood. Every groan they heave is big\nwith double wretchedness.\n\nThe Gospel, in its provision of blessings for the human race, adapts\nitself to that state of darkness, wretchedness, and mortality which I\nhave faintly described.\n\n1. _It removes darkness._ It reveals to us the existence, character,\nand will of God, our own origin, immortality, and accountableness,\nthe way of salvation and the path of duty; and, used by the Holy\nSpirit as His great instrument, it changes the heart of those who\nreceive it, and delivers them from the delusions and dominion of\nSatan. In these several ways does the Gospel become the instrument of\nillumination. By it, and in connection with it, God destroys the\ncovering which is naturally on man's faces, and the veil that is\nspread over their understandings and hearts. The consequence is, in\ninstances innumerable, that \"beholding as in a glass,\" with unveiled\nface, \"the glory of the Lord, that are changed into the same image\nfrom glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.\"\n\nThe glorious diffusion of light and purity which results from\nChristianity is still more striking when it obtains access to heathen\nnations. In proportion to the deeper gloom of their former ignorance\nis the splendour of the new illumination, when the Sun of\nrighteousness arises upon them with healing in His beams. On such\noccasions, it may be said with peculiar emphasis, \"The entrance of\nThy Word giveth light,\"--a light which is able to penetrate and\ndestroy even the thickest veil of false religion.\n\n2. _It wipes away tears._ This is here declared to be a part of its\ndesign, and experience proves it to be one of its actual operations\n(Ps. lxxxix. 15, 16). It leads to repentance, and so to pardon,\npurity, and genuine peace. It comforts in sorrow. It cheers in death.\n\nTo the heathen it is peculiarly valuable and welcome. It opens to\nthem, in common with others, the sources of spiritual enjoyment and\nthe hopes of eternal bliss. And besides, it abolishes pagan cruelties\nand diffuses principles of humanity and kindness. Hence result the\namelioration of their civil institutions, the increase of domestic\nhappiness, and the improvement of social life (H. E. I. 1122-1133).\n\n3. _It swallows up death in victory._ It delivers every believer from\nthe fear of death (Heb. ii. 14, 15; H. E. I. 1109-1111, 1589, 1594).\nGod will most gloriously swallow up death in victory when He shall\nactually recover from the territories of the grave, by His almighty\npower, those spoils which death has won.\n\nIn proportion to its progress in heathen countries, the Gospel will\nnot merely extract the sting of death, but arrest and diminish its\nmost awful ravages. The waste of human life in many pagan lands is\nincalculable. As true religion increases, even in Christian\ncountries, wars, which it has already rendered less sanguinary, will\nbe less frequent too (chap. ii. 4).\n\n+II. The unrivalled excellence of the blessings of the Gospel.+ \"A\nfeast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full\nof marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.\" Variety! richness!\nabundance! (See outline THE GOSPEL FEAST, pp. 253-256.) Who does not\nrecognise, in the unrivalled excellence of the blessings the Gospel\nconveys, the most powerful arguments for missionary exertion? Who can\nthink of the Gospel feast, in contrast with the famine of the\nheathen, without wishing that they also might be bidden to the\nheavenly entertainment?\n\n+III. The universal extent of the blessings of Christianity.+ \"The\nLord of hosts shall make unto _all_ people a feast of fat things.\"\n1. They are adapted to all people. 2. They are sufficient for all\npeople. 3. They were designed for all people. 4. The wide world\nshall, sooner or later, partake of them.\n\nOne result of this universal spread and triumph of Christianity is\nstated in the text: \"The rebuke of His people shall He take away from\noff all the earth.\" 1. By the successful exertions of God's people to\nevangelise the world, the reproach, which is at present too\nwell-founded, of neglecting to care for those who sit in darkness and\nthe shadow of death, shall become no longer just and applicable.\n2. In consequence of the general spread and influence of\nChristianity, the reproach of Christ, the scandal of the Cross, shall\ncease; and the Church, formerly despised and laughed to scorn, shall\nbe held in great honour and reputation (chap. lx. 13-16). 3. The\nparticular reproach of spiritual barrenness--the reproach founded on\nthe paucity of her converts, and the small number of her\nchildren--shall for ever cease. At present \"Jacob is small,\" and the\nflock of Jesus is, comparatively, a little flock. This fact has been\nconverted by infidels into matter of attack upon Christianity itself.\nThey have tauntingly urged the narrow extent of our religion as an\nargument against its Divinity. That argument admits, even now, of\nsolid refutation. But in due season the fact itself shall be altered,\nand no shadow of plausibility shall be left for the reproach (chap.\nliv. 1-5).\n\nCONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS.\n\n1. The text should teach you your personal obligations and privileges\nin reference to the Gospel. The feast is spread out before _you;_ to\n_you_ are the blessings of it freely offered (chap. lv. 1-3).\n\n2. The text teaches you the ground of missionary exertions. To\npartake of the feast ourselves is our first duty: but, while we \"eat\nthe fat and drink the sweet,\" shall we not \"send portions unto them\nfor whom nothing is prepared?\" Can any duty be more obviously founded\nin reason and justice, humanity and piety, than that of sending the\nbread of life to our perishing fellow-creatures? The most hateful and\ninexcusable of all monopolies is the monopoly of Christian truths and\nconsolations.\n\n3. There are great encouragements to such labour. (1.) The certainty\nof Divine approbation. (2.) The certainty of consequent success\n(H. E. I. 1166-1168). But remember, if you would share in the\ntriumphs of the Gospel, you must share in the labour and expense of\ntheir achievement.--_Jabez Bunting, D.D.: Sermons,_ vol. i. pp.\n453-483.\n\n\n\nPEACEFUL KEEPING.\n\n     xxvi. 3, 4. _Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, &c._\n\nThe delightfulness and value of peace to the nation, the Church, the\nfamily, the individual (P. D. 2664). Consider--\n\nI. THE PROMISE. 1. +It is universal in its range.+ It is made to any\nand every man who will trust in God. 2. +It is sure.+ Men fail for\nvarious reasons to keep their promises, but every Divine promise is\ncertain to be fulfilled (H. E. I. 4052, 4053). 3. +The peace which is\npledged and secured to all who will fulfil the condition of the text\nis perfect+--so perfect that it can only be described by a repetition\nof the word, _\"peace, peace.\"_ God never gives in driblets. His gifts\nare like Himself, perfect for their fulness, for their suitability,\nfor their enduring qualities. God can keep His people in perfect\npeace when the devil accuses, when the world allures or threatens,\nwhen sickness tries, when adversity oppresses, even when the heart is\nsore tired, and when grim death would affright (H. E. I. 1253, 1893,\n1894, 1911-1926; P. D. 2669, 2673).\n\nII. THE CHARACTER DESCRIBED. _\"Whose mind is stayed on Thee, because\nhe trusted in Thee.\"_ Trust unites. The mind will not be stayed upon\nGod unless there be perfect confidence in His wisdom, power, and\nlove. Trust and love go together. Love begets confidence, and\nconfidence strengthens love. The whole nature must be stayed on God,\nand on God only. There must be no division in the heart's affections:\nwe cannot serve God and Mammon and be kept in perfect peace. There\nmust be trust before there can be peace; God Himself cannot give\nperfect peace to the untrustful.\n\nIII. THE EXHORTATION. _\"Trust ye in the Lord for ever.\"_ We trust in\nthe Lord when, encouraged by His promises, we hold fast to Him. It is\nnothing deeper, nothing more difficult than that. Its very simplicity\nis its difficulty. As the limpet binds itself to the rock, and is not\ndisturbed by the dashing billows, so let the soul by an ardent\naffection bind itself to the Rock of Ages. The word \"ever\" gives a\nwonderful expansiveness to our text. It points at once to God's\neternity and man's immortality. He is a being capable of being\ntrusted for ever, and for ever we shall be capable of trusting Him.\nOur trust is to be unlimited and unintermitted; it is to be exercised\nat all times, under all circumstances, through all ages.\n\nIV. THE STABLE FOUNDATION OF THE BELIEVER'S CONFIDENCE. _\"For in the\nLord Jehovah is everlasting strength.\"_ The peace must be perfect\nthat rests upon, and rises out of, such a solid foundation. The\nmountains are \"everlasting\" only in figure, but the foundation on\nwhich we rest is everlasting in fact (Ps. xci. 1, 2).--_W. Burrows,\nB.A._\n\n\nThe world needs the message contained in our text. Most faces that we\nsee are careworn. They are so because behind them there are anxious\nhearts distressed by fears of various kinds--by fears concerning the\nbody, by fears concerning the soul. The vast majority of men are\ndestitute of true peace; for while in the world there are many\nways--of pleasure, of sin, of disappointment, of misery, of\ndeath--there is no way of peace. The multitudes who throng past us\nare miserable because the way of peace they have not known.\n\nI. LOOK AT THE PERSON WHO IS KEPT IN PEACE. He is a person whose mind\nis stayed on God. A man's self, sin, pleasure, false religion, vain\nhopes, are every one of them troubled waves in an ocean of\ndisquietude, and no soul can stay itself on them, though many souls\nhave sought to do so. Who, lying down in the very midst of the sea,\ncan find there repose? As he lieth down upon the waves, they yield\nbeneath him--the billows roll over him; he is sinking in the mighty\ndeep. So with the sinner lying down in the midst of the sea and of\nthe storm of this world apart from God. But he who lieth down upon\nGod is as a man upon a rock, or as one in a mighty fortress; he is at\npeace--secure in fact and in feeling. But it is only as God is\nrevealed to us in Christ that we may rest upon Him. Apart from\nChrist, He is to sinners \"a consuming fire.\" Only through Christ may\nwe find the blessedness we so much need, but through Christ we may\nfind it.\n\nII. LOOK AT THE POWER WHICH KEEPS THE BELIEVER IN PEACE. It is not\nthe power of his own faith (H. E. I. 1970, 1975). It is not the power\nof his own effort, struggling to obtain confidence. It is the power\nof God: \"_Thou_ wilt keep him,\" &c. The sinner obtains peace by\nyielding himself to God (Rom. vi. 13). The believer has peace while\nhe leaves himself in God's hands, quietly submissive, cheerfully\nwilling that God should lead him and do with him whatever is pleasing\nin His sight (P. D. 2966-2968, 2970-2972). Then all God's\nattributes--His omniscience, His omnipotence, His faithfulness, His\ntender mercy--minister to his peace (P. D. 3379).\n\nIII. LOOK AT THE PEACE IN WHICH SUCH A PERSON IS KEPT. It is\n_\"perfect peace.\"_ Peace in spite of all that conscience may say, of\nthe temptations that assail us, of the troubles of life, of the\ncertainty and mystery of death. With the peace of pardon, all this\npeace flows into the soul, increasing more and more. It is the peace\nof Christ, the same peace which filled and sustained Him (John\nxiv. 27). You remember that we are shown Him with His head on a\npillow, His eyes closed, His mind in unconscious repose, asleep in\nthe midst of the wild storm at night upon the Lake of Galilee, when\nthe waves beat upon the trembling vessel, and the wind strove to\nraise the waves still higher, and engulph them all. He slept, secure\nand peaceful, amid the storm. So does the soul of the believer that\nstayeth itself upon God. Upon what lay that peaceful head of Jesus\nbut upon the unseen arm and heart of God. Men said of Christ\nmockingly, \"He trusted in God.\" He did trust in God, as the most\nexalted believer, and far more than the most exalted believer; and in\nthat simplicity of faith He was kept in peace, sleeping amidst the\nstorm. So is it with the believer. O believer! is it so with\nyou?--_Henry Grattan Guinness: Sermon in The Christian World,_ 1860.\n\n\nHere is the secret of life--peace, perfect peace--and the sure way of\nattaining it. Consider--\n\nI. THE CHARACTER CONTEMPLATED. _\"Whose mind is stayed on Thee.\"_ His\nmind is fixed with such intensity that it cannot be diverted from the\nobject on which it is set. This object is not himself (Prov.\nxxviii. 26), nor his riches (Prov. xxiii. 5), nor his fellow-men (Ch.\nii. 22; Jer. xvii. 4, 5), but GOD, in whom he trusts unhesitatingly,\nexclusively, universally. He accepts all that the Scriptures reveal\nconcerning God, and makes these revelations the foundation of his\nconfidence and his prayers.\n\nII. THE PROMISED BLESSING. _\"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace.\"_\nSee also Jer. xvii. 7. The idea suggested is that of habitual and\ncontinued blessedness. The elements of peace are begun in the soul,\nand they are brought to maturity in the whole course of the future\nlife. The peace given is like a river (chap. lxvi. 12), both for\nabundance and permanence. That is, while, and only while, the mind is\nstayed upon God (chap. xlviii. 18). Then he is _kept_ in peace, for\nGod is its finisher as well as its author; and it is \"perfect peace,\"\nbecause it is peace of all kinds, in its highest degree, at all\ntimes, under all circumstances.\n\nIII. THE REASON FOR THE BESTOWMENT OF THE BLESSING. _\"Because he\ntrusteth in Thee.\"_ Faith honours God (Rom. iv. 21), and therefore\nthose who exercise it are honoured by Him (1 Sam. ii. 30; H. E. I.\n4057, 4058).\n\nIV. THE DUTY ENJOINED. _\"Trust ye,\"_ &c. While we are listening to\nexpositions of this text, this duty seems to be easy; but in actual\nlife our faith is tried and often fails, because we lose sight of the\npromises and perfections of God. Here there come to us\ndisappointments, difficulties, temptations to distrust. But it is our\nduty to struggle with them all; and if we do so, it will be our\nblessedness to overcome them all (chap. xl. 27-31). \"Trust ye in the\n_Lord;_ trust ye in the Lord _for ever;_ for in the Lord Jehovah is\n_everlasting strength._\"--_James Morgan, D.D.: The Home Pulpit,_ pp.\n512-516.\n\n\nThere is sometimes a world of meaning in a single word: Country,\nhome, _peace!_ How it sometimes tells of booming cannon hushed into\nsilence, of glittering swords sent back into their sheaths, of\nhundreds of homes relieved from distressing anxieties and fears, of\nthousands of lives respited at least for a time! How it sometimes\ntells of surging passions hushed into a calm, of vengeful purposes\nsuperseded, of the fires of enmity quenched, of despair giving place\nto hope and joy! Peace has its histories, many and pleasant; its\ntriumphs, various and substantial; its heralds, Divine, angelic,\nhuman. Ministers have messages of peace to deliver to their\ncongregations, and in our text we have one of them.\n\nI. THE CONDITION EXPRESSED IN THE TEXT. _\"Whose mind is stayed on\nThee.\"_ It is a mind resting on God as the God of grace reconciling\nsinners to Himself through the mediation of Christ, dispensing\npardon, sanctity, salvation--a mind resting, after reconciliation, on\nHis truthfulness, wisdom, almightiness, holiness--a mind resting on\nHis rule and government over all the forces of nature and all the\nevents of daily life, both national and individual.\n\nII. THE CONFIDENCE EXPRESSED IN THE TEXT. _\"Thou wilt keep,\"_ &c.\n_Thou_ wilt do it; not merely delegate and intrust this to any agency\nwhatever. Thou _wilt_ do it; there is no uncertainty or peradventure\nabout it. \"In perfect peace:\" peace of all kinds, and in a\nsuperlative degree; peace flowing from reconciliation; peace in the\nmidst of unexplained mysteries; peace in the midst of adverse\nprovidences; peace amid the uncertainties of the future.--_John\nCorbin._\n\n\n\nTHE SONG TO THE VINEYARD.\n\n     xxvii. 2, 3. _In that day sing ye unto her, &c._\n\nThere are different opinions as to what is meant by \"leviathan, that\ncrooked serpent,\" and \"the dragon that is in the sea\" (ver. 1),\nwhether the same power is signified by different names, &c. (1.) On a\npoint concerning which learned and able men cannot see eye to eye, it\nwould be presumptuous for me to give an opinion. (2.) If we cannot\nfeel certain as to the literal meaning, the spiritual is plain.\n(3.) Neither of the expositions affects the substance of the\nprophecy. A great deliverance is spoken of, to be accomplished by the\ndestruction of the enemies of the Church, and the Lord gives a\ncommand to comfort His people. There is in our text a _command_ and a\n_promise._\n\nI. THE COMMAND.\n\n1. _\"Sing ye unto her.\"_ It is taken for granted that the spiritual\ncondition of the Church is pleasing to God, but that the feeling of\nHis people is in a low state. Sometimes the Lord directs His servant\nto reprimand them: \"Show unto my people their transgressions.\" A\nChurch may need comfort while some of its members deserve correction.\nPossibly the faulty members are the cause of the discomfort to the\nChurch, and render it desirable that she should be comforted. It is\nso in the family. We comfort the family when a member of it has\ntransgressed. The fact that one member needs correction causes the\nothers to need consolation. In some cases, it requires much wisdom to\ndecide whether an encouragement or a reproof should be given. We have\nseen the rod used when a kind word would have been more suitable; and\nsome are singing songs while it would be more appropriate to sound an\nalarm. There is need for rightly dividing the Word of truth. \"A word\nin its season,\" &c.\n\nPossibly the accurate expositor will ask who is commanded to sing. Is\nit the prophets, or the priests, or the choir of the Temple? This is\na poetical book, and sometimes it calls on the heavens, the\nmountains, and the trees of the field to sing. In this respect I\nwould rather let the command of the text remain undecided, and say to\neverybody and everything, \"Sing unto her!\"\n\n2. _What should be sung to this vineyard?_ Remind her in this song\nthat she is \"the vineyard of the Lord of hosts.\" The Old Testament is\nfull of references to a vineyard, to vines, and to wine. The reason\nfor this is, that the Bible is an Eastern book. A vineyard supposes--\n\n_Separation._ Not the superiority of its soil to that of the\nsurrounding country makes the vineyard, but its separation. It is not\nbecause the saints are by nature better than others that they are\nGod's vineyard, but because they are set apart by Him. The idea of\nseparation as regards the Church is made conspicuous in every age.\nThe saints, the disciples, constitute the flock and the vineyard of\nthe Old Testament, the Church of the New. When I speak of a separated\nChurch, of course I do not allude to any sect, but to the Church in\ngeneral. There are hypocrites in the Churches, but none in _the_\nChurch. It is in the world, but not of the world. The soul is in the\nbody, but not of the body \"Wherefore, come out from among them, and\nbe ye separate, saith the Lord\" (2 Cor. vi. 17). Ceremonials cannot\nplant the vine; there are necessarily ordinances, but circumcision\ncould not make the Jews a godly people, and there were thousands of\nungodly people partaking every year of the Passover. A change of\nheart, a change in the condition of the soul, constitutes the\nplanting in the vineyard; not a ceremonial separation, but a change\nof mind; not the affixing of the stamp of a sect, but the impartation\nof the image of God (H. E. I. 1171-1183).\n\nII. THE PROMISE.\n\nA large and comprehensive one. It includes--\n\n1. _Care._ \"I the Lord do keep it.\" With regard to a vineyard, there\nis a special meaning in the word \"keep.\" The vine requires great\ncare. There is much work for the knife. From the pruning of the vine\nby the vine-dresser, there is much valuable instruction to be gained.\nWe learn that what appear to be grievous losses may secure great\ngains (H. E. I. 63, 104, 126). Oh, this pruning how painful it often\nis! But it is not done because the Owner of the vineyard delights in\nit; it proves His love. See Jochebed taking an ark of bulrushes,\nputting the child Moses in it, and then laying it amidst the perils\nof the Nile: not because she hated him! No; love was at the bottom of\nit all, though it appeared otherwise. It behoves the pulpit still to\nassure God's people of His care for them.\n\n2. _Provision._ \"I will water it.\" There was necessity for watering\nthe vineyard constantly. This was done by means of trenches conveying\nthe water to the roots of the plants. For this purpose rain-water was\ncarefully stored in cisterns; dew was also of great service. The\nmeans of grace are somewhat like watercourses. We are dry enough and\nwithered in appearance, but what would we be without the means of\ngrace? What is the dew? The noiseless influences of the Holy Spirit.\nWe will compare revivals to showers; they are not with us, like the\nwatercourses, always. I do not know whether the natural vineyards\nmust have water without intermission; but the vineyard of the Lord of\nhosts requires it \"every moment,\" and here is His promise to supply\nthe need.\n\n3. _Safety._ \"Lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.\" It\nshall be protected from the blighting frost, from thieves and\nspoilers, from \"the boar out of the wood,\" from \"the little foxes\nthat spoil the vines.\" \"I the Lord do keep it.\" He will not only give\nHis angels charge concerning it, though He will do that. \"The angel\nof the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him.\" That shall be\ndone and more! \"For _I,_ saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of\nfire round about her, and will be the glory in the midst of her.\" All\nthings are in the hand of God, and under His control they shall\nco-operate for her safety. It is not surprising that Moses, as he\nsurveyed Israel from the top of Mount Nebo, should say, \"Happy art\nthou, O Israel! who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord,\nthe shield of thy help? The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath\nare the everlasting arms.\" \"He that dwelleth in the secret place of\nthe Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.\" In\ndwelling near God there is safety. Israel was always flourishing when\nwith God. The safety of God's people means more than being kept\ntogether and saved from destruction: \"Lest any _hurt_ it!\" How\nexcellent are the promises of God!--_Gweithiau Rhyddieithol,_ pp.\n48-51, _by the late William Ambrose of Portmadoc, translated from the\nWelsh by the Rev. T. Johns, of Llanelly._\n\n\n\nTHE STORMS OF LIFE.\n\n     xxvii. 8. _In measure when it shooteth forth, &c._\n\n+I. There is a special appropriateness in comparing the trials of\nlife to storms.+ 1. _Storms are the exceptions and not the normal or\ncommon condition of the atmosphere._ \"In the world ye shall have\ntribulation.\" True; but Christ in saying so does not assert that we\nshall have tribulation only. \"Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks\nfly upward.\" Yes; but it is not said that there is nothing but\ntrouble. \"Through much tribulation,\" &c. Yea, through many storms the\nmariner has to go through life; but there is fine weather also.\n2. _Storms come from God._ See what is said about trouble (Job v. 6),\n\"_All_ my springs are in THEE,\" the sweet and the bitter. 3. _Storms\ncome from different directions:_ the family, the Church, business,\n&c. 4. _Storms are unpleasant to bear._ The anxiety of the sailor's\nwife. The traveller on the moor. 5. _Storms leave their traces\nbehind._ The ravages of the sea. The effects of gales on edifices. So\nin life. The bereaved family. The capitalist reduced to want, &c.\n6. But _storms are beneficial_ (Heb. xii. 10, 11).\n\n+II. The storms of life are regulated and controlled by God.+ It is\nof Him that our text speaks. Who \"debates in measure?\" Who \"stayeth\nHis rough wind in the day of His east wind?\" He who is almighty,\nall-wise, and good. His greatness, as shown in the firmament, hints\nthat He is too great to observe human beings. But notice our\nSaviour's teaching: while instructing us concerning His Father, He\nspeaks not of His omnipotence, &c., but of His observation of small\nthings (Matt. x. 29, 30). Put a green leaf or a drop of water under a\nmicroscope, and you will see myriads of living animalcules. God\nobserves every one. \"Casting all your care on Him, for _He_ careth\nfor _you._\" \"He\" and \"you!\"\n\n+III. The storms of life are proportioned to His people's strength.+\n\"In measure.\" (See outlines THE AFFLICTIONS OF GOD'S PEOPLE and THE\nDISCIPLINE OF SIN, pp. 290, 291.) A Jew never exercised greater care\nand exactitude in weighing out his gold and diamonds than does God\nwhile meting out trials to His people. \"Grace to help in time of\nneed;\" yea, and storms equal to our strength. We do not know how much\nour strength is. One man over-estimates his strength, another\nunder-estimates it. \"But He knoweth our frame.\" \"God is faithful, who\nwill not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able\" (H. E. I.\n179-188, 3675-3695).\n\nIn various ways He maintains the merciful proportion of the storm to\nthe strength. 1. He does so sometimes _by sending the lesser storms\nbefore the greater._ Jacob at Bethel was unable to undergo the trials\nof Jacob at Mahanaim. By the time he reached the latter place, he had\nbecome a prince, an Israel. Carrying the least burden prepares a man\nfor carrying the greatest (Hercules and the ox). 2. _Sometimes by\nsending the heaviest first._ The man may then be in the fulness of\nhis vigour, or in spirit he may be so contumacious that some rough\nhandling may be necessary to bring his pride into subjection. 3. _By\nremoving one trial before another comes._ Poverty is taken away\nbefore ill-health sets in. \"He stayeth His rough wind.\" 4. _By\nsending each one in its time._ \"It could not have come at a worse\ntime.\" Who says so? \"If it had happened at another time, it would\nhave been easier to bear.\" That may be so, but would it have been as\nprofitable? It was necessary for you to _feel._ Less suffering would\nnot have sufficed for that end.\n\n+IV. The storms of life promote purposes of wisdom and love.+ 1. _The\nLord sometimes orders trials as chastisements._ It is not always so;\nwe are too apt to explain everything as chastisement. But God has\npromised to correct (Jer. xxx. 11), and it is the promise of a\nfather, not the threatening of a judge. (1.) Sometimes one correction\nprevents many more. (2.) When the Lord sends trials in the way of\ncorrection, He graciously gives His children the reasons for thus\ndealing with them. \"The iniquity which he _knoweth_\" (1 Sam.\niii. 13). What father would correct a child without explaining to him\nwhat it was for? And what correction would benefit the saints while\nignorant of the object in view? Possibly the neighbours may not know,\nbut he has himself a private account with God. Hence arises a\nconsequent duty (H. E. I. 144). (3.) When God thus sends trials, they\nare _corrections,_ and not merely punishments; manifestations not of\nvengeance, but of His love. A gardener uses the pruning-knife only\nfor the good of the fruit-bearing trees in his garden. God's\ncorrections are designed only to take away the sin of His people (see\nver. 9, and Zech. xiii. 9; H. E. I. 56-74).\n\n2. _The Lord sometimes orders trials as exhibitions of the graces of\nHis people._ The tempest which beat upon Job was not corrective,\nthough he thought so while it lasted (Job x. 2, xiii. 24). The trial\nbrought out into view his trust in God: \"Though He slay me, yet will\nI trust in Him.\" The Lord's purpose was to prove that Job was \"a\nperfect and an upright man\" (H. E. I. 91-98).\n\n3. _Storms are sometimes preventive._ A fiery trial is approaching;\nthe man is in danger, for he is too weak to withstand it; by a lesser\ntrial he is withdrawn from it. Two ships are drawing near in a fog;\nthey are making towards each other at a perfect angle. The top-mast\nof one is blown down; the men on deck bemoan the misfortune; but it\nwas the means of slackening the pace of the vessel, and so prevented\na collision. A man is sometimes laid on a bed of sickness to save his\nlife--to save his soul!\n\n4. _Storms sometimes prepare men for nobler work._ Moses, after being\nbrought up in the lap of luxury, is watching the flock forty years in\nMidian. All the learning of Egypt is lost in a shepherd. Nay! Moses\nrequires a double education, for he has a duplicate work to\nperform--appearing before Pharaoh in the palace, and leading Israel\nthrough the wilderness. _E.g.,_ what good can a preacher do, if he\nhas no _experience_ of his own? (Ps. li. 12, 13; 2 Cor. i. 3-6;\nH. E. I. 101-108, 2464, 2465).\n\nSome one may say that he has no knowledge of storms from experience.\nWait! Peradventure thou shalt know. Should they come, _bow._ Nothing\nbreaks, if it bends.--_Gweithiau Rhyddieithol,_ pp. 78-81, _by the\nlate William Ambrose of Portmadoc. Translated from the Welsh by the\nRev. T. Johns of Llanelly._\n\n\n\nTHE GREAT TRUMPET.\n\n     xxvii. 13. _And it shall come to pass in that day, &c._\n\nThis prophecy was literally fulfilled (Ezra i.); but it has a wider\nmeaning, and this also it shall be fulfilled.\n\nI. THE GREATNESS OF THE GOSPEL. \"The great trumpet.\" 1. _It is\ndesigned for the world._ When liberty was proclaimed for the slaves\nof the West Indies, the slaves of America remained in bondage. When\nthe slaves of America were liberated, the bondmen in Cuba, Peru, &c.,\nwere not set free. But here is a blessing for the whole world. \"Which\nshall be to all people, . . . a light to lighten the Gentiles\" (Luke\nii. 10, 32). One side of the earth can only enjoy the rays of the sun\nat the same time; but this \"light\" shall shed its rays on the whole\nworld. 2. _It is designed for the world in its most important\ninterests._ There are inventions and scientific discoveries--such as\nthe steam-engine, &c.--which are valuable to the whole world. But\nthey are valuable only in regard to the present life. But the Gospel\nmeets the wants of the soul, and concerns the endless life beyond.\n3. _It is so great that all other things in the world are small in\ncomparison with it;_ trade, learning, &c. 4. _It is so great that it\nbestows greatness upon everything it touches._ Upon oratory, although\nit is independent of excellency of speech. Upon any country in which\nit is proclaimed and accepted; _e.g.,_ Great Britain, America. Under\nits shelter liberty, learning, &c., flourish (H. E. I. 1124-1132).\n\nII. THE MINISTRY OF THE GOSPEL. \"The great trumpet shall be blown.\"\nWhat is the good of a trumpet without some one to blow it? (Rom.\nx. 14).\n\n+1. Who is to blow it?+ Not angels (Heb. ii. 5). The law was given by\nthe ministry of angels; by them the trumpet was blown on Mount Sinai\n(Acts vii. 53). But they recognise that the trumpet of the Gospel is\nto be blown by _men_ (Acts v. 20, x. 31, 32). This treasure is in\nearthen vessels. Gideon's Lamps. Men are better than angels for this\npurpose. This is proved by the fact that God ordered it so. But there\nare other minor satisfactory arguments, such as: (1.) _The danger of\nglorifying the missionary above the mission._ (2.) _The angels'\ndisadvantages._ They lack the necessary experience. Blessed lack, in\nall other respects! They have never been contaminated by sin, and\nhence know not how to speak to the heart of the sinner. By men the\ntrumpet is now being blown, and will be blown to the end of time. The\ntrumpeters are falling, ministers are dying, but the ministry is\nalive!\n\n+2. How is it to be blown?+ (1.) _Clearly_ (1 Cor. xiv. 8). If the\npromises are proclaimed, care must be taken to show to whom they\nbelong. So with the threatenings, &c. (2.) _Vigorously._ It must be\ndone thoroughly, or not at all. (3.) _Bravely_ (Eph. vi. 19). The\nquestion is not what will \"take,\" what is popular, what would please\nthe masses, but \"What saith the Lord?\"\n\nIII. THE OBJECTS OF THE MINISTRY. \"They which were ready to perish.\"\n1. _Pagans are such_ (Rom. i.) \"Them which sat in the region and\nshadow of death\" (Matt. iv. 16). 2. _Every unconverted sinner._ They\nare all to be addressed as those who are \"ready to perish.\" The\nmatter cannot be compromised because there are seat-holders,\ncontributors, &c. Your kindness shall not prevent our blowing from\nthe trumpet the tones you need to hear.\n\nIV. THE SUCCESS OF THE GOSPEL. \"And they shall come which were ready\nto perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of\nEgypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem.\"\n1. _Whence shall they come?_ From the Pharisaical hiding-places, the\nquicksands of excuses, &c. They are bound in the chains of slavery;\nbut \"they shall come!\" This is as certain as the deliverance from\nBabylon. Take us your harps and strike them! 2. _How will they come?_\nWeeping. Without delay. Confidently. 3. _Whither and to whom will\nthey come?_ (1.) To Christ; they cannot live without Him. (2.) To His\nhouse.\n\nAPPLICATIONS.--1. Thousands have come; will you? 2. God has another\ntrumpet.--_Gweithiau Rhyddiethol_ (pp. 174-176), _by the late Rev. W.\nAmbrose, Portmadoc. Translated from the Welsh by the Rev. T. Johns,\nLlanelly._\n\n\n\nREJECTERS OF THE GOSPEL ADMONISHED.\n\n     xxviii. 12. _To whom He said, This is the rest wherewith ye\n     may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing:\n     yet they would not hear._\n\nIsaiah was one of the most eloquent of preachers, yet he could not\nwin the ears and hearts of those to whom he spoke. He spoke more of\nJesus Christ than all the rest of the prophets, yet the message of\nlove was treated as though it were an idle tale. His doctrine was\nclear as the daylight, yet men would not see it (chap. liii. 1). It\nwas not the fault of the preacher that Israel rejected his warnings:\nall the fault lay with the disobedient and gainsaying nation. The\npeople to whom he spoke so earnestly were drunken in a double sense:--\n\n1. They were overcome with wine (vers. 7, 8). How is it likely that\nthe truth shall enter an ear which has been rendered deaf by this\ndegrading vice? How is the Word of God likely to operate upon a\nconscience that has been drenched and drowned by strong drink? Flee\nfrom this destroyer before your hands are made strong and you are\nhopelessly fettered by the habit.\n\n2. They were also intoxicated with pride. Their country was fruitful,\nand its chief city, Samaria, stood on the hill-top, like a diadem of\nbeauty crowning the land, and they delighted in it. Among them were\nmany champions whose strength sufficed to turn the battle to the\ngate, therefore they hoped to resist every invader, and so their\nhearts were lifted up. Moreover, they said, \"We are an intelligent\npeople; we are men of cultured intellect, instructed scribes, and we\ndo not need persons like Isaiah to weary us with the ding-dong of\n'precept upon precept, line upon line,' as if we were mere children\nat school. Besides, we are good enough. Do we not worship our God\nunder the form of the golden calves in Dan and Bethel? Do we not\nrespect the sacrifice and the holy days?\" So spoke the more religious\nof them, while the rest gloried in their shame. Being intoxicated\nwith pride, it was not likely that they would hear the message of the\nprophet who made them turn from their evil ways. Pride is the devil's\ndrag-net, in which he taketh more fishes than in any other, except\nprocrastination.\n\nThe two forms of drunkenness are equally destructive. Whether body or\nsoul be intoxicated, mischief will surely come of it. Let us not get\ndrunk with pride because we are not drunkards; for if we are so vain\nand foolish, we shall as certainly perish by pride as we should have\ndone by drink.\n\nI. THE EXCELLENCE OF THE GOSPEL as it is set forth in the passage\nbefore us. This Scripture does not allude to the Gospel primarily,\nbut to the message which Isaiah had to deliver, which was in part the\ncommand of the law and in part the promise of grace: but the same\nrule holds good of all the words of the Lord; and indeed any\nexcellence which was found in the prophet's message is found yet more\nabundantly in the fuller testimony of the Gospel in Christ Jesus.\n\n+1. The excellence of that Gospel lies, first in its object.+ For\n\n(1.) _It is a revelation of rest._ Christ's ambassadors are sent to\nproclaim to you that which shall give you ease, peace, quiet, rest.\nIt is true that we have to begin with certain truths that disturb and\ndistress; but our object is to dig out the foundation into which may\nbe laid the stones of restfulness. The object of the Gospel is not to\nmake men anxious, but to calm their anxieties; not to fill them with\nendless controversy, but to lead them into all truth. The Gospel\ngives rest of conscience, by the complete forgiveness of sin through\nthe atoning blood of Christ; rest of heart, by supplying an object\nfor the affections worthy of their love; and rest of intellect, by\nteaching it certainties which can be accepted without question. Our\nmessage does not consist of things guessed at by wit, nor evolved out\nof men's inner consciousness by study, not developed by argument\nthrough human reason; but it treats of revealed certainties,\nabsolutely and infallibly true, upon which the understanding may rest\nitself as thoroughly as a building rests upon a foundation of rock.\nThe Word of the Lord comes to give believing men rest about the\npresent by telling them that God ordereth all things for their good;\nand as for the future, it brightens all coming time and eternity with\npromises. The man who will hear the Gospel message, and receive it\ninto his soul, shall know the peace of God, which passeth all\nunderstanding, and shall keep his heart and mind by Jesus Christ.\n\n(2.) _It is the cause of rest._ \"This is the rest wherewith ye may\n_cause_ the weary to rest.\" The Gospel of our salvation is not only a\ncommand to rest, but it brings the gift of rest within itself. Let\nthe Gospel be admitted into the heart, and it will create a profound\ncalm, hushing all the tumult and strife of conscience, removing all\napprehensions of Divine wrath, stilling all rebellion against the\nsupreme Will, and so working in the spirit by the energy of the Holy\nGhost a deep and blessed peace.\n\n(3.) _This rest is especially meant for the weary._ \"This is the rest\nwherewith ye may cause the weary to rest.\" Oh, ye that are weary with\nthe round of worldly pleasure, worn with ambition, fretted with\ndisappointment, embittered by the faithlessness of those you trusted\nin, come and confide in Jesus and be at rest. Here is the rest, here\nis the refreshing. Jesus expressly puts it: \"Come unto me, all ye\nthat labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.\"\nDespondent and despairing, condemned, and in your conscience cast out\nto the gates of hell, yet look to Jesus and rest shall be yours.\n\n(4.) In addition to bringing us rest, _the message of mercy points to\na refreshing._ \"This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to\nrest; and this is the refreshing.\" If the rested one should grow\nweary again, the Good Shepherd will give him refreshing; if he\nwanders, the Lord will restore him; yea, He has begun His gracious\nwork of renewing, and He will continue it by renewing the heart from\nday to day, blending the will with His own, and making the whole man\nmore and more to rejoice in Him.\n\nNow, note with peculiar joy that Isaiah did not come to these people\nto talk about rest in dubious terms, and say, \"There is no doubt a\nrest to be found somewhere in that goodness of God of which it is\nreasonable to conjecture.\" No; he puts his finger right down on the\ntruth, and he says, \"_This is_ the rest, and _this is_ the\nrefreshing.\" Even so we at this day, when we come to you with a\nmessage from God, come _with definite teaching;_ we proclaim in the\nname of God that whosoever believeth in Christ Jesus hath everlasting\nlife: this is the rest, and this is the refreshing.\n\n_Nor did he preach a rest of a selfish character._ They say we teach\nmen to get peace and rest for themselves, and make themselves\ncomfortable, whatever becomes of others. They know better, and they\nforge these falsehoods because their heart is false. Are we not\nalways bidding men look out from themselves, and love others even as\nChrist has loved them? We abhor the idea that personal safety is the\nconsummation of a religious man's desires, for we believe that the\nlife of grace is the death of selfishness. This is one of the glories\nof the Gospel, that \"this is the rest wherewith ye may cause the\nweary to rest.\" Get rest yourself, and you will soon cause other\nweary minds to rest. That secret something which your own heart\npossesses shall enable you to communicate good cheer to many a weary\nheart, and hope to many a desponding mind.\n\n+2. The other excellence of the Gospel of which I shall speak at this\ntime lies in its manner.+\n\n(1.) _It comes with authority._ The Gospel does not pretend to be a\nspeculative scheme or a theory of philosophy which will suit the\nnineteenth century, but will be exploded in the twentieth. No; it\ncomes to men as a message from God, and he that speaks it aright does\nnot speak it as a thinker uttering his own thoughts; but he utters\nwhat he has learned, and acts as God's tongue, repeating what he\nfinds in God's Word by the power of God's Spirit.\n\n(2.) _It was delivered with great simplicity._ Isaiah came with it\n\"precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little and there a\nlittle.\" It is the glory of the Gospel that is so plain. If it were\nso profound that we must take a degree at a university before we\ncould comprehend it, what a miserable Gospel it would be for mocking\nthe world with! But it is Divinely sublime in its simplicity, and\nhence the common people hear it gladly. As the verse seems to imply,\nit is fitted for those who are weaned from the breast; those who are\nlittle more than babes may yet drink in this unadulterated milk of\nthe Word. Many a little child has comprehended the salvation of Jesus\nChrist sufficiently to rejoice in it. I bless God for a simple\nGospel, for it suits me, and thousands of others whose minds cannot\nboast of greatness or genius. It equally suits men of intellect, and\nit is only quarrelled with by pretenders. A man who really has a\ncapacious mind is usually childlike, and, like Sir Isaac Newton, is\nglad to sit at Jesus' feet. Great minds love the simple Gospel of\nGod, for they find rest in it from all the worry and the weariness of\nquestions and of doubts.\n\n(3.) _It is taught us by degrees._ It is not forced home upon men's\nminds all at once, but it comes \"precept upon precept, line upon\nline, here a little and there a little.\" God does not flash the\neverlasting daylight on weak eyes in one blaze of glory, but there is\nat first a dim dawn, and the soft incoming of a tender light for\ntender eyes, and so by degrees we see.\n\n(4.) _The Gospel is repeated._ If we do see it at once, it comes\nagain to us, for it is \"precept upon precept, line upon line, here a\nlittle and there a little.\" From morning to morning, from Sunday to\nSunday, book after book, by text after text, by spiritual impression\nafter spiritual impression, the Divine gentleness makes us wise unto\nsalvation.\n\n(5.) _It is brought home to us in ways suitable to our capacity._ It\nis told to us, as it were, with stammering lips (see ver. 11), just\nas mothers teach their little children in a language all their own.\nIn much of the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, God\ncondescends to lay aside His own speech and talk the language of men.\nHe bows to us and tells us His mind in types and ordinances, which\nare a sort of child-language fitted to our capacity. If you do not\nunderstand the Word of God, it is not because He does not put it\nplainly, but because of the blindness of your heart and the besotted\ncondition of your spirit. Take heed that you are not drunken with the\nwine of pride, but be willing to learn; for God Himself hath not\ndarkened counsel by mysterious words, but He has put His mind before\nyou as plainly as the sun in the heavens. \"Precept upon precept, line\nupon line, here a little and there a little.\"\n\nII. THE OBJECTIONS WHICH ARE TAKEN TO THE GOSPEL.\n\n1. They are most _wanton._ Men object to that which promises them\nrest! Above all the things in the world this is what our troubled\nspirits need. Oh, the intense folly of men, that when the Gospel sets\nrest before them they will not hear it, but turn upon their heel.\nThere is no system of doctrine under heaven that can give quiet to\nthe conscience of men, quiet that is worth having, except the Gospel;\nand there are thousands of us who bear witness that we live in the\ndaily enjoyment of peace through believing in Jesus, and yet our\nhonest report is not believed; nay, they will not hear the truth.\n\n2. Objections against the Gospel are _wilful,_ even as it is here\nsaid, \"This is the refreshing, yet they would not hear.\" When man say\nthey cannot believe the Gospel, ask them whether they will patiently\nhear it in all its simplicity. No, they say, they do not want to hear\nit. The Gospel is so difficult to believe; so they say. Will they\ncome and hear it preached in its fulness? Will they read the Gospels\nfor themselves carefully? Oh, no; they cannot take the trouble. Just\nso. But a man who does not want to be convinced must not blame\nanybody if he remains in error, nor wonder that objections swarm in\nhis mind.\n\n3. Such objections are _wicked,_ because they are rebellion against\nGod and an insult to His truth and mercy. If this Gospel be of God, I\nam bound to receive it: I have no right to cavil at it, nor raise\nquestions, philosophical or otherwise. It is mine just to say, \"Does\nGod say this and that? Then it is true, and I yield to it. Does the\nLord thus set before me a way of salvation? I will run in it with\ndelight.\"\n\n4. These people raised objections that were _the outgrowth of their\npride._ They objected to the simplicity of Isaiah's preaching. They\nsaid, \"Who is he? You should not go to hear him; he talks to us as if\nwe were children. Besides, it is the same thing over and over again.\nYou may go when you like, he is always harping on the same string.\"\nHave you not heard folks say in these days concerning a true Gospel\npreacher, that he is always preaching about sovereign grace, or the\nblood of Christ, or crying out, \"Believe, believe, and you shall be\nsaved\"? They sneer and say, \"It is the old ditty over and over\nagain.\" The passage translated \"precept upon precept, line upon\nline,\" was uttered in ridicule, and sounded like a ding-dong rhyme\nwith which they mocked Isaiah. The words were intended to caricature\nthe preacher; though they do not suggest the idea when translated,\nthey do suggest it readily enough in the Hebrew. There are people now\nliving who, when the Gospel is plainly and simply preached, exclaim,\n\"We want progressive thought; we want\"--they do not quite know what\nthey do want. Too many wish for a map to heaven so mysteriously drawn\nthat they may be excused from following it. Multitudes prefer the\nGospel shrouded in a mist; they love to see the wisdom of man shut\nout the wisdom of God. This was the style of objection current in\nIsrael's day, and it is fashionable still.\n\nIII. THE DIVINE REQUITAL OF THESE OBJECTORS.\n\n1. The Lord threatens them _with the loss of that which they\ndespised._ He has sent them a message of rest and they will not have\nit, and therefore in the 20th verse He warns them that they shall\nhave no rest henceforth: \"For the bed is shorter than that a man can\nstretch himself on it; and the covering narrower than that he can\nwrap himself in it.\" All those who wilfully reject the Gospel and\ntake up with philosophies and speculations will be rewarded with\ninward discontent. Ask the preachers of that kind of doctrine whether\nthey themselves have found an anchorage, and as a rule they will\nanswer, \"No, no; we are in pursuit of truth; we are hunting after it,\nbut we have not reached it yet.\" They are never likely to reach it,\nfor they are on the wrong track. The Gospel was made to rest\nconscience, soul, heart will, memory, hope, fear, yes, the entire\nman; but when men laugh at all fixity of belief, how can they be\nrested? This is the condemnation of the unbeliever, that he shall\nnever find a settlement, but, like the wandering Jew, shall roam for\never. Leave the Cross, and you have left the hinge of all things, and\nneglected the one sure corner-stone and fixed foundation, and\nhenceforth you shall be as a rolling thing before the whirlwind.\n\n2. _They shall be punished by a gradual hardening of heart._ They\nsaid that Isaiah's message was \"precept upon precept, line upon line,\nhere a little and there a little,\" and justice answers them, \"Even so\nit shall be to you a thing despised and ridiculed, so that you will\ngo farther away from it; you will fall backward and be broken, and\nsnared and taken\" (ver. 13). A fall backward is the worst kind of\nfall. If a man falls forward, he may somewhat save himself and rise\nagain; but if he falls backward, he falls with all his weight and is\nhelpless. Those who stumble at Christ, the sure foundation-stone,\nshall be broken. When oppressors hope to retrieve their position,\nthey find themselves snared by their habits, entangled in the net of\nthe great fowler, and taken by the destroyer. This downward course is\nfollowed full often by those who begin cavilling at the simple\nGospel; they cavil more and more, and become its open enemies to\ntheir eternal ruin.\n\n3. This is to be followed by _a growing inability to understand._\n\"For with stammering lips and another tongue will He speak to this\npeople.\" Since they would not hear plain speech, God will make\nsimplicity itself to seem like stammering to them. Men that cannot\nendure simple language shall at last become unable to understand it.\nIf men will not understand, they shall not understand. A man may shut\nhis eyes so long that he cannot open them. In India many devotees\nhave held up their arms so long that they can never take them down\nagain. Beware lest an utter imbecility of heart come upon those of\nyou who refuse the Gospel.\n\nLastly, this warning is given to those who object to the Gospel, that\n_whatever refuge they choose for themselves shall utterly fail them._\nThus saith the Lord, \"Judgment will I also lay to the line, and\nrighteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the\nrefuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place.\" Down\ncome the great hailstones dashing everything to shivers, the\nthreatenings of God's Word breaking to pieces all the false and\nflattering hopes of the ungodly. Then comes the active wrath of God\nlike an overwhelming flood to sweep away everything on which the\nsinner stood, and he, in his obstinate unbelief, is carried away as\nwith a flood into that utter destruction, that everlasting misery,\nwhich God has declared shall be the lot of all those who refuse the\nliving Christ.--_C. H. Spurgeon: Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit,_ No.\n1593.\n\n\n\nFALSE REFUGES.\n\n     xxviii. 18. _Your covenant with death shall be\n     disannulled._\n\nLike the sinners spoken of in this chapter, most sinful men say in\neffect, \"We have made a covenant with death,\" &c. (ver. 15).\n\n+I. That he may escape the dreaded consequences of sin, the troubled\nsinner seeks a refuge.+ He flees--1. _From the voice of reason._ The\npresence of a reasoning power in man is incompatible with the\npractice of sin. This is seen in the fact that when sinners can be\nbrought to think, they at once admit themselves to be wrong. The\nmoment a man commences to think about sin, that moment he becomes\naware that it will not bear thinking about. It is because a sinful\nlife is an unthinking life that God's invitations to sinners are\ninvitations to reason (chap. i. 18; Ps. l. 22-23). 2. _From an\naccusing conscience._ The authority of conscience is supreme, and no\nman can sin without feeling its sting. To escape remorse, which is\nconscience at work, men seek a refuge. 3. _From an offended God._ Sin\nis offensive to God's holiness; for being pure, He must hate\nimpurity. Because sinners are conscious that they have rendered\nthemselves obnoxious to God, they seek a refuge. 4. _From a broken\nlaw._ In obedience to law there is safety, right, and happiness;\nwhile in disregarding law there is nothing but disaster. And from the\nconsequences of the broken law--the broken law of God written on the\nheart, proclaimed in Nature, revealed in the Bible--the sinner tries\nto hide. 5. _From an endless future._ This more than anything else\nterrifies sinners and drives them to seek shelter.\n\n+II. Sinners, blindly infatuated, seek a refuge in the wrong\nobjects.+ They make a covenant with death and an agreement with hell.\nThe terms \"death\" and \"hell\" stand for the whole class of false\nsecurities in which men seek shelter by making a covenant and\nagreement with them. 1. _Unbelief_ is one of the most modern refuges\nof sin. When men can blot out of the universe the idea of God, quench\nthe sense of moral responsibility, remove the belief in immortality,\npersuade themselves that there is no other world, that death is an\neternal sleep, that heaven is only an air-castle, and hell a mere\nchimera, they may then indulge in evil to their hearts' content.\n2. _Superstition_ is another. Not in open unbelief, but under the\ncover of a false religion others seek to shelter. Unable to shake off\nbelief in God and in a spiritual world, they search for some system\nwhich will at once allow a profession of religion and a practice of\nwickedness. Nor are such systems wanting, nor are they without\ndisciples. Romanism offers indulgences for gold and pardons for\npeace, and thus provides a refuge for the stronger in pocket than in\nbrain. 3. _Annihilation_ is another. According to some, such is the\nawfulness of the thought of extinction of being, that men revolt from\nit. Establish it that when sinners die they cease to live, and what\nbetter refuge for sin is possible, and what other is needed? Sinful\nmen will soon say, \"Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.\"\n4. _Excess_ is another. When the previous ones have failed to give\ncomfort, the sinner rushes madly into excess. The drunkard seeks in\nincreased intemperance to drown the sorrow his indulgence has\noccasioned. 5. _Indifference_ is the last. This is the only comfort\nsome men can find in their career of evil. But indifference is\nimpossible without a denial of human responsibility. Sad indeed must\nthe condition of human nature be when brought to this.\n\n+III. The refuges so confidently trusted in are utterly insecure.+\n1. _Because they are incompatible with the real need of man._ Only\nthat can be conducive to man's safety which meets man's need. No\nhuman need is met by infidelity, or by superstition, or by\nannihilation, or by indulgence, or by indifference. Any one of these,\ntested by this argument drawn from human necessities, will be found a\nrefuge of lies. 2. _Because they are at variance with human\ninstincts._ Instinctively men believe in a Divine existence, in moral\naccountability, and in immortality. 3. _Because they contradict human\nexperience._ They have all been tried, and as often as they have been\ntried they have been found false. 4. _Because they are opposed to the\nteaching of revelation, both natural and Biblical._ Nature proclaims\nloudly against all sin-sought refuges. The teaching of Nature and the\nBible is that man is incompetent to provide for his own security, and\nthat God only, in the exercise of His Divine prerogative, can provide\nfor sinners the security they need.\n\n+IV. By Divine appointment the refuges so madly sought shall be\ntotally destroyed.+ \"Your covenant with death shall be disannulled.\"\n1. _By consequence of their inherent character._ They are \"refuges of\nlies,\" and necessarily all refuges built on lies must perish. 2. _By\nnecessity of strict justice._ \"Judgment will I lay to the line, and\nrighteousness to the plummet\" (ver. 17). 3. _By the exertion of\nAlmighty power._ \"And the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies,\nand the waters shall overflow the hiding-place.\"\n\nCONCLUSION.--God has mercifully provided a true refuge. He only cuts\noff the false that He may exhibit the true. \"Behold, I lay in Sion\nfor a foundation a stone,\" &c. (ver. 16).--_William Brooks: Study and\nthe Pulpit,_ New Series, vol. i. pp. 413-416.\n\n\n\nSOME ASPECTS OF MINISTERIAL DUTY.\n\n     xxx. 7. _Therefore have I cried concerning this, Their\n     strength is to sit still._\n\nJerusalem and Judah were threatened by Sennacherib with dangers and\ndesolations. This people's sin, for which they were reproved by\nIsaiah, was their trusting to the Egyptians; they were all in a hurry\nto obtain help from them, without seeking counsel of God and resting\nupon Him. Isaiah saw that the help of the Egyptians would be\nworthless to them, and therefore he counselled them to \"sit still,\"\ntrusting in the power, providence, and promise of God, from whom too\nmuch cannot be expected.\n\n+I. Notice the prophet's intermeddling in this important matter.+ He\npublishes God's mind concerning it. It is the duty of ministers to\nmeddle sometimes in public matters, whether in Church or State; they\nare to show Jacob their sins, and Israel their transgressions. This\nis a part of ministers' work, to testify against sin in all. Christ\nwas the light of the _world;_ and they should be like their Master,\ntestifying against all works of darkness. True, the world quarrels\nwith the servants of God because they bear testimony against its\nsins; and on this account many ministers who have some light, put\ntheir light in prison: \"They hold the truth in unrighteousness.\" They\ndo this by not bearing witness against public wrongs, and the sin and\ndefection of statesmen. But it was a gracious expression of a\ngraceless Cain, \"Am I my brother's keeper?\" \"What am I concerned with\nthe souls or the sins of others? What am I concerned with the public\nevils of the day I live in?\" True religion begins at home, but it\ndoes not end there; it will come without doors with us (H. E. I.\n1184-1186).\n\n+II. Observe the manner of the prophet's address to this people.+\n\"Therefore have I _cried_ concerning this.\" It is the duty of\nministers to be earnest and zealous in reproving sin and reclaiming\nsinners. They are to be both seers and criers; and when they see any\ndanger, they should CRY, that the people may hear and flee out of\nharm's way.\n\n1. This is true in regard to public wrongs and national projects\nwhich are contrary to the Will of God (P. D. 2855).\n\n2. They need to _cry_ about matters of eternity, that people may\nsecure something that death may not be able to take from them--such\nas these: saving knowledge, saving faith, pardon of sin, evangelical\nlove of God in Christ, faithful labours for the honour and glory of\nGod.--_Ralph Erskine, A. M.: Sermons,_ vol. ii. pp. 252, 253.\n\n\n\nGROWING LIGHT.\n\n     xxx. 26. _Moreover, the light of the moon, &c._\n\nThese words, doubtless, look forward to the restoration of Israel.\nBut there are spiritual truths implied in them, which are of present\nand immediate application. We have here different _kinds_ of light;\ndifferent _degrees_ of the same light; and also the _seasons_ which\nsuch increase of light is vouchsafed.\n\nI. THE LIGHT OF THE MOON. It is a real light, but it is reflected\nlight. It does not come to us direct from the sun, but is thrown\nfirst upon the moon, and from her it comes to us. Hence its\npeculiarities. It is a dim light; it does not warm and quicken; it\ndoes not make things grow and vegetate. It is a waning light;\nsometimes it is full, but it soon begins to decline, and for a season\nit is wholly withdrawn. It is a light which never makes day; even at\nits fullest, it is still night; men occasionally walk and work in it,\nbut usually they rest and sleep.\n\nWhy do I notice these things, which are obvious to all on a moment's\nreflection? Because I believe there is important Divine truth hidden\nunder them. All Nature is a prefiguring or shadowing forth of grace\nand truth (H. E. I. 5, 6).\n\nWe have been describing the religious knowledge of not a few. It is\nmoonlight; it does not come to them direct from Christ, the Sun of\nRighteousness, the Source of all true light; it is hearsay; they\nhave learned it from their fellow-men. It is not experimental, and\nhence its deficiencies. It is a vague, dim knowledge; they see\nnothing clearly, neither sin nor salvation, neither Christ nor\nthemselves, neither law nor gospel, neither grace nor glory. It is a\ncold, heartless knowledge; it does not warm, quicken, stir their\naffections, influence their wills. It is a waning knowledge;\nsometimes they seem full of it--after a stirring sermon, or when they\nare in the company of frank, lively Christians--but a short time\npasses and it is all gone, as if it had never been. It never makes\nthem children of the day, it never arouses them from the sleep of sin\nand worldliness, nor sends them forth to work for God and for\neternity.\n\nSuch is this moonlight knowledge. Still it would be something if it\nled those who have it to Christ, the true Light. The people of Sychar\nhad the moonlight when the woman on whom the Sun had just arisen came\nand cast a portion of her light upon them. But they did not rest on\nthis; they went out of the city and saw and heard for themselves, and\nso many believed and were saved. But this is what many fail to do in\nrevival times. The Lord has visited His people, and refreshed and\nsaved them; and others speak freely of the good they have received,\nsing gladly their new songs, and are for the time stirred and\naffected. But it is only moonlight; they have never come to Him who\nchanges not; and so when the warmth and stir of the revival passes\nthey fall back, and perhaps become worse than before. Not a few are\nstill in the moonlight, and are satisfied with it. You hear about\nChrist, perhaps can talk about Him, but this is not salvation\n(H. E. I. 3148).\n\nII. THE LIGHT OF THE SUN. This comes immediately from the sun, and\nhence its excellence. It is a clear, bright light, and so things afar\noff and near at hand are distinctly seen. It is a warm light; there\nis heat in it; it thaws and chases away the winter; it makes spring\nand summer; it causes all things to grow and vegetate. It is an\nawakening light; it makes day, and men arise and go to their work,\nand wild creatures and evil-doers retire. It is a constant light. The\nsun never waxes or wanes; he is ever the same. True, there are wintry\ndays, dark, dreary days, but still the sun is there, shining through\nthe clouds, and shining them away, and soon breaking forth again in\nhis glory. Is this the character of your religious knowledge? [Work\nout the details of the comparison.]\n\nIII. DIFFERENT DEGREES OF LIGHT. \"The light of the sun shall be\nsevenfold, as the light of seven days.\" Here there is only a change\nof degree. There is no new luminary; it is still the sun, but it is\nfar more intense and continuous. We can conceive what would be the\neffect of this in the natural world. Things now invisible from their\nminuteness or indistinctly seen from their distance would then be\nclearly revealed, and fruits and flowers which cannot at present be\nreared in our climate would then be common and indigenous among us.\nThere can be a sevenfold Divine light and Divine warmth. Christ has\nit to give. He will one day give it to all His people, and the weak\nshall be as David, and David as the angel of the Lord. Even now He\ngrants it to those who seek Him with the whole heart. The patriarchs,\nprophets, apostles had it. Nor are these peculiar, exceptional cases.\nI believe there is more of it than we are aware of and probably there\nwould be more if we did not straighten and hinder the Lord by our\nwant of desire and expectation.\n\nIV. THE TIMES WHEN THIS BLESSING IS VOUCHSAFED. \"In the day that the\nLord bindeth up the breach of His people, and healeth the stroke of\ntheir wound.\" This evidently looks forward to the time when the long\nalienation between Israel and their God will be healed. But is He the\nGod of the Jews only? Nay, of the Gentiles also. There are two\nopposite errors into which men fall on the reading of these promises.\nSome see only the Jew in them; others do not see the Jew in them at\nall. But there is room for both in these green pastures. Even now\nthere are fulfilments of this promise in its truest, highest sense.\nEven now the light of the moon becomes as the light of the sun, and\nthe light of the sun as that of seven days. It is so, for instance,\noften at conversion; it is a passing from darkness into marvellous\nlight. It is often so when the backslider returns. Look at David in\nthe 51st Psalm, what light he has got! It is so often in times of\nsore affliction. Then the exceeding great and precious promises come\nout into view, as darkness shows us worlds of light we never saw by\nday (Ps. xciv. 12). It is so at death, when the soul leaves its cage\nand soars away into heavenly light and liberty. It will be so when\nthe Lord comes on the resurrection morn. And once more, oh! the light\nthere will be when the Lamb opens the books and makes every mystery\nplain! (H. E. I. 3127, 3128).--_John Milne: Gatherings from a\nMinistry,_ pp. 114-122.\n\n\n\nNOBILITY AND SECURITY.\n\n     xxxiii. 15, 16. _He that walketh righteously, &c._\n\nThese were terrible times in Jerusalem. The Assyrian power was\nexceedingly formidable; it was as ferocious as it was strong. The\nAssyrian had come up into the land, yet God had given a promise to\nHis people that they should be preserved (chap. xxxvii. 33, 34). Some\nin the city rested content with the promise of God, and went about\ntheir daily business feeling perfectly safe. But there were a few\nsuch. A great number were afraid they would be destroyed--they were\nsure of it. Who was to save them, or what power could stand in the\nway of Sennacherib? These were the sinners and hypocrites, and the\ntime of trial developed them. They could not live, they said; the\nland was smoking, for the Assyrian had set everything on fire. Some\nwho dwell among God's people are sinners and not saints, hypocrites\nand not believers. When all goes well with the Church of God you\ncannot detect the difference. But when the time of trial comes, the\nhypocrites and sinners will be discovered by their own fear. Let us\nnot be satisfied with being in Zion--in the Church; let us not rest\ntill we are quite sure we are not sinners or hypocrites in it. If our\nreligion is worth anything, it is worth most in the hour of trial;\nand if it does not stand us in good stead in the time of temptation\nand sorrow, what is the use of it?\n\nI. THE CHARACTER OF GOD'S PEOPLE. They are partly described in the\nwords of our text, but I am obliged to go a little farther afield for\none part of their character. Those who in the time of danger will be\nkept and comforted are a people who have a humble, patient, present\nfaith in God. I am sure there are such, for they are described--they\ndescribe themselves--in the second verse of the chapter before us.\nThey are a humble people, who dare not trust themselves, but trust in\nGod. They are a praying people, who make their appeal to God under a\nsense of need. Their appeal is to His free grace. They are a waiting\npeople. If at once they have not comfort and joy, they tarry and are\nperfectly content to abide His time, for it is sure to be best. That\nhave a present faith in God, for \"Be Thou their arm every morning\" is\ntheir prayer. They did not trust in God years ago and get saved, and\nthink they can live without faith, but they believe \"the just shall\n_live_ by faith.\" They look for everything to their God: \"_Thou_ art\nour salvation in the time of trouble.\"\n\nOur text gives a description of these people by their various\nfeatures. It describes how they walk: \"He that walketh righteously.\"\nFaith has an elevating, ennobling effect upon our entire manhood. The\npromise belongs only to the people who come under the description;\nsee to it that you do not take the comfort, if you do not come under\nthe character! Study the description of the daily walk and\nconversation of this blessed man who is to dwell on high.\n\nThe first feature which is described is his _tongue._ \"He speaketh\nuprightly.\" If you drew a portrait of a man, you could not paint his\ntongue; but if you give a description of a man's character, you\ncannot omit his speech. A man that lies, talks obscenely, &c., is no\nchild of God. The grace of God very speedily sweetens a man's tongue.\nA doctor says, \"Put out your tongue,\" and he judges the symptoms of\nhealth or disease thereby; and surely there is no better test of\ncharacter than the condition of the tongue.\n\nNext, the _heart._ \"He that despiseth the gain of oppression.\" Not\nonly does he not oppress any man, nor wish to gain anything by\nextortion, or by any act of unrighteousness, but he looks upon it as\ncontemptible and despises it. He likes gain if it comes cleanly to\nhim, and it is as welcome to him as to another, but he will not have\na thing he cannot pray over.\n\nNext comes the _ear._ \"That stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood.\"\nMen of war and those who delight in war will tell to one another what\nthey did in battle and whom they slew; and in those old times there\nwere tales of bloodshed that would have made our ears to tingle, but\nthe good men in Jerusalem would not hear them; they could not endure\nit. It is not the hearing of blood alone we must avoid, but the\nhearing of anything tainted. The genuine Christian feels he has\nmischief enough in his own heart without adding to it.\n\nAgain, \"He shutteth his _eyes_ from seeing evil.\" He cannot help\nseeing it as he goes his pilgrimage through life, but as far as\npossible he tries to avoid it. He does not go and find an evening's\namusement gazing upon it. It were better to be blind, deaf, and dumb\nthan to see, and hear, and speak in some places. The true believer is\na man who has himself well in hand. He has a bit in the mouths of all\nthe horses that draw the chariot of life, and he holds them in, and\nwill not let his eye, ear, tongue, foot, or hand carry him away. He\nwill have nothing to do with evil: \"He shaketh his hand from holding\nof bribes.\"\n\nII. THE SECURITY OF SUCH A MAN. Notice it first, as it is pictorially\ndescribed: \"He shall dwell on high.\" The Assyrians were attacking the\ncountry, and in times of invasion men always went to the highest\nparts of the country to escape from the enemy. Well, this man shall\nhave a quiet resting-place on the heights, so high up that his\nenemies cannot get at him. They may plunder all round, but cannot\nplunder him. The sentinel on the crags of inaccessible rock shall,\nstanding out in the sunlight gleaming calmly and brightly, bid\ndefiance to every foe. He shall dwell on the heights, out of reach of\nthe arrows. \"His place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks;\"\nnot one rock, but rocks; mass upon mass of mountain shall stand\nbetween him and the foe, and there shall he dwell in perfect\nsecurity. \"Oh,\" but says one, \"they will starve him out. There will\nbe nothing for the people to eat, and they will open the doors and\nsay, 'Come in! only give us bread.'\" \"Bread shall be given him,\" and\nas he could not be driven out, so he shall not be starved out, for\nthe bread of Heaven shall be given him, if it come from nowhere else.\n\"But even,\" says one, \"if there may be bread brought into the city,\nthey will run short of water, and must eventually capitulate through\nthirst.\" No, says the promise, \"his water shall be sure.\" There shall\nbe springs that never can be dried up within the castle itself, and\nthey shall drink and drink as much as they will, and yet the supplies\nshall never be exhausted. \"Now,\" says one, \"this is poetry.\" Just so:\nit is a poetical description, but it is all founded on facts.\n\nLook at the positive facts in the actual experience of the child of\nGod. First, it is a matter of fact that the man who believes in the\nLord Jesus Christ, and lives as a Christian should live, lives on\nhigh. His mind is elevated above the common cares, trials, and\nsorrows of life (H. E. I. 1080-1084, 4162, 4163). Many of you know\nhow secure and immutable your defence is, for you have God's promise,\n\"I will never leave nor forsake thee.\" \"No good thing will I withhold\nfrom him that walketh uprightly.\" What munitions of rocks can be\ncompared with these things in which it is impossible for God to lie?\nYou are dwelling where you must be safe; for, first, you were chosen\nbefore the foundation of the world, and God will not lose His chosen,\nnor shall His decree be frustrated. Next, you have been bought with\nthe precious blood of the Son of God Himself, and He will never lose\nwhat He has so dearly bought. You have also been quickened by the\nHoly Ghost and made to live unto God, and that life cannot die. You\nhave been taken into the family of God and made His child, and your\nname shall never be taken out of the family register. You are joined\nunto Christ in one spirit; you are a member of His body, of His\nflesh, and of His bones; and shall Christ be dismembered, the Son of\nGod be rent in twain? I feel I stand where all the devils of hell\ncannot reach me, where the angels of God might envy me, and where I\ncan say, \"Who shall separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus\nour Lord?\" and challenge earth and hell and heaven alike--if so it\nplease them--to assail me, for who can harm me, if my confidence be\nin the living God?\n\nThe poetic utterance, \"Thy bread shall be given thee,\" is also\nliterally true. You have sometimes had very little, but have always\nhad _enough._ When God multiplied the meal and the oil of the widow\nof Zarephath, I do believe that every day Elijah lived with her she\nhad to scrape the bottom of the barrel. We are not told it filled up\nat once. Just so, you may often have to reach the bottom of the\nbarrel, and the oil may seem to come a drop at a time: this is about\nas much as you want, and if you get as much as you can eat at one\nmeal, it is all the fresher, and does not breed worms like the manna\nin the wilderness. It is the heavenly bread we have sometimes to be\nanxious about; but if ministers do not feed you, God will Himself.\n\nAs for the living waters, they shall always flow both in summer and\nwinter. They shall be within thee a well of living water springing up\ninto eternal life. But words cannot tell the privileges of the man\nwho dwells with God. He need not wish to change places with the\nArchangels.\n\nFriend, if you are not a Christian, do not profess to be one; do not\nhope by mere empty profession to win the blessedness of God's people.\nConfess your sins, and seek the righteousness of God. Fain would I\ndrop into your mouths that prayer, \"O Lord, be gracious unto us.\"\n\nAs for you that are really striving to do that which is right and\ntrue, at the same time trusting alone in Jesus for your salvation, I\nwould say to you, What a happy people we ought to be! We ought every\none of us to have a shining face (H. E. I. 756-762, 3037-3039). I do\nnot know where the Queen is just now, but if I were a dove and could\nfly in the air, I would soon find her, for I should see the royal\nflag flying on the flag-staff. Wherever the monarch is, there will\nthe streamer be found flying. Is the King with you to-day? If so,\nkeep the flag flying. Let the banner fly to the breeze, and let the\nworld know that there are no people so happy, none so much to be\nenvied, as believers in Jesus Christ.--_C. H. Spurgeon._\n\n\n\nSPREADING THE LETTER BEFORE THE LORD.\n\n     xxxvii. 14. _And Hezekiah received the letter, &c._\n\nThe letter was an insolent cartel of defiance from the Assyrian king\nSennacherib, full as much of blasphemous defiance against God as of\ninsolence to God's servant. It represents the conflict between\nAssyria and Judah as being a struggle between the gods of one nation\nand the God of the other. The point of it is: \"Don't let the God in\nwhom thou trusteth deceive thee, saying Jerusalem shall not be\ndelivered into the hands of Assyria. Thou hast seen what Assyria has\ndone to all lands, and is thy God any better than theirs?\" So the\nking of Judah, very simple and child-like, picks up the piece of\nblasphemy and goes up to the temple and spreads it out before God. A\nvery _na\u00efve_ piece of unconscious symbolism! The meaning of it comes\nout in the prayer that follows: \"Open Thine eyes, O Lord, and see,\"\n&c. It is for _Thee_ to act. That is the essential meaning of\nHezekiah's action.\n\nI. It was an appeal to God's knowledge. For _his_ comfort it was\nnecessary to make this appeal. That which influences and agitates us,\nwe need in some way to spread before the Lord. When some great\nanxiety strikes its talons deep into our hearts, we need to have the\ntruth made clear to ourselves. The Eyes up yonder see all about it. A\nplain old piece of commonplace, but, oh! there is a deep, unutterable\nconsolation when a man realises this. \"Thy Father which is in secret,\n_seeth_ in secret.\"\n\nII. It was an appeal to God's honour. His prayer was this in effect:\n\"Hear all the words of Sennacherib, who has sent to reproach the\nliving God. I say nothing about myself, but it is Thine honour that\nis threatened. If this insolent braggart does the thing which he\nthreatens, then it will be said, 'Forasmuch as this Jehovah was not\nable to save His people, therefore He let them perish;' those who\nworship other gods will say, 'Jehovah is a name without\nmeaning'--_Thy_ name, which is above every name!\" If a man has not\ngot something like that in his prayers, they are poor prayers. With\nall humility, yet with all self-confidence, ask Him, not so much to\ndeliver you, as to be true to His character and His promises, to be\nself-consistent with all that He has been; and let us feel, as we\nhave a right to feel, that if any human soul, that ever in the\nfaintest, poorest, humblest manner put out a trembling hand of\nconfidence towards His great hand to grasp it, was suffered to go\ndown and perish, there is a blight and blot on the fair fame of God\nbefore the whole creation which nothing can obliterate. But the\nfeeblest cry shall be answered, the feeblest faith rewarded! Let us\ngrasp the thought that not only for our own poor selves--though,\nblessed be God, He does take our happiness for a worthy object--but\nbecause His honour and fair fame are so inextricably wound with our\nwell-being, He must answer the cries of His people (Ezek.\nxxxvi. 22-24).\n\nIII. Let us take out of the account, not only what we ought to do\nwhen we go to God in prayer, but the kind of things we ought to take\nto Him. Every difficulty, danger, trial, temptation, or blasphemy by\nwhich His name is polluted, should be at once spread out before the\nLord. But most of all the common things of everyday life! The small\nboy, whom one of our writers tells of, who used to pray that he might\nhave strength given to him to learn his Latin declension, had a\nbetter understanding of prayer than the men of the world can\nunderstand (H. E. I. 3756, 3757).\n\nIV. Another lesson: If you have not been in the habit of going to the\nHouse of God at other times, it will be a hard job to find your way\nthere when your eyes are blinded with tears, and your hearts heavy\nwith anxiety. Hezekiah had cultivated a habit of trusting God and\nreferring everything to Him; so he went straight into the Temple as\nby instinct, where he could have found his way in the dark, and\nspread this letter before the Lord as a matter of course. It is a\npoor thing when a man's religion is like a waterproof coat, that is\nonly good to wear when it rains, and has to be taken off when the\nweather improves a little! If you want to get the blessedness of\nfellowship with God and help from Him in the dark days, learn the\nroad to the Temple in sunshine and gladness, and do not wait for the\nbellow of the pitiless storm and darkness upon the path, before you\ngo up to the Temple of God (H. E. I. 3877-3879).\n\nV. What do we get by this habit of spreading out everything before\nGod?\n\n1. Valuable counsel. I do not know anything that has such a power of\nclearing a man's way, scattering mists, removing misconceptions,\nletting us see the true nature of some dazzling specious temptations,\nas the habit of turning to prayer. In ninety-nine cases out of a\nhundred, the thing that perplexes us is that the steadiness of the\nhand that holds the microscope is affected by the beating of the\nheart and the passionate desires and wishes, and so there is nothing\ndefined and clear; it is all a haze. Firmness of hand, clearness of\nvision, come in prayer to the man who is accustomed to take the\nharassing \"letter,\" and spread it out before the Lord (H. E. I.\n3741-3743).\n\n2. A very accurate and easily applied test. I do not wonder that as\nmany of us do not like to pray about our plans and about our\nanxieties; it is either because the plans have no God in them, or the\nanxieties have no faith. Anything we cannot pray about, we had better\nnot touch. And anxiety that is not substantial enough to bear lifting\nand laying before God, ought never to trouble us. Test your lives,\nyour thoughts, your affairs, your purposes by this. Will they stand\ncarriage to the Temple? If not, the sooner you get rid of them the\nbetter. And then, \"In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer\nand supplication with thanksgiving let your requests by made known\nunto God; and,\" in spite of all the blatant Sennacheribs who have\npoured out their insolent blasphemies, \"the peace of God, which\npasseth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts\nin Christ Jesus.\"--_Alexander Maclaren, in Outlines of Sermons on the\nOld Testament,_ pp. 81-85.\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_TRANSLATIONS OF THE PROPHECIES OF ISAIAH._\n\nTranslations, at once accurate and varied, are among the most\nvaluable of all helps in the study of Scripture. It was, therefore,\nthe intention of the supplier of this volume to give in four parallel\ncolumns the translations of Isaiah which occur in the Commentaries of\nAlexander, Delitzsch, and Henderson, and in the _Revised English\nBible._ Considerations of space, have, however, compelled him to\nconfine himself to the two first named; and it is believed that these\nwill be acceptable even to those who possess the Commentaries whence\nthey are taken. They are interwoven with the comments, and a\ncontinuous study of them is thus rendered difficult. The divisions\nand subdivisions in the second column are those given in Delitzsch's\nCommentary. For a very prompt and general permission to make this use\nof that great work, hearty thanks are here accorded to Messrs. T. &\nT. Clark of Edinburgh.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTRANSLATION\n\nOF THE\n\nPROPHECIES OF ISAIAH,\n\nBy Joseph Addison Alexander, D.D.[1]\n\n\nGENERAL TITLE.--CHAP. I. 1.\n\nThe Vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah\nand Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, kings\nof Judah.\n\n\nSIN AND SUFFERING.--CHAP. I. 2-31.\n\n2. Hear, O heavens; and give ear, O earth; for Jehovah speaks. Sons I\nhave reared and brought up, and they, even they, have rebelled\nagainst Me. 3. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's\ncrib: Israel doth not know, My people doth not consider.\n\n4. A sinful nation, people heavy with iniquity, a seed of evil doers,\nsons corrupting themselves! They have forsaken Jehovah; they have\ntreated with contempt the Holy One of Israel; they are alienated back\nagain.\n\n5. Whereupon can ye be stricken any more, (that) ye add revolt? The\nwhole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 6. From the sole of\nthe foot even to the head, there is not in it a sound place; (it is)\nwound and bruise and fresh stroke. They have not been pressed, and\nthey have not been bound, and it has not been mollified with\nointment. 7. Your land . . . a waste! Your towns . . . burnt with\nfire! Your ground . . . before you strangers (are) devouring it, and\na waste like the overthrow of strangers. 8. And the daughter of Zion\nis left like a booth in a vineyard, like a lodge in a melon field,\nlike a watched city. 9. Except Jehovah of hosts had left unto us a\nvery small remnant, we should have been like Sodom, we should have\nresembled Gomorrah.\n\n10. Here the word of Jehovah, ye judges of Sodom; give ear to the law\nof our God, ye people of Gomorrah! 11. For what (end) is the\nmultitude of your sacrifices to Me? saith Jehovah. I am full of burnt\nofferings of rams and the fat of fed beasts, and the blood of\nbullocks and lambs and he-goats I desire not. 12. When you come to\nappear before Me, who hath required this at your hands to tread My\ncourts? 13. Ye shall not add to bring a vain offering. Incense is an\nabomination to Me; (so are) new-moon and Sabbath, the calling of the\nconvocation: I cannot bear iniquity and holy day. 14. Your new-moons\nand your convocations My soul hateth; they have become a burden to\nMe, I am weary of bearing (them). 15. And when you spread your hands,\nI will hide Mine eyes from you; also when ye multiply prayer, I am\nnot hearing; your hands are full of blood.\n\n16. Wash you, purify yourselves; remove the evil of your doings from\nbefore Mine eyes; cease to do evil; 17. learn to do good, seek\njudgment, redress wrong, judge the fatherless, befriend the widow.\n\n18. Come now, and let us reason together, saith Jehovah. Though your\nsins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red\nas crimson, they shall be as wool. 19. If ye consent and hear, the\ngood of the land ye shall eat; 20. and if ye refuse and rebel, by the\nsword shall ye be eaten: the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it.\n\n21. How has she become an harlot, the faithful city! full of justice,\nrighteousness lodged in it, and now murderers. 22. Thy silver is\nbecome dross, thy wine weakened with water. 23. Thy rulers are rebels\nand fellows of thieves, every one of them loving a bribe, and\npursuing rewards. The fatherless they judge not, and the cause of the\nwidow cometh not unto them.\n\n24. Therefore, saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, the Mighty One of\nIsrael, Ah, I will comfort Myself of My adversaries, and I will\navenge Myself of Mine enemies; 25. and I will turn My hand upon them,\nand will purge out thy dross like purity (itself), and I will take\naway all thine alloy. 26. And I will restore thy judges as at first,\nand thy counsellors as in the beginning, after which thou shalt be\ncalled City of Righteousness, a faithful State.\n\n27. Zion shall be redeemed in judgment, and her converts in\nrighteousness; 28. and the breaking of apostates and sinners (shall\nbe) together, and the forsaken of Jehovah shall cease. 29. For they\nshall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be\nconfounded for the gardens ye have chosen; 30. for ye shall be like\nan oak fading (in) its leaf, and like a garden which has no water;\n31. and the strong shall become tow, and his work a spark, and they\nshall burn both of them together, (there) shall be no one quenching\n(them).\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Reprinted from the _Commentary on the Prophecies of\n     Isaiah,_ by Joseph Addison Alexander, D.D., Princeton. New\n     and Revised Edition, edited by John Eadie, D.D., LL.D. 2\n     vols. 8vo. Edinburgh: Andrew Elliot.\n\n\n\nTHE REIGN OF THE MESSIAH, AND INTERVENING\nJUDGMENTS ON THE JEWS.--CHAPS. II.-IV.\n\nII.--1. The word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah\nand Jerusalem.\n\n2. And it shall be in the end of the days, the mountain of Jehovah's\nhouse shall be established on the top of the mountains, and exalted\nfrom the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. 3. And many\nnations shall go and shall say, Come, and let us ascend to the\nmountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will\nteach of us of His ways, and we will go in His paths: for out of Zion\nshall go forth law, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem. 4. And He\nshall judge between the nations, and decide for many peoples. And\nthey shall beat their swords into plough-shares, and their spears\ninto pruning-hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,\nneither shall they learn war any more.\n\n5. O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of Jehovah.\n\n6. Because Thou hast forsaken Thy people, the house of Jacob, because\nthey are replenished from the east and (full of) soothsayers like the\nPhilistines, and with the children of strangers they abound. 7. And\ntheir land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to\ntheir treasures; and their land is filled with horses, and there is\nno end to their treasures. 8. And their land is filled with idols, to\nthe work of their hands they bow down, to that which their fingers\nhave made.\n\n9. And so the mean man is bowed down, and the great man is brought\nlow, and do not Thou forgive them. 10. Go into the rock, and hide\nthee in the dust, from before the terror of Jehovah and from the\nglory of His majesty. 11. The eyes of the loftiness of men are cast\ndown, and the height of man is brought low, and Jehovah alone is\nexalted in that day.\n\n12. For there is a day to Jehovah of hosts upon everything high and\nlofty, and upon everything exalted, and it shall come down; 13. and\nupon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lofty, and on all\nthe oaks of Bashan; 14. and upon all the high mountains, and upon all\nthe elevated hills; 15. and upon every high tower, and upon every\nfenced wall; 16. and upon all ships of Tarshish, and upon all images\nof desire. 17. And (thus) shall the loftiness of man be cast down,\nand the pride of man be brought low, and Jehovah alone exalted in\nthat day [or, so sinks the loftiness of man and bows the pride of\nman, and Jehovah alone is exalted in that day].\n\n18. And as for the idols the whole shall pass away. 19. And they\nshall enter into the caves of the rocks and into the holes of the\nearth, from before the terror of Jehovah and the glory of His majesty\nwhen He arises to terrify the earth. 20. And that day shall man cast\nhis idols of silver and his idols of gold, which they have made for\nhim to worship, to the moles and the bats; 21. to go into the clefts\nof the rocks, and into the fissures of the cliffs, from before the\nterror of Jehovah, and from the glory of His majesty, in His arising\nto terrify the earth.\n\n22. Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils, for wherein\nis he to be accounted of? III.--1. For, behold, the Lord, Jehovah of\nhosts, is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the\nstaff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water; 2. hero\nand warrior, judge and prophet, and diviner and elder; 3. the chief\nof fifty, and the favourite, and the counsellor, and the skilful\nartificer, and the expert enchanter. 4. And I will give children to\nbe their rulers, and childish things shall govern them. 5. And the\npeople shall act tyrannically, man against man, and man against his\nfellow. They shall be insolent, the youth to the old man, and the\nmean man to the noble. 6. When a man shall take hold of his brother\nin his father's house (saying), Thou hast raiment, a ruler shalt thou\nbe to us, and this ruin under thy hand; 7. in that day he shall lift\nup his voice saying, I will not be a healer, and in my house is no\nbread, and there is no clothing: ye shall not make me a ruler of the\npeople.\n\n8. For Jerusalem totters and Judah falls, (because) their tongues and\ntheir doings are against Jehovah, to resist His glorious eyes. 9. The\nexpression of their countenance testifies against them, and their\nsin, like Sodom, they disclose, they hide it not. Woe unto their\nsoul! for they have done evil to themselves. 10. Say ye of the\nrighteous that it shall be well, for the fruits of their doings they\nshall eat. 11. Woe unto the wicked, ill, for the thing done by his\nhands shall be done to him. 12. My people! their oppressors are\nchildish, and women rule over them. My people! thy leaders are\nseducers, and the way of thy paths they swallow up.\n\n13. Jehovah standeth up to plead, and is standing to judge the\nnations. 14. Jehovah will enter into judgment with the elders of His\npeople and the chiefs thereof. And ye (even ye) have consumed the\nvineyard, the spoil of the poor is in your houses. 15. What mean ye\nthat ye crush My people, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the\nLord Jehovah of hosts.\n\n16. And Jehovah said, Because the daughters of Zion are lofty, and\nwalk with outstretched neck, and gazing with their eyes, and with a\ntripping walk they walk, and with their feet they make a tinkling,\n17. therefore the Lord will make bald the crown of the daughters of\nZion, and their nakedness Jehovah will uncover. 18. In that day the\nLord will take away the bravery of the ankle-bands, and the cauls,\nand the crescents, 19. the pendants, and the bracelets, and the\nveils, 20. the caps, the ankle-chains, and the girdles, and the\nhouses of breath, and the amulets, 21. the rings, and the\nnose-jewels, 22. the holiday dresses, and the mantles, and the robes,\nand the purses, 23. the mirrors, and the tunics, and the turbans, and\nthe veils. 24. And it shall be (that) instead of perfume there shall\nbe stench, and instead of a girdle a rope, and instead of braided\nwork baldness, and instead of a full robe a girding of sackcloth,\nburning instead of beauty. 25. Thy men by the sword shall fall, and\nthy strength in war. 26. And her gates shall lament and mourn, and\nbeing emptied she shall sit upon the ground. IV.--1. And in that day\nseven women shall lay hold on one man, saying, We will eat our own\nbread, and wear our own apparel; only let thy name be called upon us,\ntake thou away our reproach.\n\n2. In that day shall the Branch of Jehovah be for honour and for\nglory, and the fruit of the earth for sublimity and beauty, to the\nescaped of Israel. 3. And it shall be that the left in Zion and the\nspared in Jerusalem shall be called holy, every one written to life\nin Jerusalem, 4. when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of\nthe daughters of Zion, and the bloodguiltiness of Jerusalem shall\npurge from its midst by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of burning.\n5. And Jehovah will create over the whole extent of mount Zion, and\nover her assembles, a cloud by day, and smoke and the brightness of a\nburning fire by night; for over all the glory _there shall be_ a\ncovering; 6. and there shall be a shelter for a shadow by day from\nheat, and a covert and for a hiding place from storm and from rain.\n\n\nTHE PARABLE OF THE VINEYARD.--CHAP. V.\n\n1. I will sing, if you please, of my friend, my friend's song of his\nvineyard.\n\nMy friend had a vineyard in a hill of great fertility; 2. and he\ndigged it up, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it\nwith Sorek, and built a tower in the midst of it; and he waited for\nit to produce grapes, and it produced wild grapes.\n\n3. And now, O inhabitant of Jerusalem and man of Judah, judge, I pray\nyou, between me and my vineyard. 4. What more is there to be done to\nmy vineyard that I have not done in it? Why did I wait for it to bear\ngrapes, and it bore wild grapes?\n\n5. And now I will let you know if you please what I am about to do to\nmy vineyard: Remove its hedge, and it shall become a pasture; break\ndown its wall, and it shall become a trampling-place; 6. and I render\nit a desolation. It shall not be pruned and it shall not be dressed,\nand there shall come up thorns and briars. And I will lay my commands\nupon the clouds from raining rain upon it. 7. For the vineyard of\nJehovah of hosts is the house of Israel, and the man of Judah is the\nplant of His pleasures. And He waited for judgment, and behold\nbloodshed, for righteousness, and behold a cry!\n\n8. Woe to the joiners of house with house, field to field they bring\ntogether, even to a failure of place, and ye are made to dwell by\nyourselves in the midst of the land. 9. In my ears Jehovah of hosts\n(is saying), Of a truth many houses shall become a desolation, great\nand good for want of an inhabitant. 10. For ten acres shall make one\nbath, and a bower of seed shall produce an ephah.\n\n11. Woe to those rising early in the morning to pursue strong drink,\ndelaying in the twilight (until) wine inflames them. 12. And the harp\nand viol, the tabret, and the pipe, and wine (compose) their feasts;\nand the work of Jehovah they will not look at, and the operation of\nHis hands they have not seen.\n\n13. Therefore my people have gone into exile for want of knowledge,\nand their glory are men of hunger, and their multitude dry with\nthirst. 14. Therefore the grave has enlarged herself and opened her\nmouth without measure, and down goes her pomp and her noise and her\ncrowd and he that rejoices in her; 15. and man is brought low, and\nman is cast down, and the eyes of the lofty are cast down; 16. and\nJehovah of hosts is exalted in judgment, and the Mighty, the Holy\nOne, is sanctified in righteousness; 17. and lambs shall feed as (in)\ntheir pasture, and the wastes of the fat ones shall sojourners devour.\n\n18. Woe to the drawers of iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as\nwith a cart-rope; 19. those who say, Let Him speed, let Him hasten\nHis work that we may see; and let the counsel of the Holy One of\nIsrael draw night and come, that we may know (it).\n\n20. Woe unto those saying to evil good, and to good evil, putting\ndarkness for light and light for darkness, putting bitter for sweet\nand sweet for bitter.\n\n21. Woe unto the wise in their (own) eyes, and the prudent in their\nown estimation.\n\n22. Woe to the mighty men that drink wine, and men of strength that\nmingle strong drink; 23. justifying the guilty as the result of a\nbribe, and the righteousness of the righteous they will take from him.\n\n24. Therefore as a tongue of fire devours chaff, and as ignited grass\nfalls away, their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom as\nfine dust shall go up. For they have rejected the law of Jehovah of\nhosts, and the word of the Holy One of Israel they have treated with\ncontempt. 25. Therefore the anger of Jehovah has burned against His\npeople, and He stretched forth His hand against them, and smote them,\nand the mountains trembled, and their carcass was like sweeping in\nthe midst of the streets.\n\nIn all this His anger was not turned back, and still His hand is\nstretched out; 26. and He raises a signal to the nations from afar,\nand whistle for him from the ends of the earth; and behold in haste,\nswift he shall come. 27. There is no one faint, and there is no one\nstumbling among them. He sleeps not, and he slumbers not, and the\ngirdle of his loins is not opened and the latchet of his sandals is\nnot broken; 28. whose arrows are sharpened and all his bows bent; the\nhoofs of his horses like flint are reckoned, and his wheels like a\nwhirlwind. 29. He has a roar like the lioness, and he shall roar like\nthe young lions, and shall growl, and seize the prey, and secure it,\nnone delivering (it). 30. And he shall roar against him in that day\nlike the roaring of a sea. And he shall look to the land, and behold\ndarkness! Anguish and light! It is dark in the clouds thereof!\n\n\nTHE VISION OF THE MOST HIGH.--CHAP. VI.\n\n1. In the year that king Uzziah died (B.C. 758), I saw also the Lord\nsitting on a throne high and lifted up, and His skirts filling the\npalace. 2. Seraphim standing above it. Six wings to each. With two he\ncovers his face, and with two he covers his feet, and with two he\nflies. 3. And one cried to another, and said,\n\n        Holy, Holy, Holy! _is_ Jehovah of hosts!\n        The fulness of the whole earth is His glory!\n\n4. Then stirred the bases of the thresholds at the voice that cried,\nand the house is filled with smoke.\n\n5. And I said, Woe is me, for I am undone! for a man of impure lips\nam I, and in the midst of a people of impure lips I am dwelling: for\nthe King, Jehovah of hosts, my eyes have seen.\n\n6. Then there flew to me one of the seraphim, and in his hand a live\ncoal; with tongs he took it from off the altar; 7. and he caused it\nto touch my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thy\niniquity is gone, and thy sin shall be atoned for.\n\n8. And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and\nwho will go for us? And I said, Here am I; behold me; send me.\n\n9. And He said, Go and say to this people, Hear indeed, but\nunderstand not; and see indeed, but know not. 10. Make fat the heart\nof this people, and its ears make heavy, and its eyes smear; lest it\nsee with its eyes, and with its ears hear, and its heart understand,\nand it turn to me, and be healed.\n\n11 And I said, How long, Lord?\n\nAnd He said, Until that cities are desolate for want of an\ninhabitant, and houses for want of men, and the land shall be\ndesolate, a waste; 12. and Jehovah shall have put far off the men,\nand great shall be that which is left in the midst of the land.\n13. And yet in it a tenth shall return and be for a consuming; like\nthe terebinth and like the oak which in falling have substance in\nthem, a holy seed (is) the substance of it.\n\n\nPROPHESIES RELATING TO THE REIGN OF AHAZ.--CHAPS. VII.-XII.\n\n1. And it was in the days of Ahaz, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king\nof Judah, Rezin, king of Aram [or Syria], and Pekah, son of Remaliah,\nking of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to war against it; and he was\nnot able to war against it. 2. And it was told the house of David,\nsaying, Syria resteth upon Ephraim: and his heart and the heart of\nthe people shook, like the shaking of the trees of a wood before a\nwind.\n\n3. And Jehovah said to Isaiah son of Amoz, Go out to meet Ahaz, thou\nand Shear-jashub thy son, to the end of the conduit of the upper\npool, to the highway of the fuller's field. 4. And thou shalt say to\nhim, Be cautious and be quiet; fear not, nor let thy heart be soft\nbefore these two smoking tails of firebrands, in the heat of the\nanger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah. 5. Because Syria\nhas devised evil against thee, also Ephraim and Remaliah's son,\nsaying, 6. We will go up into Judah and vex it, and make a breach in\nit (thereby subduing it) to ourselves, and let us make a king in the\nmidst of it, to wit, the son of Tabeal: 7. thus saith the Lord\nJehovah, It shall not stand, and it shall not be; 8. because the head\nof Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin, for in yet\nsixty-and-five years shall Ephraim be broken from (being) a people;\n9. for the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is\nRemaliah's son. If you will not believe (it is) because you are not\nto be established.\n\n10. And Jehovah added to speak unto Ahaz, saying, 11. Ask for thee a\nsign from Jehovah thy God, ask deep or high above. 12. And Ahaz said,\nI will not ask, and I will not tempt Jehovah. 13. And he said, Hear,\nI pray you, O house of David! is it too little for you to weary men,\nthat you weary my God? 14. Therefore the Lord Himself will give you\nsign. Behold! the virgin pregnant and bringing forth a son, and she\ncalls his name Immanuel. 15. Curds and honey shall he eat until he\nshall know (how) to reject the evil and choose the good; 16. for\nbefore the child shall know (how) to reject the evil to choose the\ngood, the land, of whose two kings thou art afraid, shall be forsaken.\n\n17. Jehovah will bring upon thee, and on thy people, and on thy\nfather's house, days which have not come since the departure of\nEphraim from Jacob, to wit, the king of Assyria. 18. And it shall be\nin that day that Jehovah will whistle for the fly which is in the\nedge of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee which is in Assyria;\n19. and they come and rest all of them in the desolate valleys, and\nin the clefts of rocks, and in all thorn-hedges, and in all pastures.\n20. In that day will the Lord shave, with a razor hired in the parts\nbeyond the river, with the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of\nthe feet, and also the beard will it take away. 21. And it shall be\nin that day (that) a man shall save alive a young cow and two sheep;\n22. and it shall be (that) from the abundance of the yielding of\nmilk, he shall eat butter; for butter and honey shall every one eat\nthat is left in the midst of the land. 23. And it shall be in that\nday (that) every place where there shall be a thousand vines at a\nthousand silverlings, shall be for thorns and briers. 24. With arrows\nand with bows shall one go thither, because thorns and briers shall\nthe whole land be; 25. and all the hills which are digged with the\nhoe, thou shalt not go (even) there for fear of briers and thorns,\nand they shall be for a sending-place of cattle and a trampling-place\nof sheep.\n\nVIII.--1. And Jehovah said to me, Take thee a great tablet, and write\nupon it with a man's pen, to Maher-shalal-hash-baz. 2. And I\n(Jehovah) will take to witness for me credible witnesses, to wit,\nUriah the priest, and Zechariah, son of Jeberechiah.\n\n3. And I approached unto the prophetess, and she conceived and bare a\nson, and Jehovah said to me, Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz:\n4. for before the child shall know (how) to cry, My father, and my\nmother, they shall take away the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of\nSamaria before the king of Assyria.\n\n5. And Jehovah added to speak to me again, saying--\n\n6. Because this people hath forsaken the waters of Shiloah that go\nsoftly, and joy with respect to Rezin and the son of Remaliah,\n7. therefore, behold! the Lord (is) bringing up upon them the waters\nof the river, its strong and many waters, to wit, the king of Assyria\nand all his glory, and it shall come up over all the channels and go\nover all its banks, 8. and it shall pass over into Judah, overflow\nand pass through, to the neck shall it reach, and the spreading of\nits wings shall be the filling of the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel!\n\n9. Be wicked and be broken, and give ear all the remote parts of the\nearth! Gird yourselves and be broken; gird yourselves and be broken!\n10. Devise a plan, and it shall be defeated; speak a word, and it\nshall not stand: for God (is) with us.\n\n11. For thus said Jehovah unto me in strength of hand, and instructed\nme away from walking in the way of this people, saying, 12. Ye shall\nnot call conspiracy everything which this people calleth conspiracy,\nand its fear ye shall not fear nor be afraid. 13. Jehovah of hosts,\nHim shall ye sanctify; and He shall be your fear, and He shall be\nyour dread. 14. And He shall be for a holy thing, and for a stone of\nstumbling and for a rock of offence to the two houses of Israel; for\na gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15. And many\nshall stumble over them, and fall and be broken and be snared, and be\ntaken.\n\n16. Bind up the testimony, seal the law, in my disciples. 17. And I\nwill wait for Jehovah, that hideth His face from the house of Jacob,\nand will expect Him. 18. Behold, I and the children which Jehovah\nhath given me are (for) signs and for wonders in Israel from Jehovah\nof hosts, the (One) dwelling in mount Zion. 19. And when they shall\nsay to you, Seek unto the spirits and to the wizards, the chirpers\nand the mutterers: should not a people seek to its God, for the\nliving to the dead? 20. To the law and to the testimony: if they\nspeak not according to this word, (they are they) to whom there is no\ndawn. 21. And they shall pass through it hardly bestead and hungry:\nand it shall be that when they are hungry they shall fret themselves,\nand curse their king and their God, and shall look upward. 22. And to\nthe earth he shall look; and behold distress and darkness, dimness of\nanguish, and (into) darkness (he shall be) driven. [-- Or, The\ndimness of anguish and of darkness is dispelled.]\n\nIX.--1. For (there shall) not (be) darkness (for ever) to her who is\nnow distressed. As the former time degraded the land of Zebulon and\nthe land of Naphtali, so the latter glorifies the way of the sea, the\nbank of the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.\n\n2. The people, those walking in the dark, have seen a great light:\nthe dwellers in the shadow of death, light has beamed upon them.\n3. Thou hast enlarged the nation, Thou hast increased its joy: (they)\nrejoice before Thee like the joy in harvest, as men rejoice when they\ndivide the spoil; 4. that the yoke of his burden, and the rod of his\nshoulder, and the staff of the one driving him, Thou hast broken as\nin the day of Midian. 5. For all the armour of the armed man in the\ntumult, and the garments rolled in blood, shall be for burning, food\nof fire. 6. For a son is born to us, a son is given to us, and the\ngovernment is upon his shoulder, and his name is called Wonderful,\nCounsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7. To\nthe increase of the government and to the peace there shall be no\nend, upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to establish it\nand to confirm it, in justice and in righteousness from henceforth\nand for ever. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts shall do this.\n\n8. The Lord sent a word unto Jacob, and it came down into Israel.\n9. And they know, the people, all of them, Ephraim and the inhabitant\nof Samaria, in pride and in greatness of heart saying, 10. \"Bricks\nare fallen, and hewn stone will we build; sycamores are felled, and\ncedars will we substitute.\" 11. And (now) Jehovah raises up above him\nthe enemies of Rezin, and he will instigate his own enemies: 12. Aram\nbefore, and Philistia behind, and they devour Israel with open mouth.\nFor all this His wrath does not turn back, and still His hand is\nstretched out.\n\n13. And the people has not turned to Him that smote them, and Jehovah\nof hosts they have not sought. 14. And Jehovah has cut off from\nIsrael head and tail, branch and root, in one day. 15. The elder and\nthe favourite, be (is) the head, and the prophet teaching falsehood,\nhe (is) the tail. 16. The leaders of this people have been seducers,\nand the led of them (are) swallowed up. 17. Therefore the Lord will\nnot rejoice over their young men, and on their orphans and their\nwidows He will not have mercy, for every one of them is profane and\nan evil-doer, and every mouth (is) speaking folly. For all this His\nwrath is not turned back, and still is His hand outstretched.\n\n18. For wickedness burneth as the fire, thorns and briers it\nconsumes, then kindles in the thickets of the forest, and they roll\nthemselves upward, a column of smoke. 19. In the wrath of Jehovah of\nhosts the land is darkened, and the people is like food of fire: one\nanother they do not spare. 20. And he tears on the right hand, and is\nhungry (still), and devours on the left, and (still) they are not\nsatisfied; each the flesh of his (own) arm they devour: 21. Manasseh\nEphraim, and Ephraim Manasseh, (and) together they (are) against\nJudah. For all this His wrath is not turned back, and still His hand\n(is) stretched out.\n\nX.--1. Woe unto them that decree decrees of injustice, and that write\noppression which they have prescribed; 2. to turn aside from judgment\nthe weak, the right of the poor of my people, that widows may be\ntheir spoil, and the fatherless they plunder. 3. And what will ye do\nin the day of visitation, and in the ruin (which) shall come from\nfar? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your\nglory? 4. It does not bow beneath the prisoners, and (yet) they shall\nfall beneath the slain. For all this His wrath is not turned back,\nand still His hand is stretched out.\n\n\nTHE SIN AND THE DOOM OF ASSYRIA.--CHAP. X. 5-34.\n\n5. Woe unto Asshur, the rod of My anger, and the staff in their hand\nis My indignation. 6. Against an impious nation will I send him and\nagainst the people of My wrath I will commission him, to take spoil\nand to seize pray, and to render it a trampling, like the mire of\nstreets. 7. And he not so will think, and his heart so will think;\nfor to destroy (is) in his heart, and to cut off nations not a few.\n8. For he says, Are not my princes altogether kings? 9. Is not Calno\nlike Carchemish? or (is) not Hamath like Arpad? or (is) not Samaria\nlike Damascus? 10. As my hand hath found the idol-kingdoms, and their\nimages (more) than (those of) Jerusalem and Samaria, 11. shall I not,\nas I have done to Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her\ngods?\n\n12. And it shall be that the Lord will cut all His work short of\nmount Zion and at Jerusalem. (Yes, even there) will I visit on the\nfruit of the greatness of heart of the king of Assyria, and on the\nostentation of his loftiness of eyes. 13. For he saith, By the\nstrength of my hand I have done (all this), and by my wisdom, for I\nam wise, and I remove the bounds of the nations, and rob their\nhoards, and bring down, like a mighty man (as I am), the inhabitants.\n14. My hand has found the strength of the nations, and like the\ngathering of eggs forsaken, so have I gathered all the earth, and\nthere was none that moved a wing, or opened a mouth, or chirped.\n\n15. Shall the axe glorify itself above the (person) hewing with it?\nOr shall the saw magnify itself above the (person) handling it? (This\nis indeed) like a rod's wielding those who wield it, like a staff's\nlifting (that which is) no wood. 16. Therefore the Lord, the Lord of\nhosts, will send upon his fat ones leanness, and under his glory\nshall burn like the burning of fire. 17. And the light of Israel\nshall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame, and it shall burn\nand devour his thorns and briers in one day. 18. And the glory of his\nforest and his fruitful field, from soul to body, will He consume,\nand it shall be like the wasting away of a sick man. 19. And the rest\nof the trees of the forest shall be few, and a child shall write them.\n\n20. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of\nIsrael, and the escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no longer\ncontinue to lean upon their smiter, but shall lean upon Jehovah, the\nHoly One of Israel, in truth. 21. A remnant shall return, a remnant\nof Jacob to God Almighty. 22. For though thy people, O Israel, shall\nbe like the sand of the sea, (only) a remnant of them shall return. A\nconsumption is decreed, overflowing (with) righteousness. 23. For a\nconsumption even (the one) determined, (is) the Lord, Jehovah of\nhosts, making in the midst of all the earth.\n\n24. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah of hosts, Be not afraid, O\nmy people inhabiting Zion, of Asshur. He shall smite thee with the\nrod, and shall lift up his staff upon thee in the way of Egypt.\n25. For yet a very little, and wrath is at an end, and my anger\n(shall go forth) to their destruction; 26. and Jehovah of hosts shall\nraise up against him a scourge like the smiting of Midian at the rock\nOreb, and His rod (shall again) be over the sea, and He shall lift it\nup in the way of Egypt. 27. And it shall be in that day, (that) his\nburden shall depart from thy shoulder, and his yoke from thy neck,\nand the yoke shall be destroyed because of oil.\n\n28. He is come to Aiath--he is passed to Migron--to Michmash he\nentrusts his baggage. 29. They have passed the pass--in Geba they\nhave taken up their lodging--Ramah trembles; Gibeah of Saul flees.\n30. Cry aloud, daughter Gallim; hearken Laishah, (ah) poor Anathoth!\n31. Madmenah, wanders; the inhabitants of Gebim flee. 32. Yet to-day\nin Nob (he is) to stand; (and there) will he shake his hand against\nthe mountain of the house of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.\n\n33. Behold, the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, (is) lopping the branch with\nterror, and the trees (shall be) felled, and the lofty ones brought\nlow. 34. And He shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron,\nand this Lebanon by a Mighty One shall fall.\n\n\nTHE RESTORATION AND DELIVERANCE, ETERNAL SAFETY AND\nINTERNAL PEACE OF GOD'S OWN PEOPLE.--CHAPS. XI., XII.\n\nXI.--1. And there shall come forth a twig from the stock of Jesse,\nand a Branch from his roots shall grow. 2. And upon Him shall rest\nthe Spirit of Jehovah, a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit\nof counsel and strength, a spirit of knowledge and of the fear of\nJehovah. 3. And His sense of smelling (shall be exercised) in the\nfear of Jehovah, and not by the sight of His eyes shall He judge, and\nnot by the hearing of His ears shall He decide; 4. and He shall judge\nin righteousness the weak, and do justice with equity to the meek of\nthe earth; and shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and\nwith the breath of His lips shall slay the wicked. 5. And\nrighteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the\ngirdle of His reins.\n\n6. And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie\ndown with the kid, and the calf and young lion and fatling together,\nand a little child shall lead them; 7. and the cow and the bear shall\nfeed, together shall their young lie down, and the lion like the ox\nshall eat straw; 8. and the suckling child shall play on the hole of\nthe asp, and on the den of the basilisk shall the weaned child\nstretch its hand. 9. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy\nmountain, because the land is full of the knowledge of Jehovah, like\nthe waters covering the sea.\n\n10. And in that day shall the root of Jesse which is set up be for a\nsignal to the nations: unto Him shall the Gentiles seek, and His rest\nshall be glorious.\n\n11. And it shall come to pass in that day, the Lord shall add His\nhand a second time to redeem the remnants of His people from Assyria,\nand from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and\nfrom Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.\n12. And He shall set up a signal to the nations, and shall gather the\noutcasts of Israel, and the dispersed of Judah shall He bring\ntogether from the four wings of the earth. 13. And the army of\nEphraim shall depart, and the enemies of Judah shall be cut off.\nEphraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.\n14. And they shall fly upon the shoulder of the Philistines towards\nthe sea; together they shall spoil the sons of the East; Edom and\nMoab the stretching out of their hand, and the children of Ammon\ntheir obedience. 15. And Jehovah will destroy the tongue of the sea\nof Egypt, and He will wave His hand over the river, in the violence\nof His wind, and smite it into seven streams, and make (His people)\ntread (it) in shoes. 16. And there shall be a highway for the remnant\nof His people which shall be left, from Assyria, as there was for\nIsrael in the day of his coming up from the land of Egypt.\n\nXII.--1, 2. And thou shalt say in that day, O Lord, I will praise\nThee! For Thou wast angry with me, but Thine anger is turned away,\nand Thou comfortest me. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and\nnot be afraid; for my strength and song is Jah Jehovah, and He is\nbecome my salvation. 3. And ye shall draw water with joy from the\nsprings of salvation. 4-6. And ye shall say in that day, Praise\nJehovah! Call upon His name! Make known among the nations His\nexploits; remind them that His name is exalted. Praise Jehovah,\nbecause He has done a sublime deed. Known is this in all the earth.\nCry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in the midst of\nthee is the Holy One of Israel.\n\n\nPROPHECIES AGAINST CERTAIN FOREIGN POWERS.--CHAPS. XIII.-XXIII.\n\n_The fall of the Babylonian empire,\nand the destruction of Babylon._--CHAPS. XIII., XIV.\n\nXIII.--1. The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw.\n\n2. Upon a bare hill, set up a signal, raise the voice to them, wave\nthe hand, and let them enter the gates of the nobles. 3. I (Myself)\nhave given command to My consecrated. Yes, I have called (forth) My\nmighty ones for (the execution of) My wrath, My proud exulters.\n4. The voices of a multitude in the mountains! the likeness of much\npeople! the sound of a tumult of kingdoms of nations gathered!\nJehovah of hosts mustering a host of battle! 5. Coming from a distant\nland, from the end of the heavens, Jehovah and the instruments of\nHis wrath, to lay waste the whole land. 6. Howl, for the day of\nJehovah is near! like might from the Almighty it shall come.\n7. Therefore all hands shall sink and every heart of man shall melt.\n8. And they shall be confounded, pangs and throes shall seize (them),\nlike the travailing (woman) they shall writhe, each at his neighbour,\nthey shall wander, faces of flames their faces. 9. Behold the day of\nJehovah cometh, terrible, and wrath and heat of anger, to make the\nland a waste, and its survivors He will destroy from it.\n\n10. For the stars of the heavens and their constellations shall not\nshed their light, the sun is darkened in his going forth, and the\nmoon shall not cause its light to shine. 11. And I will visit upon\nthe world (its) iniquity, and upon the wicked their iniquity, and I\nwill cause to cease the arrogance of presumptuous sinners, and the\npride of tyrants I will humble. 12. And I will make man more scarce\nthan pure gold, and a human being than the ore of Ophir.\n13. Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth shall\nshake out of its place in the wrath of Jehovah of hosts and in the\nday of the heat of His anger. 14. And it shall be that like a roe\nchased, and like sheep, with none to gather them--each to his people,\nthey shall turn--and each to his country they shall flee. 15. Every\none found shall be stabbed, and every one joined shall fall by the\nsword. 16. And their children shall be dashed to pieces before their\neyes, their houses shall be plundered, and their wives ravished.\n17. Behold, I (am) stirring up the Madai who will not regard silver,\nand (as for) gold they will not take pleasure in it. 18. And bows\nshall dash boys in pieces, and the fruit of the womb they shall not\npity; on children their eye shall not have mercy.\n\n19. And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the ornament, the pride of\nthe Chaldees, shall be like God's overthrowing Sodom and Gomorrah.\n20. It shall not be inhabited for ever, and it shall not be dwelt in\nfrom generation to generation, neither shall the Arab pitch tent\nthere, neither shall shepherds cause their flocks to lie there.\n21. But there shall lie down desert creatures, and their houses shall\nbe filled with howls (or yells), and there shall dwell the daughters\nof the ostrich, and shaggy beasts shall gambol there. 22. And wolves\nshall howl in his palaces, and jackals in the temples of pleasure.\nAnd near to come is her time, and her days shall not be prolonged.\n\nXIV.--1. For Jehovah will pity Jacob, and will still choose Israel\nand cause them to rest on their (own) land, and the stranger shall be\njoined to them, and they shall be attached to the house of Jacob.\n2. And nations shall take them and bring them to their place, and the\nhouse of Israel shall take possession of them on Jehovah's land for\nmale and female servants--and (thus) they shall be captors of their\ncaptors, and rule over their oppressors. 3. And it shall be in the\nday of Jehovah's causing thee to rest from thy toil, and from thy\ncommotion, and from the hard service which was wrought by thee,\n4. that thou shalt raise this song over the king of Babylon, and say--\n\nHow hath the oppressor ceased, and the golden (city) ceased!\n5. Jehovah hath broken the staff of the wicked, the rod of the\nrulers, 6. smiting nations in anger by a stroke without cessation,\nruling nations in wrath by a rule without restraint. 7. At rest,\nquiet, is the whole earth. They burst forth into singing. 8. And the\ncypresses rejoice with respect to thee, the cedars of Lebanon\n(saying), Now that thou art fallen, the feller shall not come up\nagainst us.\n\n9. Hell from beneath is moved for thee, to meet thee at thy coming;\nit rouses for thee the giants, all the chief ones of the earth; it\nraises from their thrones all the kings of the nations. 10. All of\nthem shall answer and say to thee, Thou also art made weak as we, to\nus are likened! 11. Down to the grave is brought thy pride, the music\nof thy harps: under thee is spread the worm, thy covering is vermin.\n12. How art thou fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of the morning!\nfelled to the ground, thou that didst lord it over the nations!\n13. And (yet) thou hadst said in thy heart, The heavens will I mount;\nabove the stars of God will I raise my throne; and I will sit in the\nmount of meeting, in the sides of the north; 14. I will mount above\nthe cloud-heights; I will make myself like the Most High. 15. But\nthou shalt only be brought down to hell, to the depths of the pit.\n16. Those seeing thee shall gaze at thee, they shall look at thee\nattentively, (and say), Is this the man that made the earth shake,\nthat made kingdoms tremble, 17. made a world like a desert, destroyed\nits cities, and its captives did not set free homewards? 18. All\nkings of nations, all of them, lie in state, each in his house;\n19. and thou art cast out from thy grave--like a despised branch, the\nraiment of the slain, pierced with the sword, going down to the\nstones of the pit, like a trampled carcass. 20. Thou shalt not be\njoined with them in burial, because thy land thou hast destroyed, thy\npeople thou hast slain. Let the seed of evil-doers be named no more\nfor ever.\n\n21. Prepare for his sons a slaughter, for the iniquity of their\nfathers. Let them not arise and possess the earth, and fill the face\nof the world with cities. 22. And I (Myself) will rise up against\nthem, saith Jehovah of hosts, and will cut off from Babylon name, and\nremnant, and progeny, and offspring, saith Jehovah. 23. And I will\nrender it a possession of the porcupine, and pools of water, and will\nsweep it with the broom of destruction.\n\n24. Jehovah of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have planned, it\nshall come to pass, and as I have devised it shall stand; 25. to\nbreak Assyria in My land, and on My mountains I will trample him; and\nhis yoke shall depart from off them, and his burden from off his back\nshall depart. 26. This is the purpose that is purposed upon all the\nearth, and this the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.\n27. For Jehovah of hosts hath purposed, and who shall annul? And His\nhand the one stretched out, and who shall turn it back?\n\n28. In the year of the death of King Ahaz, was this burden.\n\n29. Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of thee, because the rod that smote\nthee is broken, for out of the root of the serpent shall come forth a\nbasilisk, and its fruit a fiery flying serpent. 30. And the\nfirst-born of the poor shall feed, and the needy in security lie\ndown, and I will kill thy root with famine, and thy remnant it shall\nslay.\n\n31. Howl, O gate! cry, O city! dissolved, O Philistia, is the whole\nof thee; for out of the north a smoke comes, and there is no\nstraggler in his forces. 32. And what shall one answer to the\nambassadors of a nation? That Jehovah has founded Zion, and in it the\nafflicted of His people shall seek refuge.\n\n\nTHE DOWNFALL OF MOAB.--CHAPS. XV., XVI.\n\n1. (This is) the burden of Moab, That in a night Ar-Moab is laid\nwaste, is destroyed; that in a night Kir-Moab is laid waste, is\ndestroyed. 2. They go up to the house, and Dibon (to) the high places\nfor weeping. On Nebo and on Medeba Moab howls, and all heads\nbaldness, every beard cut off. 3. In its streets, they are girded\nwith sackcloth; on its roofs and in its squares all of it howls,\ncoming down with weeping. 4. And Heshbon cries and Eleaich--even to\nJahaz is their voice heard; therefore the warriors of Moab cry, his\nsoul is distress in him. 5. My heart for Moab cries out; her\nfugitives (are fled) as far as Zoar--an heifer of three years old;\nfor he that goes up Luhith with weeping goes up by it, for in the way\nof Horonaim a cry of destruction they lift up. 6. For the waters of\nNimrim (are and) shall be desolations: for withered is the grass,\ngone is the herbage, verdure there is none. 7. Therefore the\nremainder of what each one has made, (and their) hoard, over the\nbrook of the willows they carry them away. 8. For the cry goes round\nthe border of Moab; even to Eglaim (is) its howling (heard), and to\nBeer-Elim its howling. 9. For the waters of Dimon are full of blood;\nand I will bring upon Dimon additions, on the escaped of Moab a lion;\nand on the remnant of it.\n\nXVI.--1. Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land from Sela to the\nwilderness, to the mountain of the daughter of Zion. 2. And it shall\ncome to pass like a bird wandering, (like) a nest cast out, shall be\nthe daughters of Moab, the fords of Arnon. 3. [Alexander omits the\n_translation_ of this verse, but comments on it. . . .] 4. Let my\noutcasts, Moab, sojourn with thee; be thou a covert to them from the\nface of the spoiler: for the extortioner is at an end, oppression has\nceased, consumed are the tramplers out of the land. 5. And a throne\nshall be established in mercy; and one shall sit upon it in truth in\nthe tent of David, judging and seeking justice, and prompt in equity.\n\n6. We have heard of the pride of Moab, the very proud, his\nhaughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath, the falsehood of his\npretensions. 7. Therefore Moab shall howl for Moab; all of it shall\nhowl; for the grapes of Kir-hareseth shall ye sigh, altogether\nsmitten. 8. For the fields of Heshbon are withered--the vine of\nSibmah--the lords of the nations broke down its choice plants--unto\nJazer they reached--they strayed into the desert--its branches--they\nwere stretched out--they reached to the sea. 9. Therefore I will weep\nwith the weeping of Jazer (for) the vine of Sibmah. I will wet thee\n(with) my tears, Heshbon and (thee) Elealeh! for upon thy fruit and\nthy harvest a cry has fallen. 10. And taken away is joy and gladness\nfrom the fruitful field: and in the vineyards shall no (more) be\nsung, no (more) be shouted; wine in the presses shall the treader not\ntread; the cry have I stilled. 11. Therefore my bowels for Moab like\nthe harp shall sound, and my inwards for Kirhares. 12. And it shall\ncome to pass, when Moab has appeared (before his gods), when he has\nwearied himself (with vain oblations) on the high place, then he\nshall enter into his sanctuary to pray, and shall not be able (to\nobtain an answer).\n\n13. This is the word which Jehovah spake concerning Moab of old.\n14. And now Jehovah speaks, saying, In three years, like the years of\nan hireling, the glory of Moab, shall be disgraced, with all the\ngreat throng, and the remnant shall be small, and few, not much.\n\n\nTHE DOOM OF THE ENEMIES OF JUDAH.--CHAPS. XVII., XVIII.\n\nXVII.--1. The burden of Damascus.\n\nBehold, Damascus is removed from (being) a city, and is a heap, a\nruin. 2. Forsaken are the cities of Aroer; for flocks shall they be,\nand they shall lie down, and there shall be no one making (them)\nafraid. 3. Then shall cease defence for Ephraim and royalty from\nDamascus and the rest of Syria. Like the glory of the children of\nIsrael shall they be, with Jehovah of hosts.\n\n4. And it shall come to pass in that day, the glory of Jacob shall be\nbrought low, and the fatness of his flesh shall be made lean. 5. And\nit shall be as one gathers the harvest, the standing corn, and his\narm reaps the ears. And it shall be like one collecting ears in the\nvalley of Rephaim. 6. And gleanings shall be left therein like the\nshaking of an olive-tree, two (or) three berries in the top of a high\nbough, four (or) five in the branches of the fruit-tree, saith\nJehovah, God of Israel.\n\n7. In that day man shall turn to his Maker, and his eyes to the Holy\nOne of Israel shall look. 8. And he shall not turn to the altars, the\nwork of his own hands, and that which his own fingers have made shall\nhe not regard, and the groves of Ashtoreth and the pillars of the sun.\n\n9. In that day shall his fortified cities by like what is left in the\nthickets and the lofty branch, which they leave (as they retire) from\nbefore the children of Israel, and (the land) shall be a waste.\n10. Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and the\nrock of thy strength hast not remembered, therefore thou wilt plant\nplants of pleasantness, and with a strange slip set it. 11. In the\nday of thy planting thou wilt hedge it in, and in the morning thou\nwilt make thy seed to blossom, (but) away flies the crop in a day of\ngrief and desperate sorrow.\n\n12. Hark! the noise of many nations! Like the noise of the sea they\nmake a noise. And the rush of peoples! Like the rush of many waters\nthey are rushing. 13. Nations, like the rush of many waters, rush;\nand he rebukes it, and it flees from afar, and is chased like the\nchaff of hills before a wind, and like a rolling thing before a\nwhirlwind. 14. At evening-tide, and behold terror; before morning he\nis not. This be the portion of our plunderers, and the lot of our\nspoilers.\n\nXVIII.--1. Ho! land of rustling wings, which art beyond the rivers of\nCush, 2. sending by sea ambassadors, and in vessels of papyrus on the\nface of the waters. Go, ye light messengers, to a nation drawn and\nshorn, to a people terrible since it existed and onwards, a nation of\ndouble strength and tramplings, whose land the streams divide. 3. All\nye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, shall see as\nit were the raising of a standard on the mountains, and shall hear as\nit were the blowing of a trumpet.\n\n4. For thus said Jehovah to me, I will rest and look on in My\ndwelling-place, like a serene heat upon herbs, like a cloud of dew in\nthe heat of harvest. 5. For before the harvest or the bloom is\nfinished, and the flower becomes a ripening grape, he cuts down the\nbranches with the pruning-knives, and the tendrils he removes, he\ncuts away. 6. They shall be left together to the wild birds of the\nmountains, and to the wild beasts of the earth, and the wild birds\nshall summer thereon, and every wild beast of the earth thereon shall\nwinter.\n\n7. At that time shall be brought a gift to Jehovah of hosts, a people\ndrawn out and shorn, and from a people terrible since it hath been\nand onward, a nation of double power and trampling, whose land\nstreams divide, to the place of the name of Jehovah of hosts, mount\nZion.\n\n\nTHE BURDEN OF EGYPT.--CHAP. XIX.\n\n1. Behold! Jehovah riding on a light cloud, and He comes to Egypt,\nand the idols of Egypt move at His presence, and the heart of Egypt\nmelts within him. 2. And I will excite Egypt against Egypt, and they\nshall fight, a man with his brother, and a man with his fellow, city\nwith city, kingdom with kingdom. 3. And the spirit of Egypt shall be\nemptied out in the midst thereof, and the counsel thereof I will\nswallow up, and they will seek to the idols, and to the mutterers,\nand to the familiar spirits, and to the wizards. 4. And I will shut\nup Egypt in the hands of a hard master, and a strong king shall rule\nover them, saith the Lord Jehovah of hosts.\n\n5. And the waters shall be dried up from the sea, and the river shall\nfail and be dried up. 6. And the rivers shall stink, the streams of\nEgypt are emptied and dried up, reed and rush sicken. 7. And meadows\nby the river, by the mouth of the river, and all the sown ground of\nthe river, shall wither being driven away, and it is not. 8. And the\nfisherman shall mourn, and they shall lament, all the throwers of a\nhook into the river, and the spreaders of a net upon the surface of\nthe water, languish. 9. And ashamed are the workers of combed flax,\nand the weavers of white (stuffs). 10. And her pillars are broken\ndown, all labourers for hire are grieved at heart.\n\n11. Entirely foolish are the princes of Zoan, the sages of the\ncounsellors of Pharaoh, (their) counsel is become brutish. How can ye\nsay to Pharaoh, I am the son of wise (fathers), I am the son of kings\nof old? 12. Where (are) they? Where (are) thy wise men? Pray let them\ntell thee, and (if that is too much) let them (at least) know, what\nJehovah of hosts hath purposed concerning Egypt. 13. Infatuated are\nthe chiefs of Zoan, deceived are the chiefs of Noph, and they have\nmisled Egypt, the corner-stone of her tribes. 14. Jehovah hath\nmingled in the midst of her a spirit of confusion, and they have\nmisled Egypt in all its work, like the misleading of a drunkard in\nhis vomit. 15. And there shall not be in Egypt a work which head and\ntail, branch and rush, may do.\n\n16. In that day shall Egypt be like women, and shall fear and tremble\nfrom before the shaking of the hand of Jehovah of hosts, which He is\nshaking over it. 17. And the land of Judah shall be for a terror unto\nEgypt, every person to whom one mentions it shall fear before the\npurpose of Jehovah of hosts, which He is purposing against it.\n\n18. In that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt\nspeaking the language of Canaan, and swearing to Jehovah of hosts.\nThe city of destruction shall one be called. 19. In that day there\nshall be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land, and a pillar\nnear the border to Jehovah. 20. And it shall be for a sign and a\ntestimony to Jehovah of hosts in the land of Egypt, that they shall\ncry to Jehovah from the presence of oppressors, and He will send them\na deliverer and a mighty one, and save them. 21. And Jehovah shall be\nknown to Egypt, and Egypt shall know Jehovah in that day, and shall\nserve with sacrifice and offering, and shall vow a vow to Jehovah,\nand perform it.\n\n22. And Jehovah shall smite Egypt, smiting and healing, and they\nshall return unto Jehovah, and He shall be entreated of them, and\nshall heal them. 23. In that day there shall be a highway from Egypt\nto Assyria, and Assyria shall come into Egypt and Egypt into Assyria,\nand Egypt shall serve with Assyria. 24. In that day shall Israel be a\nthird with respect to Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of\nthe earth, 25. which Jehovah has blessed, saying, Blessed be My\npeople Egypt, and the work of My hands Assyria, and My heritage\nIsrael.\n\n\nTHE DEFEAT AND CAPTIVITY OF THE EGYPTIANS AND ETHIOPIANS.--CHAP. XX.\n\n1. In the year of Tartan's coming to Ashdod, in Sargon king of\nAssyria's sending him, and he fought with Ashdod and took it; 2. at\nthat time spake Jehovah by the hand of Isaiah the son of Amoz,\nsaying, Go, and thou shalt loose the sackcloth from upon thy loins,\nand thy shoe thou shalt pull off from thy foot. And he did so, going\nnaked and barefoot.\n\n3. And Jehovah said, As my servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot\nthree years a sign and symbol concerning Egypt and concerning\nEthiopia, 4. so shall the king of Assyria lead the captivity of Egypt\nand the exiles of Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot, with\ntheir buttocks uncovered, the disgrace of Egypt.\n\n5. And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their\nexpectation, and of Egypt their boast. 6. And the inhabitant of this\ncoast shall say in that day, Behold, such is our expectation, whither\nwe fled for help, to be delivered from the presence of the king of\nAssyria! and how shall we (ourselves) escape?\n\n\nTHE BURDEN OF THE DESERT OF THE SEA.--CHAP. XXI. 1-10.\n\nXXI.--1. Like whirlwinds in the south, as to rushing from the\nwilderness it comes, from a terrible land. 2. A hard vision it is\nrevealed to me; the deceiver deceiving and the spoiler spoiling. Go,\nup, O Elam! besiege, O Media! All sighing have I made to cease.\n3. Therefore my loins are filled with pain; pangs have seized me like\nthe pangs of a travailing woman; I writhe from hearing; I am shocked\nfrom seeing. 4. My heart wonders; horror appals me; the twilight of\nmy pleasure He has put for fear for me.\n\n5. Set the table, spread the cloth, eat, drink; arise, ye chiefs,\nanoint the shield! 6. For thus saith the Lord to me, Go, set the\nwatchman: that which he sees let him tell. 7. And should he see\ncavalry--pairs of horsemen--ass-riders--camel-riders--then shall he\nhearken with a harkening a great harkening. 8. And he cries--a\nlion--on the watch-tower, Lord, I am standing always by day, and on\nmy ward I am stationed all the night. 9. And behold, this comes,\nmounted men, pairs of horsemen. And he speaks again, and says,\nFallen, fallen is Babylon, and all the images of her gods He has\nbroken to the earth.\n\n10. O my threshing, and the son of my threshing-floor! What I have\nheard from Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, I have told you.\n\n\nTHE BURDEN OF DUMAH.--CHAP. XXI. 11-18.\n\n11. To me (one is) calling from Seir, Watchman, what of the night?\nWatchman, what of the night? 12. The watchman says, Morning comes and\nalso night; if ye will inquire, inquire; return, come.\n\n\nTHE BURDEN OF ARABIA.--CHAP. XXI. 13-17.\n\n13. In the forest of Arabia shall ye lodge, oh ye caravans of\nDedanim. 14. To meet the thirsty they bring water; with his bread\nthey anticipate the fugitive. 15. Because from the presence of swords\nthey fled, from the presence of a drawn sword and from the presence\nof a bended bow, and from the presence of a weight of war. 16. For\nthus saith the Lord to me, In yet a year, like the years of a\nhireling shall fall all the glory of Kedar. 17. And the remnant of\nthe number of bows, the mighty men of the children of Kedar shall be\nfew, for Jehovah God of Israel hath spoken it.\n\n\nTHE BURDEN OF THE VALLEY OF VISION.--CHAP. XXII. 1-14.\n\n1. What (is) to thee, that thou art wholly gone up on the house-tops?\n2. Full of stirs, a noisy town, a joyous city, thy slain are not\nslain with the sword nor dead in battle. 3. All thy shields fled\ntogether--from the bow--they were found--all that were found of thee\nwere bound together--from afar they fled.\n\n4. Therefore I said, Look away from me; let me weep bitterly; try not\nto comfort me for the desolation of the daughter of my people. 5. For\nthere is a day of confusion and trampling and perplexity to the Lord\nJehovah of hosts, in the valley of vision--breaking the wall and\ncrying to the mountain. 6. And Elam bare a quiver, with chariots,\ninfantry, horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield. 7. And it came to\npass (that) the choice of thy valleys were full of chariots, and the\nhorsemen drew up towards the gate. 8. And the covering of Judah was\nremoved, and thou didst look in that day to the armour of the house\nof the forest. 9. And the breaches of the city of David ye saw, that\nthey were many, and ye gathered the waters of the lower pool. 10. And\nthe house of Jerusalem ye numbered, and ye pulled down the house to\nrepair the wall. 11. And a reservoir ye made between the two walls\nfor the waters of the old pool, and ye did not look to the Maker of\nit, and the Former of it ye did not see. 12. And the Lord Jehovah of\nhosts called in that day to weeping, and to mourning, and to\nbaldness, and to girding sackcloth; 13. and behold mirth and jollity,\nslaying of oxen and killing of sheep, eating of flesh and drinking of\nwine; eat and drink, for to-morrow we die. 14. And Jehovah of hosts\nmade a revelation to me, saying, This iniquity shall certainly not be\nforgiven you until you die.\n\n\nTHE MESSAGE TO SHEBNA.--CHAP. XXII. 15-25.\n\n15. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah of hosts, Go, go into this treasurer,\nto Shebna who (is) over the house. 16. What hast thou here, and whom\nhast thou here, that thou hast hewn thee here a sepulchre? Hewing on\nhigh his sepulchre, graving in the rook a habitation for himself!\n17. Behold, Jehovah is casting thee a cast, O man! and covering thee\na covering. 18. Rolling He will roll thee in a roll, like a ball\n(thrown) into a spacious ground--there thou shalt die--and there the\nchariots of thy glory--shame of thy master's house. 19. And I will\nthrust thee from thy post, and from thy station thou shalt be pulled\ndown.\n\n20. And it shall come to pass in that day that I will call for thy\nservant, for Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah; 21. and I will clothe him\nwith thy dress, and with thy girdle will I strengthen him, and thy\npower will I give into his hand, and he shall be for a father to the\ndweller in Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. 22. And I will put\nthe key of the house of David on his shoulder; he shall open, and\nthere shall be no one shutting; he shall shut, and there shall be no\none opening. 23. And I will fasten him a nail in a sure place, and he\nshall be for a throne of glory to his father's house. 24. And they\nshall hang upon him all the honour of his father's house--the\noffspring and the issue--all vessels of small quantity--from vessels\nof cups even to all vessels of flagons. 25. In that day, saith\nJehovah of hosts, shall the nail fastened in a sure place be removed,\nand be cut down, and fall, and the burden which was upon it shall be\ncut off, for Jehovah speaks.\n\n\nTHE BURDEN OF TYRE.--CHAP. XXIII.\n\n1. Howl, ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, no house, no\nentrance; from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them. 2. Be\nsilent, O inhabitants of the isle, the merchants of Sidon crossing\nthe sea filled thee. 3. And in great waters (was) the seed of the\nNile; the harvest of the river (was) her revenue; and she was a mart\nof nations. 5. When the report comes to Egypt, they are pained at the\nreport of Tyre. 6. Pass over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the\nisle. 7. Is this your joyous city? From the days of old is her\nantiquity; her feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn.\n\n8. Who hath purposed this against Tyre the crowning (city), whose\nmerchants (are) princes, her traffickers the honoured of the earth?\n9. Jehovah of hosts hath purposed it, to profane the elevation of all\nbeauty, to degrade all the honoured of the earth. 10. Pass through\nthy land like the river; daughter of Tarshish, there is no girdle\n(any) longer. 11. His hand He stretched out over the sea; He made\nkingdoms tremble; Jehovah commanded respecting Canaan to destroy her\nstrongholds. 12. And He said, Thou shalt not continue to triumph,\nviolated virgin daughter of Zidon; to Chittim arise, pass over; there\nalso there shall be no rest to thee. 13. Behold the land of the\nChaldees; this people was not; Assyria founded it for dwellers in the\nwilderness; they have set up his towers; they have roused up her\npalaces; he has rendered it a ruin. 14. Howl, ships of Tarshish, for\ndestroyed is your stronghold.\n\n15. And it shall come to pass in that day that Tyre shall be\nforgotten seventy years, as the days of one king; from the end of\nseventy years shall be to Tyre like the harlot's song.\n\n16. Take a harp, go about the city, O forgotten harlot! play well,\nsing much, that thou mayest be remembered. 17. And it shall be at the\nend of seventy years, Jehovah will visit Tyre, and she shall return\nwith all the kingdoms of the earth upon the face of the ground.\n\n18. And her gain and her hire shall be holiness to Jehovah; it shall\nnot be stored and it shall not be hoarded; for her gain shall be for\nthose who sit before Jehovah, to eat to satiety, and for substantial\nclothing.\n\n\nPROPHECIES HAVING REFERENCE CHIEFLY TO JUDAH.--CHAPS. XXIV.-XXXV.\n\nCOMING JUDGMENTS.--CHAPS. XXIV.-XXVII.\n\nI.--_Some of the Consequences of\nNational Iniquity._--CHAP. XXIV. 1-12.\n\nXXIV.--1. Behold Jehovah (is) pouring out the land and emptying it,\nand He will turn down its face, and He will scatter its inhabitants.\n2. And it shall be, as the people so the priest, as the servant so\nhis master, as the maid so her mistress, as the buyer so the seller,\nas the lender so the borrower, as the creditor so the debtor. 3. The\nland shall be utterly emptied and utterly spoiled, for Jehovah speaks\nthis word. 4. The earth mourneth, fadeth; the world languisheth,\nfadeth; the highest of the people of the earth languish. 5. And the\nland has been profaned under its inhabitants, because they have\ntransgressed the laws, violated the statute, broken the everlasting\ncovenant. 6. Therefore a curse devoured the earth, and those dwelling\nin it were reckoned guilty. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth\nburned, and there are few men left. 7. The new wine mourneth; the\nvine languisheth; all the merry-hearted do sigh. 8. Still is the\nmirth of drums; ceased is the noise of revellers; still is the mirth\nof the harp. 9. With the song they shall not drink wine; bitter shall\nstrong drink be to them that drink it. 10. Broken down is the city of\nconfusion, shut up is every house so that it cannot be entered. 11. A\ncry for wine in the streets--darkened is all joy--departed is the\ngladness of the earth. 12. What is left in the city is desolation,\nand into ruins is the gate beaten down.\n\nII.--_The Songs of the Scattered Remnant._--VERS. 13-16.\n\n13. For so shall it be in the midst of the earth among the nations,\nlike the beating of an olive-tree, like gleanings when the gathering\nis done. 14. They shall raise their voice, they shall sing, for the\nmajesty of Jehovah they cry aloud from the sea. 15. Therefore in the\nfires glorify Jehovah, in the islands of the sea the name of Jehovah\nGod of Israel. 16. From the wing of the earth we have heard songs,\npraise to the righteous; and I said, Woe to me, woe to me, alas for\nme! The deceivers deceive, with deceit the deceivers deceive.\n\nIII.--_Jehovah's Exaltation in Jerusalem._--VERS. 17-23.\n\n17. Fear and pit and snare upon thee, O inhabitant of the land!\n18. And it shall be that the (one) flying from the voice of the fear\nshall fall into the pit, and the (one) coming up from the midst of\nthe pit shall be taken in the snare; for windows from on high are\nopened, and the foundations of the earth are shaken. 19. Behold,\nbroken is the earth; shattered, shattered is the earth; shaken,\nshaken is the earth. 20. The earth reels, reels like a drunken man,\nand is shaken like a hammock. And heavy upon her is her guilt, and\nshe shall fall and rise no more. 21. And it shall be in that day that\nJehovah shall visit upon the host of the high place, and upon the\nkings of the earth upon the earth. 22. And they shall be gathered\nwith a gathering as prisoners in a pit, and shall be shut up in a\ndungeon, and after many days they shall be visited. 23. And the moon\nshall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, for Jehovah of hosts is\nKing in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem and before His elders there is\nglory.\n\nIV.--_The destruction of Babylon and the\nDeliverance of the Jews._--CHAP. XXV. 1-5.\n\nXXV.--1. Jehovah my God (art) Thou; I will exalt Thee; I will praise\nThy name; for Thou hast done a wonder, counsels from afar off, truth,\ncertainty. 2. For Thou hast turned (it) from a city to a heap, a\nfortified town to a ruin, a palace of strangers from (being) a city;\nfor ever it shall not be built. 3. Therefore a powerful people shall\nhonour Thee, a city of terrible nations shall fear Thee. 4. For Thou\nhast been a stronghold to the weak, a stronghold to the poor, in his\ndistress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the\nblast of the terrible was like a storm against a wall. 5. As heat in\na drought, the noise of strangers wilt Thou bring down; (as) hast by\nthe shadow of a cloud, (so) shall the song of the tyrants be brought\nlow.\n\nV.--_A promise of Favour to the Gentiles and the\nPeople of God when united on Mount Zion._--VERS. 6-9.\n\n6. And Jehovah of hosts will make, for all nations, in this mountain,\na feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things,\nfull of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. 7. And He will\ndestroy in this mountain the face of the veil, the veil upon all\npeople, and the web, the (one) woven over all the nations. 8. He has\nswallowed up death for ever, and the Lord Jehovah wipes away tears\nfrom off all faces, and the reproach of His people he will take away\nfrom off all the earth, for Jehovah hath spoken (it). 9. And they\nshall say in that day, Lo, this is our God! we have waited for Him,\nand He will save us; this is Jehovah; we have waited for Him; let us\nrejoice and be glad in His salvation.\n\nVI.--_The Ruin of Moab._--VERS. 10-12.\n\n10. For the hand of Jehovah shall rest upon this mountain, and Moab\nshall be trodden down in his place as straw is trodden in the water\nof the dunghill. 11. And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst\nof it, as the swimmer spreadeth forth his hands to swim; and He shall\nhumble his pride, together with the devices of his hands. 12. And the\nfortress of the high fort of thy walls He hath cast down, humbled,\nbrought to the ground, to the very dust.\n\nVII.--_A Song of Praise and\nDeliverance._--CHAP. XXVI. 1-19.\n\nXXVI.--1. In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah:\nWe have a strong city; salvation will He place (as) walls and\nbreastwork. 2. Open ye the gates, and let the righteous nation enter,\nkeeping truth. 3. The mind stayed (on Thee) Thou wilt preserve in\npeace, (in) peace, because in Thee (it is) confident. 4. Trust ye in\nJehovah for ever, for in Jah Jehovah is a rock of ages.\n\n5. For He hath brought down the inhabitants of the high place, the\nexalted city; He will lay it low. He will lay it low, to the very\nground; He will bring it to the very dust. 6. The foot shall trample\non it, the feet of the afflicted, the steps of the weak. 7. The way\nfor the righteous is straight; Thou most upright wilt level the path\nof the righteous. 8. Also in the way of Thy judgments, O Jehovah, we\nhave waited for Thee; to Thy name and Thy remembrance (was our)\nsoul's desire. 9. (With) my soul have I desired Thee in the night;\nyes (with) my spirit within me will I seek Thee early; for when Thy\njudgments (come) to the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn\nrighteousness. 10. Let the wicked be favoured, he does not learn\nrighteousness; in the land of the right, he will do wrong, and will\nnot see the exaltation of Jehovah. 11. Jehovah, Thy hand is high,\nthey will not see; (yes) they will see (and be ashamed) Thy zeal for\nThy people; yea, the fire of Thine enemies shall devour them.\n\n12. Jehovah, Thou will give us peace, for even all our works Thou\nhast wrought for us. 13. Jehovah, our God, (other) lords beside Thee\nhave ruled us; (but henceforth) Thee, Thy name, only will we\ncelebrate. 14. Dead, they shall not live: ghosts, they shall not\nrise: therefore Thou hast visited and destroyed them, and made all\nmemory to perish with respect to them. 15. Thou hast added to the\nnation, O Jehovah, Thou hast added to the nation; Thou hast glorified\nThyself; Thou hast put far off all the ends of the land. 16. Jehovah,\nin distress they visited Thee; they uttered a whisper: Thy\nchastisement was on them.\n\n17. As when a pregnant (woman) draws near to the birth, she writhes,\nshe cries out in her pangs, so have we been from Thy presence, O\nJehovah! 18. We were in travail, we were in pain, as it were we\nbrought forth wind. Deliverance we could not make the land, nor would\nthe inhabitants of the world fall. 19. Thy dead shall live, my\ncorpses shall arise: (awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust!) for\nthe dew of herbs is Thy dew, and (on) the earth (on) the dead, Thou\nwilt cause it to fall.\n\nVIII.--_The Time is not Yet._--VERS. 20, 21.\n\n20. Go, my people, enter into thy chambers, and shut thy doors after\nthee, hide thyself for a little moment, till the wrath be past.\n21. For behold, Jehovah (is) coming out of His place, to visit the\niniquity of the inhabitant of the earth upon him, and the earth shall\ndisclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.\n\nIX.--_Israel's Chastisements and Jehovah's Judgments on\nHis enemies, with the glorious results thereof._--CHAP. XXVII.\n\n1. In that day shall Jehovah visit with His sword, the hard, the\ngreat, the strong (sword), upon leviathan the flying serpent, and\nupon leviathan the coiled serpent, and shall slay the dragon which\n(is) in the sea. 2. In that day, as a vineyard of wine, afflict her.\n3. I Jehovah (am) keeping her; every moment I will water her; lest\nany hurt her, night and day will I keep her. 4. It is not because I\nam cruel or revengeful that I thus afflict My people, but because she\nis a vineyard overrun with thorns or briers, on account of which I\nmust pass through her and burn them out of her [Or, I am (no longer)\nangry with My people; O that their enemies, as thorns and briers,\nwould array themselves against Me, that I might rush upon them and\nconsume them.] 5. Or let him lay hold of My strength and make peace\nwith Me; peace let him make with Me.\n\n6. (In) coming (days) shall Jacob take root, Israel shall bud and\nblossom, and they shall fill the face of the earth with fruit.\n7. Like the smiting of the smiter did He smite him, or like the\nslaying of his slain was he slain?\n\n8. In measure, by sending her away, Thou dost contend with her. He\nremoves (her) by His hard wind in the day of the east wind.\n9. Therefore by this (affliction) shall Jacob's iniquity be purged\naway, and this is all (its) fruit to take away his sin, (as will\nappear) in his placing all the stones of the (idolatrous) altar like\nlimestones dashed in pieces (so that) groves and solar images shall\narise no more.\n\n10. For a fenced city shall be desolate, a dwelling-place broken up\nand forsaken like the wilderness. There shall the calf feed, and\nthere shall it lie and consume her branches. 11. When its boughs are\nwithered they shall be broken off, women coming and burning them;\nbecause it is not a people of understanding, therefore its Creator\nshall not pity it, and its Maker shall not have mercy on it.\n\n12. And it shall be in that day, that Jehovah shall gather in His\nfruit from the channel of the river to the stream of Egypt, and ye\nshall be gathered one to another, O ye children of Israel! 13. And it\nshall come to pass in that day, (that) a great trumpet shall be\nblown, and they shall come that were wandering in the land of\nAssyria, and those exiled in the land of Egypt, and shall bow down to\nJehovah, in the holy mountain, in Jerusalem.\n\n\nTHE DOWNFALL OF SAMARIA.--CHAP. XXVIII.\n\n1. Woe to the high crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, and the fading\nflower, his ornament of beauty, which (is) on the head of the fat\nvalley of the wine-smitten. 2. Behold the Lord has a strong and\nmighty one, like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest, like a storm\nof mighty rushing waters. He has brought it to the ground with the\nhand. 3. With the feet shall be trodden the lofty crown of the\ndrunkards of Ephraim. 4. And the fading flower of his glorious\nbeauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be like a\nfirst-ripe fig before summer, which he that sees it sees, and while\nit is yet in his hand swallows it.\n\n5. In that day shall Jehovah of hosts become a crown of beauty and a\ndiadem of glory to the remnant of His people; 6. and for a spirit of\njudgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them\nthat turn the battle to the gate.\n\n7. And (yet) these through wine have erred, and through strong drink\nhave gone astray. Priest and prophet erred through strong drink, have\nbeen swallowed up of wine, have been led astray by strong drink, have\nerred in vision, have wavered in judgment. 8. For all tables are full\nof vomit, of filth, without a (clean) place. 9. Whom will He teach\nknowledge? And whom will He make to understand doctrine? Those weaned\nfrom the milk and removed from the breasts. 10. For (it is) rule upon\nrule, rule upon rule, line upon line, line upon line, a little here,\na little there. 11. For with stammering lips and with another tongue\nwill He speak unto this people. 12. Who said to them, This is rest,\ngive rest to the weary, and this is quiet, but they would not hear.\n13. And the word of Jehovah was to them rule upon rule, rule upon\nrule; line upon line, line upon line; a little here, a little there;\nthat they might go, and fall backwards, and be broken, and be snared,\nand be taken.\n\n14. Therefore hear the word of Jehovah, ye scornful men, the rulers\nof this people which is in Jerusalem. 15. Because ye have said, We\nhave made a covenant with death, and with hell have formed a league;\nthe overflowing scourge, when it passes through, shall not come upon\nus, for we have made falsehood our refuge, and in fraud we have hid\nourselves; 16. therefore, thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold I lay\nin Zion a stone, a stone of proof, a corner-stone of value, of a firm\nfoundation; the builder will not be in haste. 17. And I will place\njudgment for a line and justice for a plummet, and hail shall sweep\naway the refuge of falsehood, and the hiding-place waters shall\noverflow. 18. And your covenant with death shall be annulled, and\nyour league with hell shall not stand, and the overflowing\nscourge--for it shall pass through, and ye shall be for it to trample\non. 19. And as soon as it passes through, it shall carry you away;\nfor every morning it shall pass through, in the day and in the night,\nand only vexation shall be the understanding of the thing heard.\n20. For the bed is too short to stretch one's self, and the covering\ntoo narrow to wrap one's self. 21. For like mount Perazim shall\nJehovah rise up, like the valley in Gibeon, shall He rage, to do His\nwork, His strange work, and to perform His task, His strange task.\n22. And now scoff not, lest your bands be strong; for even a decreed\nconsumption I have heard from the Lord Jehovah of hosts, upon the\nwhole earth.\n\n23. Give ear and hear my voice; hearken and hear my speech. 24. Does\nthe husbandman plough every day to sow? Does he open and level his\nground? 25. Does he not, when he has levelled the surface of it, cast\nabroad dill, and scatter cummin, and set wheat in rows, and barley\n(in the place) marked out, and spelt in his border? 26. So teaches\nhim aright, his God instructs him. 27. For not with sledge must dill\nbe threshed, or the cart wheel turned upon cummin; for with the stick\nmust dill be beaten, and cummin with the rod. 28. Bread-corn must be\ncrushed, for he will not be always threshing it; so he drives the\nwheel of his cart (upon it), but with his horses he does not crush\nit. 29. Even this from Jehovah of hosts comes forth; He is wonderful\nin counsel; great in wisdom.\n\n\nPROPHECY CONCERNING JERUSALEM.--CHAP. XXIX.\n\n1. Alas for Ariel, Ariel, the city David encamped! Add year to year;\nlet the feasts revolve; 2. And I will distress Ariel, and there shall\nbe sadness and sorrow, and it shall be to Me as Ariel. 3. And I will\ncamp against thee round about, and push against thee a post, and\nraise against thee ramparts. 4. And thou shalt be brought down, out\nof the ground shalt thou speak, and thy speech shall be low out of\nthe dust, and thy voice shall be like (the voice of) a spirit, out of\nthe ground, and out of the dust shall thy speech mutter.\n\n5. And shall be like fine dust the multitude of thy strangers, and\nlike passing chaff be in a moment suddenly. 6. From the presence of\nJehovah shall it be raised with thunder, and earthquake, and great\nnoise, tempest and storm, and flame of devouring fire. 7. Then shall\nbe as a dream, a vision of the night, the multitude of all the\nnations fighting against Ariel, even all that fight against her and\nher munition, and distress her. 8. And it shall be as when the hungry\ndreams, and lo he eats, and he awakes, and his soul is empty; and as\nwhen the thirsty dreams, and lo he drinks, and he awakes, and lo he\nis faint and his soul craving: so shall be the multitude of all the\nnations that fight against mount Zion.\n\n9. Waver and wonder! be merry and blind! They are drunk, but not with\nwine; they reel, but not with strong drink. 10. For Jehovah hath\npoured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and hath shut your eyes,\nthe prophets, even your heads the seers, hath He covered. 11. And the\nvision of the whole is to you like the words of the sealed writing,\nwhich they give to one knowing writing, saying, Pray read this, and\nhe says, I cannot, for it is sealed. 12. And the writing is given to\none who knows not writing, saying, Pray read this, and he says, I\nknow not writing. 13. And the Lord said, Because this people draws\nnear with its mouth, and with its lips they honour Me, and its heart\nit puts far from Me, and their fearing Me is a precept of men, (a\nthing) taught, 14. therefore, behold, I will continue to treat this\npeople strangely, very strangely, and with strangeness, and the\nwisdom of its wise ones shall be lost, and the prudence of its\nprudent ones shall hide itself. 15. Alas for those going deep from\nJehovah to hide counsel, and their works are in the dark, and they\nsay, Who sees us, and who knows us? 16. Your perversion! Is the\npotter to be reckoned as the clay, that the thing made should say of\nits maker, He made me not, and the thing formed say of its former, He\ndoes not understand!\n\n17. Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned to\na fruitful field, and the fruitful field be reckoned to the forest?\n18. And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and\nout of obscurity and darkness shall the eyes of the blind see.\n19. And the humble shall rejoice more and more in Jehovah, and the\npoor among men in the Holy One of Israel shall rejoice. 20. For the\nviolent is at an end, and the scoffer ceaseth, and all the watchers\nfor injustice are cut off: 21. making a man a sinner for a word, and\nfor him disputing in the gate they laid a snare, and turned aside the\nrighteous through deceit. 22. Therefore thus saith Jehovah to the\nhouse of Jacob, He who redeemed Abraham, Not now shall Jacob be\nashamed, and not now shall his face turn pale. 23. For when he sees\nhis children, the work of My hands, in the midst of him, they shall\nsanctify My name, yes, they shall sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and\nthe God of Israel they shall fear. 24. Then shall the erring in\nspirit know wisdom, and the rebels shall receive instruction.\n\n\nTHE SIN AND THE FOLLY OF ANCIENT ISRAEL IN SEEKING\nFOREIGN AID AGAINST THEIR ENEMIES.--CHAPS. XXX., XXXI.\n\nXXX.--1. Woe to the disobedient children, saith Jehovah, (so\ndisobedient as) to form (or execute) a plan and not from Me, and to\nweave a web, but not (of) My Spirit, for the sake of adding sin to\nsin; 2. those walking to go down to Egypt, and My mouth they have not\nconsulted, to take refuge in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in\nthe shadow of Egypt. 3. And the strength of Egypt shall be to you for\nshame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt for confusion. 4. For his\nchiefs are in Zoan, and his ambassadors arrive at Hanes. 5. All are\nashamed of a people who cannot profit them, a people not for help and\nnot for profit, but for shame, and also for disgrace. 6. The burden\nof the beasts of the south, in a land of suffering and distress,\nwhence (are) the adder and the fiery flying serpent; they are\ncarrying on the shoulders of young asses their wealth, and on the\nhump of camels their treasures, to a people who cannot profit; 7. and\nthe Egyptians are in vain and to no purpose shall they help.\nTherefore I cry concerning this, Their strength is to sit still.\n\n8. And now go, write it with them on a table, and inscribe it in a\nbook, and let it be for a future day, for ever, to eternity. 9. For a\nrebellious people is it, lying children, children who are not willing\nto learn the law of Jehovah; 10. who say to the seers, Ye shall not\nsee, and to the viewers, Ye shall not view for us right things: speak\nunto us smooth things, view deceits, 11. depart from the way, sever\nfrom the path, cause to cease from before us the Holy One of Israel.\n12. Therefore, thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because of your\nrejecting this word, and (because) ye have trusted in oppression and\nperverseness and have relied thereon, 13. therefore shall their\niniquity be to you like a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a\nhigh wall, whose breaking may come suddenly, at (any) instant.\n14. And it is broken like the breaking of a potter's vessel, broken\nunsparingly, so that there is not found among its fragments a sherd\nto take up fire from a hearth, and to dip up water from a pool.\n15. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, In\nreturning and rest shall ye be saved, in remaining quiet and in\nconfidence shall be your strength; and ye would not. 16. And ye said,\nNo, for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee; and upon\nswift will we ride; therefore shall your pursuers be swift. 17. One\nthousand shall flee from before the menace of one, from before the\nrebuke of five shall ye flee, until ye are left like a pole on the\ntop of the mountain, and like the signal on the hill. 18. And\ntherefore will Jehovah wait to have mercy upon you, and therefore\nwill He rise up to pity you, for a God of judgment is Jehovah;\nblessed are all that wait for Him. 19. For the people in Zion shall\ndwell in Jerusalem; thou shalt weep no more; He will be very gracious\nunto thee at the voice of thy cry; as He hears it He will answer\nthee. 20. And the Lord will give you bread of affliction and water of\noppression, and no more shall thy teachers hide themselves, and thine\neyes shall see thy teachers. 21. And thine ears shall hear a voice\nfrom behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye\nturn to the right and when ye turn to the left. 22. And ye shall\ndefile the covering of thy idols of silver and the case of thy image\nof gold; thou shalt scatter them as an abominable thing. Away! shalt\nthou say to it. 23. And He shall give the rain of thy seed, with\nwhich thou shalt sow the ground, and bread, the produce of the\nground, and it shall be fat and rich; thy cattle shall feed that day\nin an enlarged pasture. 24. And the oxen and the asses working the\nground shall eat salted provender which has been winnowed with the\nsieve and fan. 25. And there shall be, on every high mountain, and on\nevery elevated hill, channels, streams of waters, in the day of great\nslaughter, when towers fall. 26. And the light of the moon shall be\nas the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold,\nas the light of seven days, in the day of Jehovah's binding up the\nbreach of His people, and the stroke of His wound He will heal.\n\n27. Behold, the name of Jehovah cometh from afar, burning His anger,\nand heavy the ascent (of smoke); His lips are full of wrath, and His\ntongue as a devouring fire. 28. And His breath, like an overflowing\nstream, shall divide as far as the neck, to sift the nations in the\nsieve of falsehood, and a misleading bridle on the jaws of the\npeople. 29. Your song shall be like the night of the consecration of\na feast, and your joy shall be like (that of) one marching with the\npipe to go into the mountain of Jehovah, to the Rock of Israel.\n30. And Jehovah shall cause to be heard the majesty of His voice, and\nthe descent of His arm shall He cause to be seen, with indignation of\nanger and a flame of devouring fire, scattering, and rain, and\nhailstones. 31. For at the voice of Jehovah shall Assyria be broken,\nwith the rod shall He smite. 32. And every passage of the rod of\ndoom, which Jehovah shall lay upon him, shall be with tabrets and\nharps, and with fights of shaking it is fought therein. 33. Not\narranged since yesterday is Tophet: even for the king it is prepared;\nHe has deepened, He has widened (it); its pile fire and wood in\nplenty; the breath of Jehovah, like a stream of brimstone, kindles it.\n\nXXXI.--1. Woe to those going down to Egypt for help, and on horses\nthey rely and trust in cavalry, because it is numerous, and on\nhorsemen, because they are very strong, and they look not to the Holy\nOne of Israel, and Jehovah they seek not. 2. And (yet) He too is\nwise, and brings evil, and His words He removes not, and He rises up\nagainst the house of evil-doers, and against the help of the workers\nof iniquity. 3. And Egypt (is) man, and their horses flesh and not\nspirit: and Jehovah shall stretch out His hand, and the helper shall\nstumble, and the helped fall, and together all of them shall cease.\n\n4. For thus saith Jehovah unto me, As a lion growls, and a young lion\nover his prey, against whom a multitude of shepherds is called forth,\nat their voice he is not frightened, and at their noise he is not\nhumbled, so will Jehovah of hosts come down, to fight upon mount Zion\nand upon her hill. 5. As birds flying (over or around their nests),\nso will Jehovah cover over Jerusalem, cover and rescue, pass over and\nsave.\n\n6. Return unto Him from whom the children of Israel have deeply\nrevolted. 7. For in that day they shall reject, a man his idols of\nsilver and his idols of gold, which your sinful hands have made for\nyou [or, which your own hands have made for you as sin]. 8. And\nAssyria shall fall by no man's sword, and no mortal's work shall\ndevour him, and he shall flee from before the sword, and his young\nmen shall become tributary. 9. And his rock from fear shall pass\naway, and his chiefs shall be afraid of a standard, saith Jehovah, to\nwhom there is a fire in Zion and a furnace in Jerusalem.\n\n\nCONTINUATION OF PROMISES.--CHAP. XXXII. 1-8.\n\n1. Behold, for righteousness shall reign a king, and rulers for\njustice shall rule. 2. And a man shall be as a hiding-place from the\nwind, and a covert from the rain (or storm), as channels of water in\na dry place (or in drought), as the shadow of a heavy rock in a weary\nland.\n\n3. And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of\nthem that hear shall hearken. 4. And the heart (or, mind) of the rash\n(heedless or reckless) shall understand to know (or, understand\nknowledge), and the tongue of stammerers shall hasten to speak clear\nthings.\n\n5. The fool will no longer be called noble, and the churl will no\nlonger be spoken of (or, to) as liberal. 6. The fool (is one who)\nwill speak folly, and his heart will do iniquity, to do wickedness\nand to speak error unto (or, against) Jehovah, to starve (or, leave\nempty) the soul of the hungry, and the drink of the thirsty he will\nsuffer to fail. 7. And as for the churl, his arms (or, instruments)\nare evil. He deviseth plots to destroy the oppressed (or afflicted)\nwith words of falsehood, even in the poor (man's) speaking right.\n8. The noble (or, generous) man devises noble (or, generous) things,\nand in noble (or, generous) things he perseveres.\n\n\nTHREATENINGS ADDRESSED TO THE WOMEN OF JUDAH.--CHAP. XXXII. 9-20.\n\n9. Careless women, arise, hear my voice; confiding daughters, give\near unto my speech.\n\n10. In a year and more ye shall tremble, ye confiding ones, for the\nvintage fails, the gathering shall not come. 11. Tremble, ye careless\n(women); quake, ye confiding (ones); strip you and make you bare, and\ngird (sackcloth) on your loins. 12. Mourning for the breasts (or,\nbeating on the breasts), for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful\nvine. 13. Upon the land of my people, thorn (and) thistle shall come\nup, for (they shall even come up) upon all (thy) houses of pleasure,\nO joyous city (or, upon all houses of pleasure _in_ the joyous city).\n14. For the palace is forsaken, the crowd of the city (or, the\ncrowded city) left, hill and watch-tower (are) for caves (or, dens)\nfor ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks.\n\n15. Until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high, and the\nwilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is\nreckoned to the forest. 16. And justice shall abide in the\nwilderness, and righteousness in the fruitful field shall dwell.\n17. And the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of\nrighteousness rest and assurance (or, security) for ever. 18. And my\npeople shall abide in a house of peace, in sure dwellings, and in\nquiet resting-places.\n\n19. And it shall hail in the downfall of the forest, and the city\nshall be low in a low place (or, humbled with humiliation).\n20. Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth the\nfoot of the ox and the ass.\n\n\nTHREATENINGS OF RETRIBUTION TO THE\nENEMIES OF GOD'S PEOPLE.--CHAP. XXXIII.\n\n1. Woe to thee spoiling and thou wast not spoiled, deceiving and they\ndid not spoil thee! When thou shalt cease to spoil thou shalt be\nspoiled, and when thou art done deceiving they shall deceive thee.\n2. Jehovah, favour us, for on Thee we wait; be their arm in the\nmornings, also our salvation in times of trouble. 3. At the noise of\ntumult (or, tumultuous noise) the people flee; at Thy rising the\nnations are scattered. 4. And your spoil shall be gathered (like) the\ngathering of the devourer; like the running of locusts running on it.\n5. Exalted is Jehovah because dwelling on high; He fills (or, has\nfilled) Zion with judgment and righteousness. 6. And He shall be the\nsecurity of thy times, strength of salvations, wisdom and knowledge,\nthe fear of Jehovah, that is his treasure.\n\n7. Behold, their valiant ones cry without; the ambassadors of peace\nweep bitterly. 8. The highways are wasted, the wayfarer ceaseth; he\nbreaks the covenant, despises cities, values no man. 9. The land\nmourneth, languisheth; Lebanon is ashamed, it pines away; Sharon is\nlike a wilderness, and Bashan and Carmel cast (their leaves). 10. Now\nwill I arise, saith Jehovah, now will I be lifted up, now will I\nexalt Myself. 11. Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth\nstubble; your breath as stubble shall devour you. 12. And nations\nshall be like lime-kilns (or, like burnings of lime); thorns cut up,\nin the fire they shall burn. 13. Hear, ye far, what I have done, and\nknow, ye near, my might.\n\n14. Afraid in Zion are the sinners; trembling has seized the impious.\nWho of us can dwell with the devouring fire, who of us can dwell with\neverlasting burnings? 15. Walking righteousnesses, and speaking right\nthings, rejecting with contempt the gain of oppressions (or,\nextortions), shaking his hands from taking hold of the bribe,\nstopping his ears from hearing bloods, shutting his eyes from looking\nat evil, 16. he high places shall inhabit; fastnesses of rocks (shall\nbe) his lofty place; his bread is given, his water sure. 17. A king\nin his beauty shall thine eyes behold, they behold a land of\ndistances. 18. Thy heart shall meditate terror. Where is he that\ncounted? Where is he that weighted? Where is he that counted the\ntowers? 19. The fierce (or, determined) people thou shalt not see; a\npeople deep of lip from hearing, of barbarous tongue without meaning.\n\n20. Behold Zion, the city of our festivals! Thine eyes shall see\nJerusalem a quiet home, a tent that shall not be removed. Its stakes\nshall not be pulled up for ever, and all its cords shall not be\nbroken. 21. But there shall Jehovah be mighty for us; a place of\nrivers, streams broad (on) both sides; there shall not go in it an\noared vessel, and a gallant ship shall not pass through it. 22. For\nJehovah our Judge, Jehovah our Lawgiver, Jehovah our King, He will\nsave us.\n\n23. Thy ropes are cast loose; they do not hold upright their mast;\nthey do not spread the sail; then is shared plunder of booty in\nplenty; the lame spoil the spoil.\n\n24. And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick. The people dwelling\nin it (is) forgiven (its) iniquity.\n\n\nTHREATENINGS AGAINST THE ENEMIES OF THE CHURCH, WITH\nPROMISES TO THE CHURCH ITSELF.--CHAPS. XXXIV., XXXV.\n\n1. Come near, ye nations, to hear; and ye peoples hearken. Let the\nearth hear, and its fulness, the world and all its issues. 2. For\nJehovah is angry against all the nations, and has wrath against all\ntheir host; He has doomed them, He has given them to the slaughter.\n3. And their slain shall be cast out, and their carcasses, their\nstench shall go up; and mountains shall be melted with their blood.\n4. And the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll, and all their\nhost shall fade like the fading of a leaf from off a vine, and like a\nfading (leaf) or a withered (fig) from a fig-tree.\n\n5. For My sword is steeped in heaven; behold, upon Edom shall it come\ndown, and upon the people of My curse. 6. Jehovah has a sword; it is\nfull of blood, it is smeared with fat, with the blood of lambs and\ngoats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams; for Jehovah has a\nsacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.\n7. And unicorns shall come down with them, and bullocks with blood,\nand their dust with fat shall be fattened. 8. For there is a day of\nvengeance to Jehovah, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.\n9. And her streams shall be turned to pitch, and her dust to\nbrimstone, and her land shall become burning pitch. 10. Day and night\nit shall not be quenched; for ever shall its smoke go up; from\ngeneration to generation shall it lie waste; for ever and ever there\nshall be no one passing through it. 11. Then shall possess it the\npelican and the porcupine, the crane and the crow shall dwell in it.\nAnd One shall stretch upon it the line of confusion and the stones\nof emptiness. 12. Her caves--and there is no one there they will\n(still) call a kingdom, and all her chiefs will cease to be. 13. And\nin her palaces shall come up thorns, nettles, and brambles in her\nfortresses; and she shall be a home of wolves, a grass-plot for\nostriches. 14. And wild creatures shall (there) meet with howling\ncreatures, and the shaggy monster shall call to his fellow; only\nthere reposes the night-monster, and finds for herself a resting\nplace. 15. [As to the particular species of animals referred to in\nthis whole passage, there is no need, as Calvin well observes, of\ntroubling ourselves much about them. The general sense evidently is,\nthat a human population should be succeeded by wild and lonely\nanimals, who should not only live but breed there, implying total and\ncontinued desolation.] 16. Seek ye out of the book of Jehovah and\nread; by number will Jehovah call them. For My mouth, it has\ncommanded; and His Spirit it has gathered them. 17. He too has cast\nthe lot for them and His hand has divided it to them by line. For\never shall they hold it as a heritage, to all generations they shall\ndwell therein.\n\nXXXV.--1. Desert and waste shall rejoice (for) them; and the\nwilderness shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. 2. (It shall)\nblossom, it shall blossom and rejoice; yea (with) joy and shouting.\nThe glory of Lebanon is given unto it, the beauty of Carmel and of\nSharon. They shall see the glory of Jehovah, the beauty of our God.\n\n3. Strengthen hands (now) sinking, and knees (now) tottering make\nfirm. 4. Say ye to the hasty of heart, Be firm, fear not; behold your\nGod; He (Himself) is coming, and will save you.\n\n5. Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the\ndeaf shall be unstopped. 6. Then shall the lame bound as an hart, and\nthe tongue of the dumb shall shout (for joy), because waters have\nburst forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.\n\n7. And the mirage shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs\nof water, (even) in the haunt of wolves, their lair, a court for\nreeds and rushes. 8. And there shall be there a highway and a way; it\nshall be called the Way of Holiness; and there shall not pass through\nit an unclean (thing or person); it shall be for them; the\ntravellers, yea, those who are ignorant (or foolish) shall not be\nable to go astray. 9. There shall not be there a lion, and a ravenous\nbeast shall not ascend it, nor be found there; and (there) shall walk\nredeemed (ones).\n\n10. And the ransomed of Jehovah shall return and come to Zion with\nshouting, and everlasting joy upon their head; gladness and joy shall\novertake (them), and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.\n\n\nHISTORICAL APPENDIX TO THE FIRST PART OF\nISAIAH'S PROPHECIES.--CHAPS. XXXVI.-XXXIX.\n\nXXXVI.--1. And it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king\nHezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fenced\ncities of Judah, and took them. 2. And the king of Assyria sent\nRabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem, to king Hezekiah, with a strong\nforce, and he stood by the aqueduct of the upper pool, in the highway\nof the fuller's field. 3. Then there came forth Eliakim, Hilkiah's\nson, who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph's\nson, the recorder.\n\n4. And Rabshakeh said to them: say now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the\ngreat king, the king of Assyria, What is this confidence which thou\nconfidest in? 5. I say, mere word of lips (is your) counsel and\nstrength for the war; now on whom hast thou confided, that thou hast\nrebelled against me? 6. Behold, thou hast trusted in the support of\nthis broken reed, in Egypt, which, (if) a man lean upon it, will go\ninto his hand and pierce it; so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all those\ntrusting in him. 7. And if thou say to me, We trust in Jehovah our\nGod; is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath\ntaken away, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, Before this altar shall\nye worship? 8. And now, engage, I pray thee, with my lord the king of\nAssyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on\nthy part to set riders upon them. 9. And how wilt thou turn away the\nface of one governor of the least of my master's servants? So hast\nthou reposed thyself on Egypt, with respect to chariots and horses.\n10. And now (is it) without Jehovah I have come up against this land\nto destroy it? Jehovah said to me, Go up against this land and\ndestroy it.\n\n11. Then said Eliakim, and Shebna, and Joah, unto Rabshakeh, Pray\nspeak unto thy servants in Aramean, for we understand (it), and speak\nnot unto us in Jewish, in the ears of the people who (are) on the\nwall.\n\n12. And Rabshakeh said: Is it to thy master and to thee that my\nmaster sent me to speak these words? Is it not to the men sitting on\nthe wall to eat their own dung and to drink their own water with you?\n\n13. Then Rabshakeh stood and called with a loud voice in Jewish, and\nsaid, Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. 14. Thus\nsaith the king: Let not Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able\nto deliver you. 15. And let not Hezekiah make you trust in Jehovah,\nsaying, Jehovah will certainly save us, this city shall not be given\nup into the hand of the king of Assyria, 16. Hearken not to Hezekiah,\nfor thus saith the king of Assyria, Make with me a blessing, and come\nout unto me, and eat ye (every) man his own vine and (every) man his\nown fig-tree, and drink ye (every) man the waters of his own cistern;\n17. until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a\nland of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18. Let not\nHezekiah seduce you, saying Jehovah will deliver us. Have the gods of\nthe nations delivered every one his land out of the hand of the king\nof Assyria? 19. Where (are) the gods of Hamath and Arpad? where the\ngods of Sepharvaim? and (when or where was it) that they delivered\nSamaria out of my hand? 20. Who (are they) among all the gods of\nthese lands that have delivered their land out of my hand, that\nJehovah should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?\n\n21. And they held their peace, and did not answer him a word, for\nsuch was the commandment of the king, Ye shall not answer him.\n\n22. Then came Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, who (was) over the house, and\nShebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph's son, the recorder, unto\nHezekiah, with their clothes rent, and told him the words of\nRabshakeh.\n\nXXXVII.--1. And it came to pass when king Hezekiah heard, that he\nrent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into\nthe house of Jehovah. 2. And he sent Eliakim who was over the\nhousehold, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the people\ncovered with sackcloth, unto Isaiah the son of Amoz, the prophet.\n3. And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, A day of anguish and\nrebuke and contempt (is) this day, for the children are come to the\nplaces of birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. 4. If\nperadventure Jehovah thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom\nthe king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God,\nand will rebuke the words which Jehovah thy God hath heard, then\nshalt thou lift up a prayer for the remnant (that is still) found\n(here).\n\n5. And the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6. And Isaiah\nsaid to them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith Jehovah,\nBe not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, (with) which the\nservants of the king of Assyria hath blasphemed me. 7. Behold, I am\nputting a spirit in him, and he shall hear a noise, and shall return\nto his own land, and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own\nland.\n\n8. And Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting\nagainst Libnah, for he heard that he had decamped from Lachish.\n9. And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He is come\nforth to make war with thee; and he heard (it), and sent messengers\nto Hezekiah, saying, 10. Thus shall ye say to Hezekiah, king of\nJudah, Let not thy God deceive thee, in whom thou trustest, saying,\nJerusalem shall not be given unto the hand of the king of Assyria.\n11. Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to\nall the lands, by utterly destroying them, and thou shalt be\ndelivered! 12. Did the gods of the nations deliver them, which my\nfathers destroyed, (to wit) Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the\nchildren of Eden which is in Telassar? 13. Where is the king of\nHamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city Sepharvaim,\nHenah, and Ivrah?\n\n14. And Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers, and\nread it, and went up (to) the house of Jehovah, and Hezekiah spread\nit before Jehovah. 15. And Hezekiah prayed to Jehovah, saying,\n16. Jehovah of hosts, God of Israel, dwelling between the cherubim,\nThou art He, the God, Thou alone, to all the kingdoms of the earth;\nThou hast made the heavens and the earth. 17. Bow down Thine ear, O\nJehovah, and hear; open Thine eyes, O Jehovah, and see; and hear all\nthe words of Sennacherib, which he hath sent to reproach the living\nGod. 18. It is true, O Jehovah, the kings of Assyria have wasted all\nthe lands and their land, 19. and given their gods into the fire--for\nthey (were) no gods, but wood and stone, the work of men's hands--and\ndestroyed them. 20. And now, O Jehovah, our God, save us from his\nhand, and all the kingdoms of the earth shall know that Thou alone\nart Jehovah.\n\n21. And Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith\nJehovah, the God of Israel, (as to) what thou has prayed to the (with\nrespect to) Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22. this is the word which\nJehovah hath spoken against him, The virgin daughter of Zion hath\ndespised thee, she hath laughed thee to scorn, the daughter of\nJerusalem hath shaken her head after thee. 23. Who hast thou\nreproached and reviled, and against whom hast thou raised (thy)\nvoice, and lifted thine eyes (on) high towards the Holy One of\nIsrael? 24. By the hand of thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord\nand said, With the multitude of my chariots I have ascended the\nheight of mountains, the sides of Lebanon, and I will cut down the\nloftiness of its cedars and the choice of its fire, and I will reach\nits extreme height, its garden-forest. 25. I have digged and drunk\nwater, and I will dry up with the sole of my feet all the streams of\nEgypt. 26. Hast thou not heard? From afar I have done it, from the\ndays of old, and formed it, now I have caused it to come, and it\nshall be, to lay waste, (as) desolate heaps, fortified cities.\n27. And their inhabitants are short of hand; they are broken and\nconfounded; they are grass of the field and green herbage, grass of\nthe house-tops and a field before the stalk. 28. And thy sitting\ndown, and thy going out, and thy coming in, I have known, and thy\nraging against Me. 29. Because of thy raging against Me, and\n(because) thy arrogance has come up into My ears, I will put My hook\nin thy nose, and My bridle in thy lips, and I will cause thee to\nreturn by the way by which thou camest.\n\n30. And this to thee, the sign: eat, the (present) year, that which\ngroweth of itself, and the second year that which springeth of the\nsame, and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards,\nand eat the fruit thereof. 31. And the escaped of the house of Jacob,\nthat is left, shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward;\n32. for out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and an escape from\nMount Zion; the zeal of Jehovah of hosts shall do this.\n\n33. Therefore thus saith Jehovah (with respect) to the king of\nAssyria, He shall not come to this city, and shall not shoot an arrow\nthere, and shall not come before it with a shield, and shall not cast\nup a mound against it. 34. By the way that he came shall he return,\nand to this city shall he not come, saith Jehovah. 35. And I will\ncover over this city, (so as) to save it, for My sake, and for the\nsake of David My servant.\n\n36. And the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in the camp of\nAssyria an hundred and eighty and five thousand, and they rose up\nearly in the morning and behold all of them were dead corpses.\n37. Then decamped, and departed, and returned, Sennacherib king of\nAssyria, and dwelt in Nineveh. 38. And he was worshipping (in) the\nhouse of Nisroch his god, and Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote\nhim with the sword, and they escaped into the land of Ararat, and\nEsarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.\n\nXXXVIII.--1. In those days Hezekiah was sick unto death, and Isaiah\nthe son of Amoz, the prophet, came unto him, and said unto him, Thus\nsaith Jehovah, Order thy house, for thou (art) dying, and art not to\nlive. 2. And Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and prayed to\nJehovah. 3. And he said, Ah, Jehovah, remember, I beseech Thee, how I\nhave walked before Thee in truth and with a whole heart, and that\nwhich is good in Thine eyes have I done; and Hezekiah wept a great\nweeping.\n\n4. And the word of Jehovah came to Isaiah, saying, 5. Go and say to\nHezekiah, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of David thy father, I have\nheard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears; behold, I am adding unto thy\ndays fifteen years. 6. And out of the hand of the king of Assyria I\nwill save thee and this city, and I will cover over this city.\n\n7. And this shall be to thee the sign from Jehovah, that Jehovah will\nperform this word which He hath spoken: 8. Behold, I am causing the\nshadow to go back, the degree which it has gone down on the degrees\nof Ahaz with the sun, ten degrees backward; and the sun returned ten\ndegrees on the degrees which it had gone down.\n\n9. A writing of Hezekiah, king of Judah, when he was sick, and\nrecovered from his sickness:--\n\n10. I said in the pause of my days, I shall go into the gate of the\ngrave, I am deprived of the residue of my years. 11. I said I shall\nnot see Jah, Jah in the land of the living; I shall not behold man\nagain with the inhabitants of the world. 12. My dwelling is plucked\nup and uncovered by me like a shepherd's tent. I have rolled up, like\nthe weaver, my life; from the thrum He will cut me off; from day to\nnight Thou wilt finish me.\n\n13. I set (Him before me) till the morning as a lion (saying), So\nwill He break all my bones; from day to night Thou wilt make an end\nof me. 14. Like a swallow (or) like a twittering sparrow, so I chirp;\nI moan like a dove; my eyes are weak (with looking) upward; O\nJehovah; I am oppressed, undertake for me.\n\n15. What shall I say? He hath both spoken to me, and Himself hath\ndone (it); I shall go softly all my days in the bitterness of my\nsoul. 16. Lord, upon them they live, and as to everything in them is\nthe life of my spirit, and Thou wilt recover me and make me to live.\n17. Behold to peace (is turned) my bitter bitterness, and Thou hast\nloosed my soul from the pit of destruction, because Thou hast cast\nbehind Thy back all my sins.\n\n18. For the grave shall not confess Thee (nor) death praise Thee;\nthey that go down to the pit shall not hope for Thy truth. 19. The\nliving, the living, he shall thank Thee, as I do to-day; fathers to\nsons shall make known with respect to Thy truth. 20. Jehovah\n(listened) to save me! And my songs we will play, all the days of our\nlife, at the house of Jehovah.\n\n21. And Isaiah said, Let him take a lump of figs, and lay them\nsoftened on the boil, and he shall live. 22. And Hezekiah said, What\nsign (is there) that I shall go up (to) the house of Jehovah?\n\nXXXIX.--1. In that time, Merodach Baladan, son of Baladan, king of\nBabylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, and he heard that he\nwas sick and was recovered.\n\n2. And Hezekiah was glad of them, and showed them his house of\nrarities, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the ointment,\nand all his house of arms, and all that was found in his treasures;\nthere was not a thing which Hezekiah did not show them, in his house,\nand in all his dominion.\n\n3. Then came Isaiah the prophet to the king Hezekiah, and said to\nhim, What said these men, and whence came they unto thee? And\nHezekiah said, From a far country came they unto me, from Babylon.\n4. And he said, What have they seen in thy house? And Hezekiah said,\nAll that is in my house have they seen; there is not a thing that I\nhave not showed them in my treasures.\n\n5. And Isaiah said, Hear the word of Jehovah of hosts, 6. Behold days\nare coming when all that (is) in thy house, and that which thy\nfathers have hoarded until this day, shall be carried to Babylon;\nthere shall not be left a thing, saith Jehovah. 7. And of thy sons\nthat shall issue from thee, which thou shalt begat, shall they take\naway, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.\n\n8. And Hezekiah said, Good is the word of Jehovah which thou hast\nspoken. And he said, for there shall be peace and truth in my days.\n\nXL.--[A glorious change awaits the Church, consisting in a new and\ngracious manifestation of Jehovah's presence, for which His people\nare exhorted to prepare, vers. 1-5. Though one generation perish\nafter another, this promise shall eventually be fulfilled, because it\nrests not upon human but Divine authority, vers. 6-8. Zion may even\nnow see Him approaching as the conqueror of His enemies, and at the\nsame time as the shepherd of His people, vers. 9-11. The fulfilment\nof these pledges is insured by His infinite wisdom, His Almighty\npower, and His independence both of individuals and nations, vers.\n12-17. How much more is He superior to material images, by which men\nrepresent Him or supply His place, vers. 18-25. The same power which\nsupports the heavens is pledged for the support of Israel, vers.\n26-31.]\n\n1. Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God. 2. Speak to the\nheart of Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is accomplished,\nthat her iniquity is pardoned, that she hath received from the hand\nof Jehovah double for all her sins. 3. A voice crying--in the\nwilderness--Clear the way of Jehovah--make straight in the desert a\nhighway for our God. 4. Every valley shall be raised, and every\nmountain and hill brought low, and the uneven shall become level, and\nthe ridges a plain. 5. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,\nand all flesh shall see (it) together, for the mouth of Jehovah\nspeaks.\n\n6. A voice saying, Cry! And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is\ngrass, and all its favour like the flower of the field! 7. Dried is\nthe grass, faded is the flower; for the breath of Jehovah has blown\nupon it. Surely the people is grass. 8. Dried is the grass, faded the\nflower, and the word of our God shall stand for ever.\n\n9. Upon a high mountain, get thee up, bringer of good news, O Zion!\nRaise with strength thy voice, bringer of good news, Jerusalem! Raise\n(it), fear not; say to the towns of Judah, Lo, your God! 10. Lo, the\nLord Jehovah is coming in (the person of) a strong one, and His arm\n(is) ruling for Him. Lo, His hire is with Him, and His wages before\nHim. 11. Like a shepherd His flock will He feed, with His arm will He\ngather the lambs, and in His bosom carry (them): the nursing (ewes)\nHe will (gently) lead.\n\n12. Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and meted\nout heaven with the span, and comprehended in a measure the dust of\nthe earth, and weighed in a balance the mountains, and the hills in\nscales? 13. Who hath measured the Spirit of Jehovah, and (who, as)\nthe man of His counsel, will teach Him? 14. Whom did He consult, and\nhe made Him understand, and taught Him in the path of judgment, and\ntaught Him knowledge, and the way of understanding (who) will make\nHim know? 15. Lo, nations are as a drop from a bucket, and as dust on\nscales are reckoned; lo, islands as an atom He will take up. 16. And\nLebanon is not enough for burning, and its beasts are not enough for\na sacrifice. 17. All the nations (are) as nothing before Him, less\nthan nothing and vanity are counted to Him.\n\n18. And (now) to whom will ye liken God, and what likeness will ye\ncompare to Him? 19. The image a carver has wrought, and a gilder with\ngold shall overlay it, and chains of silver (he is) casting. 20. (As\nfor) the man impoverished (by) offering, a tree (that) will not rot\nhe chooses, a wise carver he seeks for it, to set up an image (that)\nshall not be moved. 21. Will you not know? Will you not hear? has it\nnot been told you from the first? have you not understood (from) the\nfoundations of the earth? 22. The (One) sitting over the circle of\nthe earth, and its inhabitants (are) as locusts; the One spreading\nlike an awning the heavens, and He stretches them out like a tent to\ndwell in; 23. the One bringing princes to nothing, the judges of the\nearth like emptiness He has made. 24. Not even planted were they, not\neven sown, not even rooted in the ground their stock, and He just\nbreathed upon them, and they withered, and a whirlwind like the chaff\nshall take them up. 25. And now to (whom) will ye liken Me, and to\n(whom) shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.\n\n26. Lift up on high your eyes and see--who hath created these?--and\nwho is the (One) bringing out by number their host?--to all of them\nby name will He call--from abundance of might and because strong in\npower--not one faileth. 27. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and why (thus)\nspeak, O Israel? Hidden is my way from Jehovah, and from my God my\ncause will pass away. 28. Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard?\nThe God of eternity, Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth,\nwill not faint, and will not tire; there is no search (with respect)\nto His understanding. 29. Giving to the weary strength, and to the\npowerless might will He increase. 30. And (yet) weary shall youths be\nand faint, and chosen (youths) shall be weakened, be weakened.\n31. And (on the other hand) those waiting for Jehovah shall gain new\nstrength; they shall raise the pinion like the eagles, they shall run\nand not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.\n\nXLI.--[Until the ends of Israel's national existence are\naccomplished, that existence must continue in spite of hostile\nnations and their gods, who shall all perish sooner than the chosen\npeople, vers. 1-16. However, feeble Israel may be in herself, Jehovah\nwill protect him, and raise up the necessary instruments for his\ndeliverance and triumph.]\n\n1. Be silent to Me, O islands, and the nations shall gain new\nstrength; they shall approach, then shall they speak, together to the\njudgment-seat will we draw near. 2. Who hath raised up from the east?\nRighteousness shall call Him to its foot; it shall give nations\nbefore Him, and cause Him to tread upon kings; it shall give (them)\nas dust to His sword, and as driven stubble to His bow. 3. He shall\npursue them; He shall pass (in) safety; a path with His feet He shall\nnot go. 4. Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from\nthe beginning? I Jehovah, the First and with the Last, I (am) He.\n\n5. The isles have seen it and are afraid, the ends of the earth\ntremble: they have approached and come. 6. A man his neighbour they\nwill help, and to his brother (one) will say, Be strong! 7. And the\ncarver has strengthened the gilder, the smoother with the hammer, the\nsmiter on the anvil; he says of the solder, It is good; and he\nsharpeneth it with nails; it shall not be moved. 8. And thou Israel\nMy servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham My\nfriend; 9. thou whom I have grasped from the ends of the earth, and\nfrom its sides have I called thee, My servant (art) thou; I have\nchosen thee, and not rejected thee.\n\n10. Fear thou not, for I (am) with thee; look not around, for I (am)\nthy God; I have strengthened thee, yea, I have helped thee, yea, I\nhave upheld thee with the right hand of My righteousness. 11. Lo,\nashamed and confounded shall be all those inflamed against thee; they\nshall be as though they were not, and destroyed shall be they that\nstrive with thee. 12. Thou shalt seek them and not find them, the men\nof quarrel; they shall be as nothing and as nought, thy men of war.\n13. For I, Jehovah thy God, (am) holding fast thy right hand; the\n(one) saying to thee, Fear not, I have helped thee. 14. Fear not,\nthou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I have helped thee, saith\nJehovah, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. 15. Behold I have\nplaced thee for a threshing-sledge, sharp, new, possessed of teeth;\nthou shalt thresh mountains and beat (them) small, and hills like the\nchaff shalt thou make. 16. Thou shalt fan them, and a wind shall take\nthem up, and a whirlwind shall scatter them, and thou shalt joy in\nJehovah, and in the Holy One of Israel shalt thou boast.\n\n17. The suffering and the poor (are) seeking water, and it is not;\ntheir tongue with thirst is parched. I Jehovah will answer them.\n18. I will open upon bare hills streams, and in the midst of valleys\nfountains; I will convert the desert into a pool of water, and the\ndry land into springs of water. 19. I will give in the wilderness\ncedar, acacia, and myrtle, and oil tree; I will place in the desert\nfir, pine, and box together. 20. That they may see, and know, and\nconsider, and understand together, that the hand of Jehovah hath done\nthis, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.\n\n21. Present your cause, saith Jehovah; bring forward your strong\nreasons, saith the King of Jacob. 22. Let them bring forward and show\nforth to us the (things) which are to happen; the former things, when\nthey were, show forth, and we will set our heart, and know the issue;\nor (else) the coming events make us to hear. 23. Show forth the\n(things) to come hereafter, and we will know that ye are gods; yes,\nye shall do good or evil, and we will look about and see together.\n24. Lo, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought; an abomination is\nhe that chooseth you. 25. I have raised up (one) from the north, and\nhe has come; from the rising of the sun shall he call upon My name;\nand he shall come upon princes as upon mortar, and as a potter\ntreadeth clay. 26. Who hath declared from the beginning? (Say) and we\nwill know; and beforehand, and we will say, True! Nay, there was none\nthat told; nay, there was none that uttered; nay, there was none that\nheard your words. 27. (I am the) first (to say) to Zion, Behold,\nbehold them! and (to give) to Jerusalem a bringer of good news.\n28. And I will look, but there is no man; and of these, but there is\nno one advising; and I will ask them, and (perhaps) they will return\nan answer. 29. Lo, they (are) all nought, nothing their words, wind\nand emptiness their molten images.\n\nXLII.--[This chapter exhibits to our view the servant of Jehovah,\n_i.e.,_ the Messiah and His people, as a complex person, and as the\nmessenger or representative of God among the nations. His mode of\noperation is described, vers. 1-4. The effects of His influence are\nrepresented, as not natural but spiritual, vers. 5-9. The power of\nGod is pledged for His success, notwithstanding all appearances of\ninaction or indifference on His part, vers 10-17. In the latter\nportion of the chapter, the Church or Body of Christ, as\ndistinguished from its Head, and representing Him until He came, is\ncharged with unfaithfulness to its great trust, and this\nunfaithfulness declared to be the cause of what it suffered, vers.\n18-25.]\n\n1. Behold My servant! I will hold Him fast; My chosen One, (in whom)\nMy soul delights; I have put My Spirit upon Him; judgment to the\nnations shall He cause to go forth. 2. He shall not cry, and He shall\nnot raise (His voice), and He shall not let His voice be heard in the\nstreet. 3. A broken reed shall He not break, and a dim wick will He\nnot quench; by the truth He will bring forth judgment. 4. He shall\nnot be dim, and He shall not be crushed, until He shall set judgment\nin the earth, and for His law the isles shall wait.\n\n5. Thus saith the mighty (God), Jehovah, creating the heavens and\nstretching them out, spreading the earth and its issues, giving\nbreath to the people on it, and spirit to those walking in it. 6. I,\nJehovah, have called Thee in righteousness, and will lay hold of Thy\nhand, and will keep Thee, and will give Thee for a covenant of the\npeople, for a light of the Gentiles. 7. to open blind eyes, to bring\nout from prison the bondman, from the house of confinement the\ndwellers in darkness. 8. I am Jehovah, that is My name, and My glory\nto another will I not give, and My praise to graven images. 9. The\nformer things--lo, they have come, and new things I (am) telling;\nbefore they spring forth I will let you hear (them).\n\n10. Sing to Jehovah a new song, His praise from the end of the earth,\n(ye) going down to the sea and its fulness, isles and their\ninhabitants! 11. The desert and its towns shall raise (the voice),\nthe enclosures (in which) Kedar dwells; the dwellers in the rock\nshall shout, from the top of the mountains shall they cry aloud.\n12. They shall give to Jehovah honour, and His praise in the islands\nthey shall show forth. 13. Jehovah, like a strong one, will go forth;\nlike a warrior He will cry; against His foes will show Himself\nstrong. 14. I have long been still, (saying) I will hold my peace, I\nwill restrain myself. (But now), like the travailing (woman) I will\nshriek, I will pant and gasp at once. 15. I will lay waste mountains\nand hills, and all their herbage will I dry up; I will turn streams\nto islands, and pools will I dry up. 16. And I will make the blind\nwalk in a way they know not, in paths they know not I will make them\ntread; I will turn darkness before them to light, and obliquities to\nstraightness. These are the words; I have made them, and have not\nleft them. 17. They shall be turned back, they shall be utterly\nashamed, those trusting in the graven image, those saying to the\nmolten images, Ye are our gods!\n\n18. Ye deaf, hear! and, ye blind, look to see! 19. Who (is) blind but\nMy servant, and deaf like My messenger (whom) I will send? Who (is)\nblind like the devoted are, and blind like the servant of Jehovah?\n20. Thou hast seen many things and wilt not observe. (Sent) to open\nears! and he will not hear! 21. Jehovah (is) willing for His\nrighteousness' sake; He will magnify the law and make it honourable.\n\n22. And (yet) it (is) a people spoiled and robbed, ensnared in holes\nall of them, and in houses of confinement they are hidden. They have\nbecome a spoil, and there is none delivering; a prey, and there is\nnone saying, Restore! 23. Who among you will give ear to this, and\nhearken and hear for the time to come? 24. Who has given Jacob for a\nprey, and Israel to spoilers? Hast not Jehovah, against whom we have\nsinned? and they were not willing in His ways to walk, and did not\nhearken to His law. 25. And He poured upon him fury, (even) His wrath\nand the violence of war: and it set him on fire round about, and he\nknew it not; and it burned him, and he will not lay it to heart.\n\nXLIII.--[Israel is the peculiar people of Jehovah, cherished and\nfavoured at the expense of other nations, vers. 1-4. But these are\none day to become partakers of the same advantages, vers. 5-9. The\nproofs of the Divine protection are afforded by the history of\nIsrael, vers. 10-13. One of the most remarkable, yet future, is the\ndownfall of Babylon and the liberation of the exiles, vers. 14, 15.\nAn analogous example was the deliverance from Egypt, vers. 16, 17.\nBut both these instances shall be forgotten in comparison with the\ngreat change which awaits the Church hereafter, vers. 18-21. Of all\nthese distinguishing favours none was owing to the merit of the\npeople, but all to the sovereign grace of God, vers. 22-25. The\npeople were not only destitute of merit, but deserving of punishment,\nwhich they had experienced and must experience again, vers. 26-28.]\n\n1. And now, thus saith Jehovah, thy Creator, O Jacob, and thy Former,\nO Israel, Fear not, for I have redeemed thee, I have called by thy\nname, thou art Mine. 2. When thou passest through the waters, I will\nbe with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee;\nwhen thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be scorched, and\nthe flame shall not burn thee. 3. For I, Jehovah, thy God, the Holy\nOne of Israel, thy Saviour, have given (as) thy ransom Egypt,\nEthiopia, and Seba, instead of thee. 4. Since thou wast precious in\nMy eyes; thou hast been honoured, and I have loved thee, and will\ngive men instead of thee, and nations instead of thy life.\n\n5. Fear not, for I (am) with thee; from the east I will make thy seed\ncome, and from the west I will gather thee; 6. I will say to the\nnorth, Give, and to the south, Withhold not, let My sons come from\nfar, and My daughters from the ends of the earth; 7. Every one called\nby My name, and for My glory I have created him; I have formed him\nyea, I have made him. 8. He hath brought out the blind people, and\nthere are eyes (to them), and the deaf, and (there are) ears to them.\n9. All the nations are gathered together, and the people are to be\nassembled. Who among them will declare this, and let us hear the\nfirst things? Let them produce their witnesses and be justified; and\n(if they cannot do this) let them hear (My witnesses), and say, (it\nis) the truth.\n\n10. Ye are My witnesses saith Jehovah, and My servant whom I have\nchosen, that ye may know and believe Me, and may understand that I am\nHe; before Me was not formed a god, and after Me there shall not be;\n11. I, I, Jehovah, and beside Me there is no Saviour. 12. I have told\nand have saved and have declared, and there is not among you (any)\nstranger; and ye are My witnesses, saith Jehovah, and I (am) God.\n13. Even from the day I am He, and there is no one freeing from My\nhand; I will do, and who will undo it?\n\n14. Thus saith Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For\nyour sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down fugitives all\nof them; and the Chaldeans, in the ships their shout; 15. I, Jehovah,\nyour Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.\n\n16. Thus saith Jehovah, the (One) giving in the sea a way, and in\nmighty waters a path; 17. the (One) bringing out chariot and horse,\nforce and strong; together shall they lie, they shall not rise; they\nare extinct, like tow they are quenched.\n\n18. Remember not former things, and old things consider not.\n19. Behold I (am) doing (something) new, it is yet to sprout; do you\nnot know it? Yes, I will place in the wilderness a way, in the desert\nstreams. 20. The living creature of the field shall honour Me,\njackass and ostriches; because I have given in the wilderness waters,\nand streams in the desert, to give drink to My people, My chosen.\n21. This people I have formed for Myself; My praise shall they\nrecount.\n\n22. And not Me hast thou called, O Jacob; for thou hast been weary of\nMe, O Israel. 23. Thou hast not brought to Me the sheep of thy\nburnt-offering, and (with) thy sacrifices thou hast not honoured Me.\nI have not made thee serve with oblations, and I have not wearied\nthee with incense. 24. Thou hast not brought for Me sweet cane with\nhoney, and with the fat of thy sacrifices thou hast not drenched Me;\nthou hast only made Me serve with thy sins, and wearied Me with thine\niniquities. 25. I, I am He blotting out thy transgressions for Mine\nown sake, and thy sins I will not remember.\n\n26. Remind Me; let us plead together: state (thy case) that thou\nmayest be justified. 27. Thy first father sinned, and thy\ninterpreters rebelled against Me. 28. And I will profane the holy\nchiefs, and will give up Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches.\n\nXLIV.--[The chapter opens, like the fortieth and forty-third, with\ncheering promises to Israel, followed by reasons for confiding in\nthem, drawn from the wisdom, power, and goodness of Jehovah. The\nspecific promise, which constitutes the theme or basis of the\nprophecy, is that of abundant spiritual influences and their fruits;\nnot only internal prosperity, but large accessions from without,\nvers. 1-5. The pledge for the fulfilment of this promise is afforded\nby the proofs of God's omniscience, as contrasted with all other\ngods, vers. 6-9. The folly of image-worship is then established by\ntwo arguments. The first is, that idols are themselves the creatures\nof mere men, vers. 10-14. The other is, that they are not only made,\nand made by man, but made of the very same materials applied to the\nmost trivial domestic uses, vers. 15-20. From this demonstration of\nthe power of Jehovah to perform His promise we are now brought back\nto the promise itself, vers. 21-24. This is again confirmed by an\nappeal to God's creative power, and illustrated by the raising up of\nCyrus as a deliverer to Israel, vers. 25-28.]\n\n1. And now hear, Jacob My servant, and Israel whom I have chosen.\n2. Thus saith Jehovah, Thy Maker and thy Former from the womb will\nhelp thee; fear not, My servant Jacob, and Jeshurun whom I have\nchosen. 3. For I will pour waters upon the thirsty, and flowing\n(waters) on the dry (land); I will pour My Spirit on thy seed, and My\nblessing on thine offspring. 4. And they shall spring up in the midst\nof the grass, like willows by the water-courses. 5. They shall say,\nTo Jehovah I (belong); and this shall call on the name of Jacob; and\nthis shall inscribe with his hand, To Jehovah, and with the name of\nIsrael shall entitle.\n\n6. Thus saith Jehovah, King of Israel, and his Redeemer Jehovah of\nhosts; I (am) first, and I (am) last, and without Me there is no God.\n7. And who, like Me, will call, and tell it, and state it to Me,\nsince I placed the ancient people; and coming things and things which\nare to come will tell to them? 8. Quake not and fear not; have I not\nlet thee hear and told thee, and are ye not My witnesses? Is there a\nGod without Me? I know not (any). 9. The image-carvers all of them\nare vanity, and their desired ones are worthless; and their witnesses\nthemselves will not see and will not know, that they may be ashamed.\n\n10. Who formed the god and cast the image to no use? 11. Lo, all his\nfellows shall be ashamed, and the workmen themselves are of men; they\nshall assemble all of them, they shall stand, they shall tremble,\nthey shall be ashamed together. 12. He has carved (iron) with a\ngraver, and has wrought (it) in the coals, and with his hammer he\nwill shape it. Besides, he is hungry and has no strength, he has not\ndrunk water and is faint. 13. He has carved wood, he has stretched a\nline, he will mark it with the awl, he will form it with the chisel,\nand with the compass he will mark it, and then he will make it after\nthe model of a man, like the beauty of mankind, to dwell in a house.\n14. To hew him down cedars, and (now) he has taken a cypress and an\noak--and has raised it for himself among the trees of the forest--he\nhas planted a pine, and the rain shall increase (it). 15. And it\nshall be to man for fuel, and he has taken of them and warmed\nhimself; yea, he will kindle and bake bread; yea, he will form a god\nand fall prostrate; he has made it a graven image and bowed down to\nthem. 16. Half of it he hath burned in the fire; on half of it he\nwill eat flesh, he will roast and be filled; yea, he will warm\nhimself and say, Aha, I am warm, I have seen fire. 17. And the rest\nof it he has made into a god, into his graven image; he will bow down\nto it, and will worship, and will pray to it, and say, Deliver me,\nfor thou (art) my god. 18. They have not known, and they will not\nunderstand, for He hath smeared their eyes from seeing, their hearts\nfrom doing wisely. 19. And he will not bring it home to himself, and\nthere (is) not knowledge, and (there is) not understanding to say,\nHalf of it I have burned in the fire, and have also baked bread on\nits coals; I will roast flesh and eat, and the rest of it I will make\nto (be) an abomination; to a log of wood I will cast myself down.\n20. Feeding on ashes, (his) heart is deceived; it has led him astray,\nand he cannot deliver himself; and he will not say, Is there not a\nlie in my right hand?\n\n21. Remember these (things), Jacob and Israel, for thou art My\nservant; I have formed thee, a servant unto Me art thou; Israel, thou\nshalt not be forgotten by Me. 22. I have blotted out, like a cloud,\nthy transgressions, and like a vapour, thy sins; return to Me, for I\nhave redeemed thee. 23. Sing, O heavens, for Jehovah hath done (it);\nshout, ye lower parts of the earth; break forth, ye mountains,\nJehovah hath redeemed Jacob, and in Israel He will glorify Himself.\n24. Thus saith Jehovah, thy Redeemer, and thy Former from the womb,\nI, Jehovah, making all, stretching the heavens alone, spreading the\nearth by Myself.\n\n25. Breaking the signs of babblers, and diviners He will madden;\nturning sages back, and their knowledge He will stultify;\n26. confirming the word of His servant, and the counsel of His\nmessengers He will fulfil; the (One) saying as to Jerusalem, She\nshall be inhabited, and as the cities of Judah, They shall be built,\nand the ruins will I raise; 27. the (One) saying to the deep, Be dry,\nand I will dry up thy floods; 28. the (One) saying as to Cyrus, My\nshepherd, and all My pleasure he will fulfil, and saying to\nJerusalem, Thou shalt be built, and (to) the temple, Thou shalt be\nfounded.\n\nXLV.--[The chapter opens, in direct continuation of the forty-fourth,\nwith a further prophecy of Cyrus and of his successors, vers. 1-3.\nThese are then referred to the power of God and His design of mercy\ntowards His people, so that all misgivings or distrust must be\nirrational and impious, vers. 4-13. Then leaving Cyrus out of view,\nthe prophet turns his eyes to the nations, and declares that they\nmust be subdued, but only in order to be blessed and saved, which is\ndeclared to have been the Divine purpose, and revealed as such from\nthe beginning, vers 14-25.]\n\n1. Thus saith Jehovah to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I\nhave held fast, to tread down before him nations, and the loins of\nkings I will loose; to open before him double doors, and gates shall\nnot be shut. 2. I will go before thee, and uneven places will I\nlevel; doors of brass I will break, and bars of iron I will cut.\n3. And I will give thee treasures of darkness and hidden riches of\nsecret places, in order that thou mayest know that I Jehovah, the\n(One) calling thee by name, am the God of Israel.\n\n4. For the sake of My servant Jacob and Israel My chosen, therefore\nwill I call thee by thy name: I will give thee a title, and thou hast\nnot known Me. 5. I am Jehovah, and there is no other; except Me there\nis no God; I will gird thee, and thou hast not known Me; 6. that they\nmay know, from the rising of the sun to the west, that there is none\nwithout Me; I am Jehovah, and there is no other. 7. Forming light and\ncreating darkness, making peace and creating evil, I (am) Jehovah\ndoing all these things. 8. Distil, ye heavens, from above, and let\nthe clouds pour out righteousness; let the earth open, and let\nsalvation and righteousness grow, let him bring (them) forth\ntogether. I Jehovah have created it. 9. Woe to him striving with his\nMaker--a potsherd with potsherds of the earth. Shall clay say to its\nformer, What art thou doing? and thy work, He has no hands? 10. Woe\nto him saying to a father, What wilt thou beget? and to a mother,\nWhat wilt thou bring forth? 11. Thus saith Jehovah, the Holy One of\nIsrael and his Maker, Ask Me (of) the things to come; concerning My\nsins and concerning the work of My hands, ye may command Me. 12. I\nmake the earth, and man upon it I created; I, My hands, spread the\nheavens, and all their host commanded. 13. I, and no other, raised\nhim up in righteousness, and all his ways will I make straight; (it\nis) he (that) shall build My city, and My captivity he will send\n(home), not for reward, and not for hire, saith Jehovah of hosts.\n\n14. Thus saith Jehovah, The toil of Egypt, and the gain of Cush, and\nthe Sebaim men of measure unto thee shall pass, and to thee shall\nthey belong, after thee shall they go, in chains shall they pass\nover; and unto thee shall they bow themselves, to thee shall they\npray, saying, Only in thee (is) God, and there is none besides, no\n(other) God. 15. Verily Thou art a God hiding Thyself, O God of\nIsrael, the Saviour! 16. They are ashamed and also confounded all of\nthem together, they are gone away in confusion--the carvers of\nimages. 17. Israel is saved in Jehovah (with) an everlasting\nsalvation; ye shall not be ashamed, and ye shall not be confounded\nfor ever. 18. For thus saith Jehovah, the Creator of the heavens--He\nis God--the Former of the earth and its Maker--He established it--not\nto be empty did He create it--to be inhabited He formed it--I am\nJehovah, and there is none besides. 19. Not in secret have I spoken,\nin a dark place of the earth; I have not said to the seed of Jacob,\nIn vain seek ye Me. I (am) Jehovah, speaking truth, declaring right\nthings. 20. Gather yourselves and come; draw near together, ye\nescaped of the nations. They know not, those carrying the wood, their\ngraven image, and praying to a god (who) cannot save. 21. Bring\nforward and bring near! Yea, let them consult together. Who hath\ncaused this to be heard of old, since thou declared it! Have not I\nJehovah? and there is no other God besides Me; a righteous and a\nsaving God, there is none besides Me. 22. Turn unto Me and be ye\nsaved, all ye ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none\nbesides. 23. By Myself I have sworn; the word is gone out of a mouth\nof righteousness, and shall not return, that unto Me shall bow every\nknee, shall swear every tongue. 24. Only in Jehovah have I, says he,\nrighteousness and strength; unto Him shall he come, and all that were\nincensed at Him shall be ashamed. 25. In Jehovah shall be justified\nand boast themselves all the seed of Israel.\n\nXLVI.--[In conformation of the general threats and promises with\nwhich chap. xlv. is wound up, the prophet now exhibits the particular\ncase of the Babylonian idols, as a single instance chosen from the\nwhole range of past and future history. They are described as fallen\nand gone away into captivity, wholly unable to protect their\nworshippers or save themselves, vers. 1, 2. With these he then\ncontrasts Jehovah's constant care of Israel in times past and in time\nto come, vers. 3, 4. The contrast is carried out by another\ndescription of the origin and impotence of idols, vers. 5-7, and\nanother assertion of Jehovah's sole Divinity, as proved by His\nknowledge and control of the future, and by the raising up of Cyrus\nin particular, vers. 8-11. This brings him back to the same solemn\nwarning of approaching judgments, and the same alternative of life\nand death, with which the foregoing chapter closes, vers. 12, 13.]\n\n1. Bel is bowed down, Nebo stooping; their images are (consigned) to\nthe beasts and to the cattle. Your burdens are packed up (as) a load\nto the weary (beast). 2. They stoop, they bow together; they cannot\nsave the load; themselves are gone into captivity.\n\n3. Hearken unto Me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the\nhouse of Israel, those borne from the belly, those carried from the\nwomb. 4. And to old age I am He, and to grey hair I will bear (you);\nI have done it, and I will carry and I will bear and save (you).\n\n5. To whom will ye liken Me, and equal and compare Me, that we may be\nlike? 6. The prodigals will weigh gold from the bag, and silver with\nthe rod; they will hire a gilder, and he will make it a god: they\nwill bow down, yea, they will fall prostrate. 7. They will lift him\non the shoulder, they will carry him, they will set him in his place,\nand he will stand (there); from his place he will not move; yea, one\nwill cry to him, and he will not answer, from his distress he will\nnot save him.\n\n8. Remember this, and show yourselves men; bring it home, ye\napostates, (to) your mind. 9. Remember former things of old, for I am\nthe Mighty, and there is no other God, and there is none like Me,\n10. declaring from the first the last, and from ancient time the\nthings which are not (yet) done, saying, My counsel shall stand and\nall My pleasure I will do. 11. Calling from the east a bird of prey,\nfrom a land of distance the man of His counsel; I have both said and\nwill also bring it to pass, I have formed (the plan) and will also do\nit.\n\n12. Hearken to Me, ye stout of heart, those far from righteousness.\n13. I have brought near My righteousness, it shall not be far off;\nand My salvation, it shall not tarry; and I will place in Zion My\nsalvation, to Israel My glory.\n\nXLVII.--[Having exemplified his general doctrine, as to God's ability\nand purpose to do justice both to friends and foes, by exhibiting the\ndownfall of the Babylonian idols, Isaiah now attains the same end by\npredicting the downfall of Babylon itself, and of the state to which\nit gave its name. Under the figure of a royal virgin, she is\nthreatened with extreme degradation and exposure, vers 1-3.\nConnecting this event with Israel and Israel's God, as the great\nthemes which it was intended to illustrate, he predicts the fall of\nthe empire more distinctly, ver. 5, and assigns as a reason the\noppression of God's people, ver. 6, pride and self-confidence, ver.\n7-9, especially reliance upon human wisdom and upon superstitious\narts, all which would prove entirely insufficient to prevent the\ngreat catastrophe, vers. 10-15.]\n\n1. Come down! Sit on the dust, virgin daughter of Babel! There is no\nthrone, daughter of Chasdim! For thou shalt not continue to be called\ntender and delicate. 2. Take millstones and grind meal! Remove thy\nveil, lift up thy skirt, uncover the leg, cross streams! 3. Let thy\nnakedness be uncovered, likewise let thy shame be seen. I will take\nvengeance; I shall encounter no man.\n\n4. Our Redeemer, Jehovah of hosts (is) His name, the Holy One of\nIsrael.\n\n5. Sit in silence and go into darkness, daughter of Chasdim! For thou\nshalt not continue to be called mistress of kingdoms. 6. I was wroth\nagainst My people; I profaned My heritage; and I gave them into thy\nhand. Thou didst not show them mercy; on the ancient thou didst\naggravate thy yoke exceedingly; 7. and thou saidst, For ever I shall\nbe a mistress (of kingdoms); until (at last) thou didst not lay these\nthings to heart, thou didst not remember the end of it. 8. And now,\nhear this, thou voluptuous one, the (one) sitting in security, the\n(one) saying in her heart, I (am) and none besides; I shall not sit\n(as) a widow, and I shall not know the loss of children; 9. and they\nshall come to thee,--these two suddenly, loss of children and\nwidowhood in the midst of the multitude of thy enchantments, in the\nmidst of the multitude of thy spells. 10. And (yet) thou art secure\nin thy wickedness; thou hast said, there is no one seeing me. Thy\nwisdom and thy knowledge, it has seduced thee; and thou hast said in\nthy heart, I am, and there is no other. 11. And so there cometh upon\nthee evil,--thou shalt not know how to charm it away; and there shall\nfall upon thee ruin,--thou shalt not be able to avert it; and there\nshall come upon thee suddenly a crash,--thou shalt not know (it).\n12. Persist now in thy spells and in the abundance of thy charms, in\nwhich thou hast wearied thyself; perhaps thou wilt be able to\nsucceed, perhaps thou wilt grow strong. 13. Thou art wearied in the\nmultitude of thy counsel. Now let them stand and save thee, the\ndividers of the heavens, the star-gazers, making known at the\nnew-moon what shall come upon thee. 14. Behold, they are like\nstubble, fire has burned them; they cannot deliver themselves from\nthe hand of the flame; (this fire) is not a coal (at which) to warm\none's self; a fire to sit before. 15. Thus are they to thee; and so\nare (even) thy traders: each to his own quarter, straight before him,\nthey wander; there is no one saving thee.\n\nXLVIII.--[Although Israel is God's chosen and peculiar people, he is\nin himself unworthy of the honour and unfaithful to the trust, vers.\n1, 2. Former predictions had been uttered expressly to prevent his\nascribing the event to other gods, vers. 3-5. For the same reason new\npredictions will be uttered now, of events which have never been\ndistinctly foretold, vers. 6-8. God's continued favour to His people\nhas no reference to merit upon their part, but is the fruit of His\nown sovereign mercy, and intended to promote His own designs, vers.\n9-11. He again asserts His own exclusive deity, as proved by the\ncreation of the world, by the prediction of events still future, and\nespecially by the raising up of Cyrus, as a promised instrument to\nexecute His purpose, vers 12-16. The sufferings of Israel are a fruit\nof his own sin, but his prosperity and glory, of God's sovereign\ngrace, vers. 17-19. The book closes as it opened, with a promise of\ndeliverance from exile, accompanied in this case by a solemn\nlimitation of the promise to its proper objects, vers. 20-22.]\n\n1. Here this, O house of Jacob, the man called by the name of Israel,\nand from the waters of Judah they have come out; those swearing by\nthe name of Jehovah, and (who) of the God of Israel makes mention,\nnot in truth and not in righteousness. 2. Nor from the Holy City they\nare called, and upon the God of Israel rely; Jehovah of hosts is His\nname.\n\n3. The former things since then I declared, and out of My mouth they\nwent forth, and I cause them to be heard; suddenly do I do (them),\nand they come to pass. 4. Because I know that thou art hard, and an\niron sinew (is) thy neck, and thy forehead brass, 5. therefore I told\nthee long ago; before it comes I have let thee hear (it), lest thou\nsay, My idol did them, my graven image and my molten image ordered\nthem.\n\n6. Thou has heard the (prediction), see all of it accomplished. And\nye, will ye not predict (something)? I have made thee to hear new\nthings from now, and (things) kept (in reserve), which thou hast not\nknown. 7. Now they are created, and not of old; before this day thou\nhast never heard them, lest thou shouldst say, Behold, I knew them.\n8. Nay, thou didst not hear; nay, thou didst not know; likewise of\nold thine ear was not opened; I knew thou wouldst act very\ntreacherously, and Apostate from the womb wast thou called.\n\n9. For My name's sake I will defer My anger, and (for) My praise I\nwill restrain (it) towards thee, so as not to cut thee off.\n10. Behold, I have melted thee, and not with silver; I have chosen\nthee in the furnace of affliction. 11. For My own sake, for My own\nsake, I will do (it)--for how is it profaned!--and My honour to\nanother will I not give.\n\n12. Hearken unto Me, O Jacob, and Israel My called; I am He, I am the\nFirst, also I the Last. 13. Also My hand founded the earth, and My\nright hand spread the heavens; I call to them, and they will stand up\ntogether. 14. Assemble yourselves, all of you, and hear! Who among\nthem hath predicted these things? Jehovah loves him; He will do His\npleasure in Babylon, and His arm (shall be upon) the Chaldees. 15. I,\nI have spoken; I have also called him; I have brought him (forth),\nand he prospers in his way. 16. Draw near unto me! Hear this; not\nfrom the beginning in secret have I spoken; from the time of its\nbeing, I was there; and now the Lord Jehovah hath sent me, and His\nSpirit.\n\n17. Thus saith Jehovah, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am\nJehovah thy God, teaching thee to profit, making thee to tread in the\nway thou shalt go. 18. Oh that thou hadst hearkened to My\ncommandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy\nrighteousness as the waves of the sea; 19. then should have been like\nthe sand thy seed, and the offspring of thy bowels like (the\noffspring of) its bowels; his name should not be cut off from before\nMe.\n\n20. Go forth from Babel! Flee ye from the Chaldeans! With the voice\nof joy tell this, cause it to be heard, utter it even to the end of\nthe earth; say ye, Jehovah hath redeemed His servant Jacob. 21. And\nthey thirsted not in the desert (through which) He made them go;\nwater from a rock He made to flow for them; and He clave the rock,\nand waters gushed out. 22. There is no peace, saith Jehovah, to the\nwicked.\n\nXLIX.--[This chapter, like the whole division which it introduces,\nhas for its great theme the relation of the Church to the world, and\nof Israel to the Gentiles. It opens with an exhibition of the Messiah\nand His people, under one ideal person, as the great appointed\nTeacher, Apostle, and Restorer of the apostate nations, vers. 1-9.\nThis is followed by a promise of Divine protection and of glorious\nenlargement, attended by a joyous revelation in the state of the\nwhole world, vers. 10-16. The doubts and apprehensions of the Church\nherself are twice recited under different forms, vers. 14, 24, and as\noften met and silenced, first by repeated and still stronger promises\nof God's unchanging love to His people and of their glorious\nenlargement and success, vers. 15-23; then by an awful threatening of\ndestruction to their enemies and His, vers 25, 26.]\n\n1. Hearken, ye Islands, unto Me, and attend, ye nations from afar.\nJehovah from the womb hath called Me, from the bowels of My mother He\nhath mentioned My name. 2. And He hath rendered My mouth like a sharp\nsword, and He rendered Me as a polished arrow, in His quiver He has\nhid Me. 3. And He said to Me, Thou art My servant, Israel, in whom I\nwill be glorified. 4. And I said, In vain have I toiled, for\nemptiness and vanity My strength have I consumed; but My right is\nwith Jehovah and My work with My God. 5. And now, saith Jehovah, who\nformed Me from the womb for a servant to Himself, to restore Jacob to\nHim, and (yet) Israel will not be gathered--and yet I shall be\nhonoured in the eyes of Jehovah, and My God has (already) been My\nstrength. 6. And He said, It is a light thing that Thou shouldst be\nMy servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and the preserved of\nIsrael to restore; and I have given Thee for a light to the Gentiles,\nto be My salvation even to the end of the earth. 7. Thus saith\nJehovah, the Redeemer of Israel, His Holy One, to the heartily\ndespised, to the nation exciting abhorrence, to a servant of rulers,\nKings shall see it, and rise up, princes (shall see) and bow\nthemselves, for the sake of Jehovah who is faithful, the Holy One of\nIsrael who has chosen Thee. 8. Thus saith Jehovah, In a time of\nfavour I have heard Thee, and to a day of salvation have I helped\nThee; and I will keep Thee, and I will give Thee for a covenant to\nthe people, to raise up the earth, and to cause to inherit the\ndesolate heritages; 9. to say to those bound, Come forth, and to\n(those) who are in darkness, Show yourselves.\n\nOn the ways they shall feed, and in all bare hills shall be their\npasture. 10. They shall not hunger and they shall not thirst, and\nthere shall not smite them mirage and sun; for He that hath mercy on\nthem shall guide them, and by springs of water shall He lead them.\n11. And I will place all mountains for the way, and My roads shall be\nhigh. 12. Behold, these from afar shall come, and behold these from\nthe north and from the sea, and these from the land of Sinim.\n13. Shout, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth, let the mountains burst\nforth into a shout; because Jehovah has comforted His people, and on\nHis sufferers He will have mercy.\n\n14. And (yet) Zion said, Jehovah hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath\nforgotten me. 15. Will a woman forget her suckling, so as not to have\nmercy on the son of her womb? Even these will forget, and (yet) I\nwill not forget thee. 16. Behold, on My palms have I graven thee; thy\nwalls (are) before Me continually. 17. Thy sons hasten (to thee); thy\ndestroyers and thy wasters shall go out from thee. 18. Lift up thine\neyes round about and see; all of them are gathered together, they are\ncome to thee. (As) I live, saith Jehovah, (I swear) that all of them\nas an ornament thou shalt put on, and bind them like the bride.\n19. For thy ruins, and thy wastes, and thy land of desolation, for\nnow shalt thou be too narrow for the inhabitant, and far off shall be\nthy devourers. 20. Again shall they say in thine ears, The sons of\nthy childlessness. (Too) narrow for me is the place; come near for\nme, that I may dwell. 21. And thou shalt say in thine heart, Who hath\nproduced these for me? and I was bereaved and barren, an exile and a\nbanished one? And these who brought up? Behold, I was left alone;\nthese where were they? 22. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold I will\nlift up to the nations My hand, and I will set up to the peoples My\nstandard; and they will bring thy sons in the bosom, and thy\ndaughters on the shoulders shall be carried. 23. And kings shall be\nthy nursing-fathers, and their queens thy nursing-mothers; face to\nthe ground shall they bow to thee, and the dust of thy feet shall\nthey lick; and thou shalt know that I am Jehovah, whose waiters shall\nnot be ashamed.\n\n24. Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, and shall the captivity\nof the righteous be delivered? 25. For thus saith Jehovah, Even the\ncaptives of the mighty shall be taken, and the prey of the terrible\nshall be delivered, and with thy strivers will I strive, and thy sons\nwill I save. 26. And I will make thy oppressors eat their (own)\nflesh, and as with new wine with their blood shall they be drunken;\nand all flesh shall know that I am Jehovah thy Saviour, and (that)\nthy Redeemer is the Mighty One of Jacob.\n\nL.--[This chapter contains no entirely new element, but a fresh view\nof several which have already been repeatedly exhibited. The first of\nthese is the great truth, that the sufferings of God's people are the\nnecessary fruit of their own sins, ver. 1. The second is the power of\nJehovah to accomplish their deliverance, vers. 2, 3. The third is the\nServant of Jehovah, His mission, His qualifications for it, His\nendurance of reproach, and opposition on account of it, vers. 4-9.\nThe fourth is the way of salvation and the certain doom of those who\nneglect it, vers. 10, 11.]\n\n1. Thus saith Jehovah, Where is the bill of divorcement of your\nmother, whom I have sent away? Or which of My creditors (is it) to\nwhom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities ye have been sold,\nand for your transgressions has your mother been sent away.\n\n2. Why did I come, and there was no man? (why) did I call, and there\nwas no one answering? Is My hand shortened, shortened, from\nredemption? and is there with Me no power to deliver? Behold, by My\nrebuke I will dry up the sea, I will make streams a wilderness; let\ntheir fish stink for want of water and die of thirst. 3. I will\nclothe the heavens in blackness, and sackcloth will I make their\ncovering.\n\n4. The Lord God hath given to Me a ready tongue, that I might know\nhow to help the weary (with) a word. He will waken, every morning He\nwill waken for Me the ear, that I may hear like the disciples. 5. The\nLord Jehovah opened for Me the ear, and I resisted not, I did not\ndraw back. 6. My back I gave to those smiting, and My cheeks to those\nplucking (the hair); My face I did not hide from shame and spitting.\n7. And the Lord God will help Me, therefore I am not confounded;\ntherefore I have set My face as a flint, and I know that I shall not\nbe ashamed. 8. Near is My justifier; who will contend with Me? We\nwill stand together. Who is My adversary? Let him draw near to Me.\n9. Behold, the Lord Jehovah will help Me; who (is) he (that) will\ncondemn Me? All they like the garment shall grow old; the moth shall\ndevour them.\n\n10. Who among you is a fearer of Jehovah, hearkening to the voice of\nHis servant, who walketh in darkness, and there is no light to him?\nLet him trust in the name of Jehovah, and lean upon his God. 11. Lo,\nall of you kindling fire, girding sparks (or, fiery darts), go in the\nlight of your fire, and in the sparks ye have kindled. From My hand\nis this to you; in pain shall ye lie down.\n\nLI.--[This chapter is a direct continuation of the preceding\ndeclarations with respect to the vocation of the Church, and the\nDivine administration towards her. The possibility of her increase,\nas previously promised, is evinced by the example of Abraham, from\nwhom all Israel descended, vers. 1-3. In like manner many shall be\nadded from the Gentiles, vers. 4-6. Their enemies shall not only fail\nto destroy them, but shall be themselves destroyed, vers. 7, 8. This\nis confirmed by another historical example, that of Egypt, vers. 9,\n10. The same assurances are then repeated, with a clearer promise of\nthe new dispensation, vers. 11-16. The chapter closes with a direct\naddress to Zion, who, though helpless in herself and destitute of\nhuman aid, is sure of God's protection and of the destruction of her\nenemies and His, vers. 17-23.]\n\n1. Hearken unto Me, ye who are following after righteousness, ye who\nare seeking Jehovah; look unto the rock (from which) ye have been\nhewn, and the hole of the pit from which ye have been digged. 2. Look\nunto Abraham your father and unto Sarah (that) bare you: for I have\ncalled him one, and I will bless him and increase him (still). 3. For\nJehovah hath comforted Zion; He hath comforted all our wastes, and\nhath made her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of\nthe Lord; joy and gladness shall be found in her, thanksgiving and\nthe voice of melody. 4. Attend unto Me, My people: and My nation,\nunto Me give ear: that law from Me shall go forth, and My judgment\nfor a light of the nations. 5. Near (is) My righteousness, gone forth\nis My salvation, and My arm shall judge the nations. For Me shall the\nislands wait, and in My arm they shall hope. 6. Raise to the heavens\nyour eyes, and look unto the earth beneath; and the earth like the\ngarment (which grows old) shall grow old, and its inhabitants\nlikewise shall die; and My salvation to eternity shall be, and My\nrighteousness shall not be broken.\n\n7. Hearken unto Me, ye that know righteousness, people (with) My law\nin their heart: hear not the reproach of men, and by their scoffs be\nnot broken (in spirit). 8. For like the (moth-eaten) garment shall\nthe moth devour them, and like the (worm-eaten) wool shall the worm\ndevour them; and My righteousness to eternity shall be, and My\nsalvation to an age of ages.\n\n9. Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of Jehovah; awake, as (in the)\ndays of old, the ages of eternities; art Thou not the same that hewed\nRahab in pieces, that wounded the dragon? 10. Art not Thou the same\nthat dried the sea, the waters of the great deep, that placed the\ndepths of the sea (as) a way for the passage of redeemed ones?\n\n11. And the ransomed of Jehovah shall return and come to Zion with\nshouting, and everlasting joy upon their head; gladness and joy shall\novertake (them), sorrow and sighing have fled away. 12. I, I am He\nthat comforteth you; who art thou that thou shouldst be afraid of man\n(who) is to die, and of the son of man who (as) grass is to be given?\n13. And hast forgotten Jehovah thy Maker, spreading the heavens and\nfounding the earth, and hast trembled continually all the day, from\nbefore the wrath of the oppressor as he made ready to destroy? And\nwhere is (now) the wrath of the oppressor? 14. He hastens bowing to\nbe loosed, and he shall not die in the pit, and his bread shall not\nfail. 15. And I am Jehovah thy God, rousing the sea, and then its\nwaves roar; Jehovah of hosts (is) His name. 16. And I have put My\nwords in thy mouth, and in the shadow of My hand I have the earth,\nand to say to Zion, Thou art My people. 17. Rouse thyself! rouse\nthyself! Arise, Jerusalem! (thou) who hast drunk at the hand of\nJehovah the cup of His wrath; the bowl of the cup of reeling thou\nhast drunk, thou hast wrung out.\n\n18. There is no guide to hear of all the sons she has brought forth,\nand no one grasping her hand of all the sons she has brought up.\n\n19. Both these things are befalling thee: who will mourn for thee?\nWasting and ruin, famine and sword: who (but) I will comfort thee?\n20. Thy sons were faint; they lie at the head of all the streets like\na wild bull in a net, filled with the wrath of Jehovah, the rebuke of\nthy God. 21. Therefore pray hear this, thou suffering one, and\ndrunken, but not with wine; 22. thus saith thy Lord, Jehovah, and thy\nGod--He will defend His people--Behold, I have taken from thy hand\nthe cup of reeling, the bowl of the cup of My fury; thou shalt not\ncontinue to drink it any more. 23. And I put it into the hand of\nthose that afflicted thee, that said to thy soul, Bow down and we\nwill pass over; and thou didst lay thy back as the ground, and as the\nstreet for the passengers.\n\nLII.--[However low the natural Israel may sink, the true Church shall\nbecome more glorious than ever, being freed from the impurities\nconnected with her former state, ver. 1. This is described as a\ncaptivity from which she is exhorted to escape, ver. 2. Her\nemancipation is the fruit of God's gratuitous compassion, ver. 3. As\na nation she has suffered long enough, vers. 4, 5. The day is coming\nwhen the Israel of God shall know in whom they have believed, ver. 6.\nThe herald of the new dispensation is described as already visible\nupon the mountains, ver. 7. The very ruins of Jerusalem are summoned\nto rejoice, ver. 9. The glorious change is witnessed by the whole\nworld. 10. The true church or Israel of God is exhorted to come out\nof Jewry, ver. 11. This exodus is likened to the one from Egypt, but\ndescribed as even more auspicious, ver. 12. Its great leader, the\nMessiah, as the Servant of Jehovah, must be and is to be exalted,\nver. 13. And this exaltation shall bear due proportion to the\nhumiliation which preceded it, vers. 14, 15.]\n\n1. Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion! Put on thy garments of\nbeauty, O Jerusalem, the Holy City! For no more shall there continue\nto come into thee an uncircumcised and unclean (person). 2. Shake\nthyself from the dust, arise, sit, O Jerusalem! loose the bands of\nthy neck, O captive daughter of Zion!\n\n3. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Ye were sold for nought, and not\nfor money shall ye be redeemed. 4. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah,\nInto Egypt went down My people at the first to sojourn there, and\nAssyria oppressed them for nothing. 5. And now what have I here,\nsaith Jehovah, that My people is taken away for nothing, its rulers\nhowl, saith Jehovah, and continually, all the day, My name is\nblasphemed? 6. Therefore My people shall know My name; therefore in\nthat day (shall they know) that I am He that said, Behold Me!\n\n7. How timely on the mountains are the feet of one bringing glad\ntidings, publishing peace, bringing tidings of good, publishing\nsalvation, saying to Zion, Thy God reigneth! 8. The voice of thy\nwatchmen! They raise the voice, together will they shout; for eye to\neye will they see in Jehovah's returning to Zion. 9. Burst forth,\nshout together, ruins of Jerusalem! For Jehovah hath comforted His\npeople, hath redeemed Jerusalem. 10. Jehovah hath bared His holy arm\nto the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth have\nseen the salvation of our God.\n\n11. Away! away! go out from thence! the unclean touch not! come out\nfrom the midst of her! Be clean, ye armour-bearers of Jehovah.\n12. For not in haste shall ye go out, and in flight ye shall not\ndepart; for going before you (is) Jehovah, and bringing up your rear\nthe God of Israel.\n\nLII. 13.--[The great leader of this exodus, the Messiah, as the\nServant of Jehovah, must be and is to be exalted, ver. 13. And this\nexaltation shall bear due proportion to the humiliation which\npreceded it, vers. 14, 15.\n\nLIII.--Notwithstanding these and other prophecies of the Messiah, He\nis not recognised when He appears, ver. 1. He is not the object of\ndesire and trust, for whom the great mass of the people have been\nwaiting, ver. 2. Nay, His low condition, and especially His\nsufferings are vicarious, not accidental or incurred by His own\nfault, vers. 4-6. Hence, though personally innocent, He is perfectly\nunresisting, ver. 7. Even they for whom He suffers may mistake His\nperson and His office, ver. 8. His case presents the two extremes of\nrighteous punishment and perfect innocence, ver. 9. But the glorious\nfruit of these very sufferings will correct all errors, ver. 10. He\nbecomes a Saviour only by becoming a substitute, ver. 11. Even after\nthe work of expiation is completed, and His glorious reward secured,\nthe work of intercession will be still continued, ver. 12.]\n\n13. Behold, my Servant shall do wisely, shall rise and be exalted and\nhigh exceedingly. 14. As many were shocked at Thee--so marred from\nman His look, and His form from the sons of men--15. so shall He\nsprinkle many nations; concerning Him shall kings stop their mouth,\nbecause what was not recounted to them they have seen, and what they\nhad not heard they have perceived.\n\nLIII.--1. Who hath believed our report? and the arm of Jehovah, to\nwhom (or, upon whom) has it been revealed?\n\n2. And He came up like the tender plant before Him, and like a root\nfrom a dry ground; He had no form nor comeliness, and we shall see\nHim, and no sight that we should desire it. 3. Despised and forsaken\nof men (or ceasing from among men), a man of sorrows and acquainted\nwith sickness, and like one hiding the face from Him (or, us),\ndespised, and we esteemed Him not.\n\n4. Surely our sicknesses He bore, and our griefs He carried; and we\nthought Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. 5. And He was\npierced (or, wounded) for our transgression, bruised (or, crushed)\nfor our iniquities; the chastisement (or, punishment) for our peace\n(was) upon Him, and by His stripes we were healed. 6. And we like\nsheep had gone astray, each to his own way we had turned, and Jehovah\nlaid on Him the iniquity of us all.\n\n7. He was oppressed and He humbled Himself, and He will not open His\nmouth--as a lamb to the slaughter is brought, and as a sheep before\nits shearers is dumb--and He will not open His mouth. 8. From\ndistress and from judgment He was taken; and in His generation who\nwill think, that He was cut off from the land of the living; for the\ntransgression of my people (as) a curse for them? 9. And He gave with\nwicked (men) His grave, and with a rich (man) in His death; because\n(or, although) He had done no violence, and no deceit (was) in His\nmouth.\n\n10. And Jehovah was pleased to crush (or, bruise Him), He put Him to\ngrief (or, made Him sick); if (or, when) His soul shall make an\noffering for sin, He shall see (His) seed, He shall prolong (His)\ndays, and the pleasure of Jehovah in His hand shall prosper. 11. From\nthe labour of His soul (or, life) He shall see, He shall be\nsatisfied; by His knowledge shall my servant (as) a righteous one,\ngive righteousness to many, and their iniquities He will bear.\n12. Therefore will I divide to Him among the many, and with the\nstrong shall He divide the spoil, in lieu of this that He bared unto\ndeath His soul, and with the transgressors was numbered, and He\n(Himself) bare the sin of many, and for the transgressors He shall\nmake intercession.\n\nLIV.--[Instead of suffering from the loss of her national\nprerogatives, the Church shall be more glorious and productive than\nbefore, ver. 1. Instead of being limited to a single nation, she\nshall be so extended as to take in all the nations of the earth,\nvers. 2, 3. What seemed at first to be her forlorn and desolate\ncondition shall be followed by a glorious change, ver. 4. He who\nseemed to be the God of the Jews only shall now be seen to be the God\nof the Gentiles also, ver. 5. The abrogation of the old economy was\nlike the repudiation of a wife, but its effects will show it to be\nrather a renewal of the conjugal relation, ver. 6. The momentary\nrejection shall be followed by an everlasting reconciliation, vers.\n7, 8. The old economy, like Noah's flood, can never be repeated, ver.\n9. That was a temporary institution; this shall outlast the earth\nitself, ver. 10. The old Jerusalem shall be forgotten in the\nsplendour of the new, vers. 11, 12. But this shall be a spiritual\nsplendour, springing from a constant Divine influence, ver. 13.\nHence it shall be also a holy and a safe state, ver. 14. All the\nenemies of the Church shall either be destroyed or received into her\nbosom, ver. 15. The warrior and his weapons are alike God's creatures\nand at His disposal, ver. 16. In every conflict, both of hand and\ntongue, the Church shall be triumphant, not in her own right or her\nown strength, but in that of Him who justifies, pardons, and saves\nher, ver. 17.]\n\n1. Shout, O barren, that didst not bear; break forth into a shout and\ncry aloud, thou that didst not writhe (in childbirth): for more (are)\nthe children of the desolate than the children of the married\n(woman), saith Jehovah. 2. Widen the place of thy tent, and the\ncurtains of thy dwelling let them stretch out; spare not (or, hinder\nit not); lengthen thy cords and strengthen (or, make fast) thy\nstakes. 3. For right and left shalt thou break forth (or, spread),\nand thy seed shall possess (or, dispossess or inherit) nations, and\nrepeople ruined (or, forsaken) cities.\n\n4. Fear not, for thou shalt not be ashamed; and be not abashed, for\nthou shalt not blush; for the shame of thy youth thou shalt forget,\nand the reproach of thy widowhood thou shalt not remember any more.\n5. For thy husband (is) thy Maker, Jehovah of hosts is His name; and\nthy Redeemer (is) the Holy One of Israel, the God of all the earth\nshall He be called. 6. For as a wife forsaken and grieved of spirit\nhas Jehovah called thee, and (as) a wife of youth, for she shall be\nrejected, said thy God. 7. In a little moment I forsook thee, and in\ngreat mercies I will gather thee. 8. In a gush of wrath I hid My face\nfor a moment from thee, and in everlasting kindness I have had mercy\non thee, saith thy Redeemer, Jehovah. 9. For the waters of Noah is\nthis to Me; what I sware from the waters of Noah passing again over\nthe earth [_i.e.,_ that they should not pass], so have I sworn from\nbeing angry [that I will not be angry] against thee, and from\nrebuking [that I will not] rebuke thee. 10. For the mountains shall\nmove and the hills shall shake; but My favour from thee shall not\nmove, and My covenant of peace shall not shake, saith thy pitier,\nJehovah. 11. Wretched, storm-tossed, comfortless! Behold, I am laying\n(or, about to lay) thy stones in antimony, and I will found thee upon\nsapphires; 12. and I will make thy battlements (or, pinnacles) ruby,\nand thy gates to (be) sparkling gems, and all thy borders to (be)\nstones of pleasure (or delight). 13. And all thy children disciples\nof Jehovah, and great (or, plentiful) the peace of thy children.\n14. In righteousness shalt thou be established: be far from\noppression, for thou shalt not fear, and from destruction, for it\nshall not come near to thee. 15. Lo, they shall gather, they shall\ngather, not at My sign (or, signal). Who has gathered against thee?\nHe shall fall away to thee. 16. Lo, I have created the smith, blowing\ninto the fire of coal, and bringing out a weapon for his work; and I\nhave created the wasters to destroy. 17. Every weapon (that) shall be\nformed against thee shall not prosper, and every tongue that shall\nrise with thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage\nof the servants of Jehovah, and their righteousness from Me, saith\nJehovah.\n\nLV.--[By the removal of the old restrictions, the Church is, for the\nfirst time, open to the whole world, as the source or medium of the\nrichest blessings, ver. 1. It is only here that real nourishment can\nbe obtained, ver. 2. Life is made ours by an oath and covenant, ver.\n3. The Messiah is a witness of the truth and a commander of the\nnations, ver. 4. As such He will be recognised by many nations who\nbefore knew nothing of the true religion, ver. 5. These are now\naddressed directly, and exhorted to embrace the offered opportunity,\nver. 6. To this there is every encouragement afforded in the Divine\nmercy, ver. 7. The infinite disparity between God and man should have\nthe same effect, instead of hindering it, vers. 8, 9. The commands\nand promises of God must be fulfilled, vers. 10, 11. Nothing,\ntherefore, can prevent a glorious change in the condition of the\nworld under the dispensation of the Spirit, ver. 12. This blessed\nrenovation, being directly promotive of God's glory, shall endure for\never, ver. 13.]\n\n1. Ho, every thirsty one, come ye to the waters; and he to whom there\nis no money, come ye, buy (food) and eat; and come, buy, without\nmoney and without price, wine and milk. 2. Why will ye weigh money\nfor (that which is) not bread, and your labour for (that which is)\nnot to satiety? Hearken, hearken unto me, and eat (that which is)\ngood, and your soul shall enjoy itself in fatness. 3. Incline your\near and come unto me, hear and your soul shall live (or, let it\nlive), and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, the sure\nmercies of David. 4. Lo, (as) a witness of nations I have given him,\na chief and commander of nations. 5. Lo, a nation (that) thou knowest\nnot shalt thou call, and a nation (that) have not known thee shall\nrun unto thee, for the sake of Jehovah thy God, and for the Holy One\nof Israel, for He hath glorified thee.\n\n6. Seek ye Jehovah while He may be found; call ye upon Him while He\nis near. 7. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the man of iniquity\nhis thoughts, and let him return unto Jehovah, and He will have mercy\nupon him, and to our God for He will abundantly pardon (literally,\nmultiply to pardon). 8. For My thoughts (are) not as your thoughts,\nnor your ways My ways, saith Jehovah. 9. For (as) the heavens are\nhigher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My\nthoughts than your thoughts.\n\n10. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and\nthither returneth not, but when it has watered the earth and made it\nbear and put forth, and has given seed to the sower and bread to the\neater, 11. so shall My word be, which goeth out of My mouth: it shall\nnot return unto Me void (or, without effect), but when it has done\nthat which I desired, and successfully done that for which I sent it.\n12. For with joy shall ye go forth, and in peace shall ye be led; the\nmountains and the hills shall break out before you into a shout, and\nall the trees of the field shall clap the hand. 13. Instead of the\nthorn shall come up the cypress, and instead of the nettle shall come\nup the myrtle, and it shall be to Jehovah for a name, for an\neverlasting sign that shall not be cut off.\n\nLVI.--[The day is coming when the righteousness of God is to be fully\nrevealed, without the veils and shackles which had hitherto confined\nit, ver. 1. For this great change, the best preparation is fidelity\nto the spirit of the old economy, ver. 2. No personal or national\ndistinctions will be any longer recognised, ver. 3. Connection with\nthe Church will no longer be a matter of hereditary right, vers. 4,\n5. The Church shall be henceforth coextensive with the world, vers.\n6-8. But first the carnal Israel must be abandoned to its enemies,\nver. 9. Its rulers are neither able nor worthy to deliver the people\nor themselves, ver. 10-12.]\n\n1. Thus saith Jehovah, Keep ye judgment (or justice) and do\nrighteousness; for near (is) My salvation to come, and My\nrighteousness to be revealed. 2. Happy the man (that) shall do this,\nand the son of man that shall hold it fast, keeping the Sabbath from\nprofaning it, and keeping the hand from doing evil.\n\n3. And let not the foreigner say, who has joined himself unto\nJehovah, saying, Jehovah will separate me wholly from His people; and\nlet not the eunuch say, Lo, I am a dry tree. 4. For thus saith\nJehovah to (or, as to) the eunuchs, who shall keep My Sabbaths, and\nshall choose what I delight in, and take fast hold of My covenant,\n5. I will give to them in My house and within My walls a place and a\nname better than sons and than daughters; an everlasting name will I\ngive to him, which shall not be cut off. 6. And (as to) the\nforeigners joining themselves to Jehovah to serve Him and to love the\nname of Jehovah, to be to him for servants, every one keeping the\nSabbath from profaning it, and holding fast my covenant; 7. I will\nbring them to My mount of holiness, and make them joyful in My house\nof prayer, their offerings and their sacrifices (shall be) acceptance\non My altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all\nnations. 8. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, the gatherer of the outcasts\nof Israel, Still (more) will I gather upon him (in addition) to his\ngathered.\n\n9. All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, all ye beasts in the\nforest! 10. His watchmen (are) blind all of them, they have not known\n(or, do not know); all of them (are) dumb dogs, they cannot bark,\ndreaming, lying down, loving to slumber. 11. And the dogs are greedy,\nthey know not satiety, and they, the shepherds (or, the shepherds\nthemselves), know not how to distinguish (or, act wisely): all of\nthem to their own way are turned, (every) man to his own gain from\nhis own quarter (or, without exception). 12. Come ye, I will fetch\nwine, and we will intoxicate ourselves with strong drink, and like\nto-day (shall be) to-morrow, great, abundantly, exceedingly.\n\nLVII.--[The righteous who died under the old economy were taken away\nfrom the evil to come, vers. 1, 2. The wicked who despised them were\nthemselves proper objects of contempt, vers. 3, 4. Their idolatry is\nfirst described in literal terms, vers. 5, 6. It is then represented\nas a spiritual idolatry, vers. 7-9. Their obstinate persistence in\nsin is represented as the cause of their hopeless and remediless\ndestruction, vers. 10-13. A way is prepared for spiritual Israel to\ncome out from among them, vers. 14. The hopes of true believers shall\nnot be deferred for ever, vers. 15, 16. Even these must be chastened\nfor their sins, ver. 17. But there is favour in reserve for all true\npenitents, without regard to national distinctions, vers. 18. 19. To\nthe incorrigible sinner, on the other hand, peace is impossible,\nvers. 20, 21.]\n\n1. The righteous perisheth, and there is no man laying (it) to heart,\nand men of mercy are taken away, with none considering (or\nperceiving) that from the presence of evil the righteous is taken\naway. 2. He shall go in peace (or, enter into peace); they shall rest\nupon their beds--walking straight before him.\n\n3. And ye (or, as for you), draw near hither, ye sons of the witch,\nseed of the adulterer and the harlot. 4. At whom do ye amuse\nyourselves? At whom do ye enlarge the mouth, prolong the tongue? Are\nye not children of rebellion (or, apostasy), a seed of falsehood?\n5. Inflamed (or, inflaming yourselves) among the oaks (or,\nterebinths), under every green tree, slaughtering the children in the\nvalleys, under the clefts of the rocks. 6. Among the smooth (stones)\nof the valley (or, the brook) is thy portion; they, they are thy lot;\nalso to them hast thou poured out a drink-offering, thou hast brought\nup a meat-offering. Shall I for these things be consoled (_i.e.,_\nsatisfied without revenge)?\n\n7. On a high and elevated mountain thou hast placed thy bed; also\nthere (or, even thither) hast thou gone up to offer sacrifice. 8. And\nbehind the door and the door-post thou hast placed thy memorial, far\naway from me thou hast uncovered (thyself or thy bed), and hast gone\nup, thou hast enlarged thy bed and hast covenanted from them, thou\nhast loved their bed, thou hast provided room. 9. And thou hast gone\nto the king in oil, and hast multiplied thine unguents, and hast sent\nthine ambassadors even to a far-off (land), and hast gone (or, sent)\ndown even to hell.\n\n10. In the greatness of thy way (or, the abundance of thy travel)\nthou hast labour; (but) thou hast not said, There is no hope. Thou\nhast found the life of thy hand; therefore thou art not weak. 11. And\nwhom hast thou feared and been afraid of, that thou shouldst lie? And\nMe thou hast not remembered, thou hast not called to mind (or, laid\nto heart). Is it not (because) I hold My peace, and that of old, that\nthou wilt not fear Me? 12. I will declare thy righteousness and thy\nworks, and they shall not profit (or, avail) thee. 13. In thy crying\n(_i.e.,_ when thou criest for help), let thy gatherings save thee!\nAnd (yet) all of them the wind shall take up, and a breath shall take\naway, and the (one) trusting in Me shall inherit the land and possess\nMy holy mountain.\n\n14. And he shall say, Cast up, cast up, clear the way, take up the\nstumbling-block from the way of the people! 15. For thus saith the\nHigh and Exalted One, inhabiting eternity, and Holy is His name: On\nhigh and holy will I dwell, and with the broken and humble of spirit,\nto revive the spirit of the humble and to retrieve the heart of the\nbroken (or, contrite ones). 16. For not to eternity will I contend,\nand not to perpetuity will I be wroth; for the spirit from before Me\nwill faint, and the souls (which) I have made.\n\n17. For his covetous iniquity I am wroth and will smite him, (I will)\nhide Me and will be wroth; for he has gone on turning away (_i.e.,_\npersevering in apostasy) in the way of his heart (or, of his own\ninclination). 18. His ways I have seen, and I will heal him, and will\nguide him, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners.\n19. Creating the fruit of the lips, Peace, peace to the far off and\nto the near, saith Jehovah, and I will heal him.\n\n20. And the wicked (are) like the troubled sea, for rest it cannot,\nand its waters cast up mire and dirt. 21. There is no peace, saith my\nGod, to the wicked.\n\nLVIII.--[The rejection of Israel as a nation is the just reward of\ntheir unfaithfulness, ver. 1. Their religious services are\nhypocritical, ver. 2. Their mortifications and austerities are\nnullified by accompanying wickedness, vers. 3-5. They should have\nbeen connected with the opposite virtues, vers. 6, 7. In that case\nthey would have continued to enjoy the divine favour, vers. 8, 9.\nThey are still invited to make trial of this course, with an ample\npromise of prosperity and blessing to encourage them, vers. 10-14.]\n\n1. Cry with the throat, spare not, like the trumpet raise thy voice,\nand tell to My people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob\ntheir sins.\n\n2. And Me day (by) day they will seek, and the knowledge of My ways\nthey will delight in (or, desire), like a nation which has done\nright, and the judgment of its God has not forsaken; they will ask of\nMe righteous judgments, the approach to God (or, of God) they will\ndelight in (or, desire).\n\n3. Why have we fasted, and Thou hast not seen (it)? afflicted our\nsoul (or, themselves) and Thou wilt not know (it)? Behold in the day\nof your fast ye will find pleasure, and all your labours ye will\nexact. 4. Behold, for strife and contention ye will fast, and to\nsmite with the flat of wickedness; ye shall not (or, ye will not)\nfast to-day (so as) to make your voice heard on high. 5. Shall it be\nlike this, the fast that I will choose, the day of man's humbling\nhimself? Is it to hang his head like a bulrush, and make sackcloth\nand ashes his bed? Wilt thou call this a fast, and a day of\nacceptance (an acceptable day) to Jehovah?\n\n6. Is not this the fast that I will choose, to loosen bands of\nwickedness, to undo the fastenings of the yoke, and to send away the\ncrushed (or broken) free, and every yoke ye shall break? 7. Is it not\nto break unto the hungry thy bread? and the afflicted, the homeless,\nthou shalt bring home; for thou shalt see one naked and shalt clothe\nhim, and from thine own flesh thou shalt not hide thyself.\n\n8. Then shall break forth as the dawn thy light, and thy healing\nspeedily shall spring up; then shall go before thee thy\nrighteousness, and the glory of Jehovah shall be thy rereward (or,\nbring up thy rear). 9. Then shalt thou call, and Jehovah will answer;\nthou shalt cry, and He will say, Behold Me (here I am), if thou wilt\nput away from the midst of thee the yoke, the pointing of the finger,\nand the speaking of vanity.\n\n10. And (if) thou wilt let out thy soul to the hungry, and the\nafflicted soul will satisfy, then shall thy sight arise in the\ndarkness, and thy gloom as the (double light or) noon. 11. And\nJehovah will guide thee over, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and\nthy bones shall He invigorate, and thou shalt be like a watered\ngarden, and like a spring of water whose waters shall not fail.\n12. And they shall build from thee the ruins of antiquity (or,\nperpetuity), foundations of age and age (_i.e.,_ of ages) shalt thou\nraise up: and it shall be called to thee (or, thou shalt be called)\nRepairer of the breach, Restorer of paths for dwelling.\n\n13. If thou wilt turn away thy foot from the Sabbath to do thy\npleasure on My holy day, and wilt call the Sabbath a delight (and)\nthe holy (day) of Jehovah honourable, and wilt honour it by not doing\nthy own ways, by not finding thy pleasure and talking talk; 14. then\nshalt thou be happy in Jehovah, and I will make thee rule upon the\nheights of the earth, and I will make thee eat the heritage of Jacob\nthy father, for Jehovah's mouth hath spoken it.\n\nLIX.--[The fault of Israel's rejection is not in the Lord, but in\nthemselves, vers. 1, 2. They are charged with sins of violence and\ninjustice, vers. 3, 4. The ruinous effects of these corruptions are\ndescribed, vers. 5, 6. Their violence and injustice are fatal to\nthemselves and to others, vers. 7, 8. The moral condition of the\npeople is described as one of darkness and hopeless degradation,\nvers. 9-15. In this extremity, Jehovah interposes to deliver the true\nIsrael, vers. 16, 17. This can only be effected by the destruction of\nthe carnal Israel, vers. 18. The Divine presence shall no longer be\nsubjected to local restrictions, vers. 19. A Redeemer shall appear in\nZion to save the true Israel, vers. 20. The old dispensation shall\ngive place to the dispensation of the Word and Spirit, which shall\nlast for ever, ver. 21.]\n\n1. Behold, not shortened is Jehovah's hand from saving, and not\nbenumbed is His ear from hearing. 2. But your iniquities have been\nseparating between you and your God, and your sins have hid (His)\nface from you, so as not to hear.\n\n3. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with\niniquity; your lips have spoken falsehood, your tongue will utter\nwickedness. 4. There is none calling with justice, and there is none\ncontending with truth; they trust in vanity and speak falsehood,\nconceive mischief and bring forth iniquity. 5. Eggs of the basilisk\nthey have hatched, and webs of the spider they will spin (or, weave);\nthe one eating their eggs shall die, and the crushed (egg) shall\nhatch out a viper. 6. The webs shall not become (or, be for)\nclothing, and they shall not cover themselves with their works: their\nworks are works of mischief (or, iniquity), and the doing of violence\nis in their hands. 7. Their feet to evil will run, and they will\nhasten to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of\nmischief (or, iniquity); wasting and ruin are in their paths. 8. The\nway of peace they have not known, and there is no justice in their\npaths; their courses they have rendered crooked for them; every one\nwalking in them knows not peace.\n\n9. Therefore is judgment far from us, and righteousness will not\novertake us; we wait for light, and behold darkness; for splendours,\n(and) in obscurities we walk. 10. We grope like the blind for the\nwall, like the eyeless we grope; we stumble at noon-day as in\ntwilight, in thick darkness like the dead. 11. We growl like the\nbears, all of us, and like the doves we moan; we wait for justice and\nthere is none, for salvation (and) it is far from us. 12. For our\ntransgressions are multiplied before Thee, and our sins testify\nagainst us; for our transgressions are with us, and our\niniquities--we know them; 13. to transgress and lie against Jehovah,\nand to turn back from behind our God, to speak oppression and\ndeparture, to conceive and utter from the heart words of falsehood.\n14. And judgment is thrust (or, driven) back, and righteousness afar\noff stands; for truth is fallen in the street, and uprightness cannot\nenter. 15. Then truth was missed (_i.e.,_ found wanting), and whoso\ndeparted from evil made himself a prey (or, was plundered).\n\nThen Jehovah saw it, and it was evil in His eyes that there was no\njudgment (or, practical justice). 16. And He saw that there was no\nman, and He stood aghast that there was no one interposing; and His\nown arm saved for Him, and His own righteousness, it upheld Him.\n17. And He clothed Himself with righteousness as a coat of mail, and\na helmet of salvation on His head, and He clothed Himself with\ngarments of vengeance (for) clothing. 18. According to (their) deeds,\naccording will He repay, wrath to His enemies, (their) desert to His\nfoes, to the isles (their) desert will He repay. 19. And they shall\nfear from the west the name of Jehovah, and from the rising of the\nsun His glory; for it shall come like a straitened stream, the spirit\nof Jehovah raising a banner in it.\n\n20. Then shall come for Zion a Redeemer, and for the converts from\napostasy in Jacob, saith Jehovah. 21. And I (or, as for me)--this\n(is) My covenant with them, saith Jehovah. My Spirit which is on\nthee, and My words which I have placed in thy mouth, shall not depart\nout of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith\nJehovah, from henceforth and for ever (or, from now and to eternity).\n\nLX.--[The prophet describes the approaching change as a new and\nDivine light rising upon Zion, ver. 1. He contrasts it with the\ndarkness of surrounding nations, ver. 2. Yet these are not excluded\nfrom participation in the light, ver. 3. The elect in every nation\nare the children of the Church, and shall be gathered to her, vers.\n4, 5. On one side he sees the Oriental caravans and flocks\napproaching, vers. 6, 7. On the other, the commercial fleets of\nwestern nations, vers. 8, 9. What seemed rejection is in fact the\nhighest favour, ver. 10. The glory of the true Church is her freedom\nfrom local and national restrictions, ver. 11. None are excluded from\nher pale but those who exclude themselves and thereby perish, ver.\n12. External nature shall contribute to her splendour, ver. 13. Her\nvery enemies shall do her homage, ver. 14. Instead of being cast off,\nshe is glorified for ever, ver. 15. Instead of being identified with\none nation, she shall derive support from all, ver. 16. All that is\nchanged in her condition shall be changed for the better, ver. 17.\nThe evils of her former state are done away, ver. 18. Even some of\nits advantages are now superfluous, ver. 19. What remains shall be no\nlonger precarious, ver. 20. The splendour of this new dispensation is\na moral and spiritual splendour, but attended by external safety and\nprotection, ver. 21, 22. All this shall certainly and promptly come\nto pass at the appointed time, ver. 22.]\n\n1. Arise, be light; for thy light is come, and the glory of Jehovah\nhas risen upon thee. 2. For behold, the darkness shall cover the\nearth, and a gloom the nations, and upon thee shall Jehovah rise, and\nHis glory upon thee shall be seen. 3. And nations shall walk in thy\nlight, and kings in the brightness of thy rising.\n\n4. Lift up thine eyes round about (_i.e.,_ in all directions) and\nsee; all of them are gathered, they come to thee, thy sons from afar\nshall come, and thy daughters at the side shall be borne. 5. Then\nshalt thou see (or, fear), and brighten up (or, overflow), and thy\nheart shall throb and swell; because (or, when) the abundance of the\nsea shall be turned upon thee, the strength of nations shall come\nunto thee.\n\n6. A stream of camels shall cover thee, young camels (or,\ndromedaries) of Midian and Ephah, all of them from Sheba shall come,\ngold and incense shall they bear, and the praises of Jehovah as good\nnews. 7. All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered for thee, the rams\nof Nebaioth shall minister to thee, they shall ascend with good-will\n(or, acceptably) My altar, and My house of beauty I will beautify.\n\n8. Who are these that fly as a cloud and as doves to their windows?\n9. Because for Me the isles are waiting (or, must wait) and the ships\nof Tarshish in the first place, to bring thy sons from far, their\nsilver and their gold with them, for the name of Jehovah thy God, and\nfor the Holy One of Israel, because He has glorified thee.\n\n10. And strangers shall build thy walls, and their kings shall serve\nthee; for in My wrath I smote thee, and in My favour I have had mercy\non thee. 11. And thy gates shall be open continually, day and night\nthey shall not be shut, to bring into thee the strength of nations\nand their kings led (captive, or, in triumph). 12. For the nation and\nthe kingdom which will not serve thee shall perish, and the nations\nshall be desolated, desolated.\n\n13. The glory of Lebanon to thee shall come, cypress, plane, and box\ntogether, to adorn the place of My sanctuary, and the place of My\nfeet I will honour.\n\n14. Then shall come to thee bending the sons of thy oppressors, then\nshall bow down to the soles of thy feet all thy despisers, and shall\ncall thee the City of Jehovah, Zion the holy place of Israel (or, the\nZion of the Holy One of Israel).\n\n15. Instead of thy being forsaken and hated, and with none passing\n(through thee), and I will place thee for a boast of perpetuity, a\njoy of age and age. 16. And they shalt suck the milk of nations, and\nthe breast of kings shalt thou suck, and thou shalt know that I,\nJehovah, am thy Saviour, and (that) thy Redeemer (is) the Mighty One\nof Jacob. 17. Instead of brass (or, copper) I will bring gold, and\ninstead of iron I will bring silver, and instead of wood brass, and\ninstead of stones iron, and I will place (or, make) thy government\npeace, and thy rulers righteousness.\n\n18. There shall be no more heard violence in thy land, desolation and\nruin in thy borders (or, within thy bounds); and thou shalt call\nsalvation thy walls, and thy gates praise. 19. No more shall be to\nthee the sun for a light by day, and for brightness the moon shall\nnot shine to thee, and Jehovah shall become thy everlasting light,\nand thy God thy glory. 20. The sun shall set no more, and thy moon\nshall not be withdrawn; for Jehovah shall be unto thee an eternal\nlight, and completed the days of thy mourning. 21. And thy people,\nall of them righteous, for ever shall inherit the earth, the branch\n(or, shoot) of My planting, the work of My hands, to glorify Myself\n(or, to be glorified). 22. The little one shall become a thousand,\nand the small one a strong nation; I, Jehovah, in its time will\nhasten it.\n\nLXI.--[After describing the new condition of the Church, he again\nintroduces the great Personage by whom the change is to be brought\nabout. His mission and its object are described by Himself in vers.\n1-3. Its grand result shall be the restoration of a ruined world,\nver. 4. The Church, as a mediator between God and the revolted\nnations, shall enjoy their solace and support, vers. 5, 6. The shame\nof God's people shall be changed to honour, ver. 7. The Church once\nrestricted as a single nation, shall be recognised and honoured among\nall, ver. 9. He triumphs in the prospect of the universal spread of\ntruth and righteousness, vers. 10, 11.]\n\n1. The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah (is) upon me, because Jehovah hath\nanointed me to bring good news to the humble, He hath sent me to bind\nup the broken in heart, to proclaim to captives freedom, and to the\nbound open opening (of the eyes or of the prison doors); 2. to\nproclaim a year of favour for Jehovah, and a day of vengeance for our\nGod; to comfort all mourners, 3. to put upon Zion's mourners--to give\nthem a crown instead of ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, a garment\nof praise for a faint spirit; and it shall be called to them (or,\nthey shall be called) the oaks of righteousness, the planting of\nJehovah (_i.e.,_ planted by Jehovah) to glorify Himself.\n\n4. And they shall bind up the ruins of antiquity, the desolations of\nthe ancients they shall raise, and shall renew the cities of ruin\n(_i.e.,_ ruined cities), the desolations of age and age. 5. Then\nshall stand strangers and feed your flocks, and the children of\noutland (shall be) your ploughmen and your vine-dressers. 6. And ye\n(or more emphatically, as for you), the priests of Jehovah shall ye\nbe called, the ministers of our God shall be said to you (or, of\nyou), the strength of nations shall ye eat, and in their glory shall\nye substitute yourselves. 7. Instead of your shame (ye shall have)\ndouble, and (instead of their) confusion they shall celebrate their\nportion; therefore in their land shall they inherit double,\neverlasting joy shall be to them. 8. For I am Jehovah, loving\njustice, hating (that which is) taken away unjustly, and I will give\ntheir hire truly, and an everlasting covenant I strike for them.\n9. Then shall be known among the nations their seed, and their issue\nin the midst of the peoples. All seeing them shall acknowledge them\nthat they are a seed Jehovah has blessed.\n\n10. (I will) joy, I will joy in Jehovah, let my soul exult in my God;\nfor He hath clothed me with garments of salvation, a mantle of\nrighteousness has He put on me, as a bridegroom adjusts his priestly\ncrown, and as the bride arrays her jewels. 11. For as the earth puts\nforth its growth, and as the garden makes its plants to grow, so\nshall the Lord Jehovah make to grow righteousness and praise before\nall the nations.\n\nLXII.--[The words of the great Deliverer are continued from the\nforegoing chapter. He will not rest until the glorious change in the\ncondition of His people is accomplished, ver. 1. They shall be\nrecognised by kings and nations as the people of Jehovah, vers. 2, 3.\nShe who seemed to be forsaken is still His spouse, vers. 4, 5. The\nChurch is required to watch and pray for the fulfilment of the\npromise, vers. 6, 7. God has sworn to protect her and supply her\nwants, ver. 8, 9. Instead of a single nation, all the nations of the\nearth shall flow unto her, ver 10. The good news of salvation shall\nno longer be confined, but universally diffused, ver 11. The glory of\nthe Church is the redemption of the world, ver. 12.]\n\n1. For Zion's sake I will not be still, and for Jerusalem's sake I\nwill not rest, until her righteousness go forth as brightness, and\nher salvation as a lamp (that) burneth. 2. And nations shall see thy\nrighteousness, and all kings thy glory; and there shall be called in\nthee a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah shall utter. 3. And thou\nshalt be a crown of beauty in Jehovah's hand, and a diadem of royalty\nin the palm of thy God. 4. No more shall it be called to thee (shalt\nthou be called) Azubah (Forsaken), and thy land shall no more be\ncalled Shemamah (Desolate), but thou shalt be called Hephzibah (my\ndelight is in her), and thy land Beulah (married), for Jehovah\ndelights in thee, and thy land shall be married. 5. For (as) a young\nman marrieth a virgin, (so) shall thy sons marry thee, and (with) the\njoy of a bridegroom over a bride shall thy God rejoice over thee.\n\n6. On thy walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and\nall the night long they shall not be silent. Ye that remind Jehovah,\nlet there be no rest to you, 7. and give no rest to Him, until He\nestablish and, until He place Jerusalem a praise in the earth.\n\n8. Sworn hath Jehovah by His right hand, and by His arm of strength,\nIf I give (_i.e.,_ I will not give) thy corn any more as food to\nthine enemies, and if the sons of the outland shall drink thy new\nwine which thou hast laboured in (I am not God). 9. For those\ngathering it shall eat it, and shall praise Jehovah, and those\ncollecting it shall drink it in My holy courts (or, in the courts of\nMy sanctuary). 10. Pass, pass through the gates, clear the way of the\npeople, raise high, raise high the highway, free (it) from stones,\nraise a banner (or, a signal) over the nations. 11. Behold, Jehovah\nhas caused it to be heard to the end of the earth, Say ye to the\ndaughter of Zion, Behold thy salvation cometh; behold, His reward is\nwith Him and His hire before Him. 12. And they shall call them the\nHoly People, the redeemed of Jehovah, and thou shalt be called\nDerushah (sought for), Ir-lo-neczabah (city not forsaken).\n\nLXIII.--[The influx of the Gentiles into Zion having been described\nin the preceding verses, the destruction of her enemies is now\nsublimely represented as a sanguinary triumph of Jehovah or the\nMessiah, vers. 1-6. The prophet then supposes the catastrophe already\npast, and takes a retrospective view of God's compassion towards His\npeople, and of their unfaithfulness during the old economy, vers.\n7-14. He assumes the tone of earnest supplication, such as might have\nbeen offered by the believing Jews when all seemed lost in the\ndestruction of the commonwealth and temple, vers. 15-19.]\n\nLXIV.--[This chapter is inseparable from the one before it. The\nstrongest confidence is expressed in the Divine power, founded upon\nformer experience, vers. 1-3. The two great facts of Israel's\nrejection as a nation, and the continued existence of the Church, are\nbrought together in ver. 4. The unworthiness of Israel is\nacknowledged still more fully, ver. 5, 6. The sovereign authority of\nGod is humbly recognised, ver. 7. His favour is earnestly implored,\nver. 8. The external prerogatives of Israel are lost, ver. 9. But\nwill God for that cause cast off the true Israel, His own people?\nver. 10.]\n\n1. Who (is) this coming from Edom, bright (as to His) garments from\nBozrah, this one adorned in His apparel, bending in the abundance of\nHis strength?\n\nI, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save.\n\n2. Why (is there) redness to Thy raiment, and (why are) Thy garments\nlike (those of) one treading in a wine-press?\n\n3. The press I have trodden by Myself, and of the nations there was\nnot a man with Me; and I will tread them in My anger, and trample\nthem in My fury, and in their juice shall spirt upon My garments, and\nall My vesture I have stained. 4. For the day of vengeance (is) in My\nheart, and the year of My redeemed is come. 5. And I look, and there\nis none helping; and I stand aghast, and there is none sustaining;\nand My own arm saves for Me, and My fury it sustains Me. 6. And I\ntread the nations in My anger, and I make them drunk in My wrath, and\nI bring down to the earth their juice.\n\n7. The mercies of Jehovah I will cause to be remembered, the praises\nof Jehovah, according to all that Jehovah hath done for us, which He\nhath done for them, according to His compassions, and according to\nthe multitude of His mercies.\n\n8. And He said, Only they are My people, (My) children shall not lie\n(or, deceive), and He became a Saviour for them. 9. In all their\nenmity He was not an enemy, and the angel of His face (or, presence)\nsaved them; in His love and in His sparing mercy He redeemed them,\nand He took them up and carried them all the days of old. 10. And\nthey rebelled, and grieved His Holy Spirit (or, Spirit of holiness),\nand He was turned from them into an enemy, He himself fought against\nthem.\n\n11. And he remembered the days of old, Moses (and) his people. Where\nis He that brought them up from the sea, the shepherd of His flock?\nWhere is He that put within him His Holy Spirit? 12. Leading them by\nthe right hand of Moses (and) His glorious arm, cleaving the waters\nfrom before them, to make for Him an everlasting name? 13. Making\nthem walk in the depths, like the horse in the desert they shall not\nstumble. 14. As the herd into the valley will go down, the Spirit of\nJehovah will make him rest. So didst Thou lead Thy people, to make\nfor Thyself a name of glory.\n\n15. Look (down) from heaven and see from Thy dwelling-place of\nholiness and beauty! Where is Thy zeal and Thy might (or, mighty\ndeeds)? The sounding of Thy bowels and Thy mercies towards me have\nwithdrawn themselves. 16. For Thou (art) our Father; for Abraham hath\nnot known us, and Israel will not recognise us; Thou Jehovah art our\nFather, our Redeemer of old (or, from everlasting) is Thy name.\n17. Why wilt Thou make us wander, O Jehovah, from Thy ways? (why)\nwilt Thou harden our heart from Thy fear? Return, for the sake of Thy\nservants, the tribes of Thy inheritance. 18. For a little Thy holy\npeople possessed, our enemies trod down Thy sanctuary. 19. We are of\nold, Thou has not ruled over them, Thy name has not been called upon\nthem. LXIV.--1. Oh that Thou wouldst rend the heavens (and) come\ndown, (that) from before Thee the mountains might quake (or flow\ndown), 2. as fire kindles brush, fire boils water--to make known Thy\nname to Thine enemies, from before Thee nations shall tremble. 3. In\nThy doing fearful things (which) we expect not, (oh that) Thou\nwouldst come down, (that) the mountains before Thee might flow down.\n4. And from eternity they have not heard, they have not perceived by\nthe ear, the eye hath not seen, a God beside Thee (who) will do for\n(one) waiting for Him.\n\n5. Thou hast met with one rejoicing and executing righteousness; in\nThy ways shall they remember Thee; behold, Thou hast been wroth, and\nwe have sinned; in them is perpetuity, and we shall be saved. 6. And\nwe were like the unclean all of us, and like a filthy garment all our\nrighteousness (virtues or good works), and we faded like the (fading)\nleaf all of us, and our iniquities like the wind will take us up (or,\ncarry us away). 7. And there is no one calling on Thy name, rousing\nhimself to lay hold on Thee; for Thou hast hid Thy face from us, and\nhast melted us because of (or, by means of) our iniquities.\n\n8. And now Jehovah, our Father (art) Thou, we the clay and Thou our\npotter, and the work of Thy hands (are) we all. 9. Be not angry, O\nJehovah, to extremity, and do not to eternity remember guilt; lo,\nlook, we pray thee, Thy people (are) we all. 10. The holy cities are\na desert, Zion is a desert, Jerusalem a waste. 11. Our house of\nholiness and beauty (in) which our fathers praised Thee has been\nburned up with fire, and all our delights (or, desirable places) have\nbecome a desolation. 12. Wilt Thou for these (things) restrain\nThyself, O Jehovah, wilt Thou keep silence and afflict us to\nextremity?\n\nLXV.--[The grand enigma of Israel's simultaneous loss and gain is\nsolved by a prediction of the calling of the Gentiles, ver. 1. This\nis connected with the obstinate unfaithfulness of the chosen people,\nver. 2. They are represented under the two main aspects of their\ncharacter at different periods, as gross idolaters and as pharisaical\nbigots, vers. 3-5. Their casting off was not occasioned by the sins\nof one generation, but of many, vers. 6, 7. But even in this rejected\nrace there was a chosen remnant, in whom the promises shall be\nfulfilled, vers. 8-10. He then reverts to the idolatrous Jews, and\nthreatens them with condign punishment, vers. 11, 12. The fate of the\nunbelieving carnal Israel is compared with that of the true spiritual\nIsrael, vers. 13-16. The gospel economy is described as a new\ncreation, ver. 17. Its blessings are represented under glowing\nfigures borrowed from the old dispensation, vers. 18-19. Premature\ndeath shall be no longer known, ver. 20. Possession and enjoyment\nshall no longer be precarious, vers. 21-23. Their very desires shall\nbe anticipated, ver. 24. All animosities and noxious influences shall\ncease for ever, ver. 25.]\n\n1. I have been inquired of by those that asked not, I have been found\nby those that sought Me not; I have said, Behold Me, behold Me, to a\nnation (that) was not called by My name. 2. I have spread (or,\nstretched) out My hands all the day (or, every day) to a rebellious\npeople, those going the way not good, after their own thoughts (or,\ndesigns)--3. the people angering Me to My face continually,\nsacrificing in the gardens, and censing on the bricks; 4. sitting in\nthe graves, and in the holes they will lodge, eating the flesh of\nswine, and broth of filthy things (is in) their vessels; 5. the (men)\nsaying, Keep to thyself, come not near to me, for I am holy to\nthee,--these (are) a smoke in My wrath, a fire burning all the day\n(or, every day). 6 and 7. Lo, it is written before Me, I will not\nrest except I repay, and I will repay into their bosom your\niniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith\nJehovah, who burned incense on the mountains, and on the hills\nblasphemed Me, and I will measure their first work into their bosom.\n\n8. Thus saith Jehovah, as (when) juice is found in the cluster, and\none says, Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it, so will I do for\nthe sake of My servants, not to destroy the whole. 9. And I will\nbring forth from Jacob a seed, and from Judah an heir of My\nmountains, and My chosen ones shall inherit it, and My servants shall\ndwell there. 10. And Sharon shall be for (or, become) a home of\nflocks, and the valley of Achor a lair of herds, for My people who\nhave sought Me.\n\n11. And (as for) you, forsakers of Jehovah, the (men) forgetting My\nholy mountain, the (men) setting for Fortune a table, and the (men)\nfilling for Fate a mingled draught; 12. and I have numbered you to\nthe sword, and all of you to the slaughter shall bow; because I\ncalled and ye did not answer, I spake and ye did not hear, and ye did\nthe (thing that was) evil in my eyes, and that which I desired not ye\nchose.\n\n13 and 14. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Lo! My servants\nshall eat and ye shall hunger; lo, My servants shall drink and ye\nshall thirst; lo, My servants shall rejoice and ye shall be ashamed;\nlo, My servants shall shout from gladness of heart, and ye shall cry\nfrom grief of heart, and from brokenness of spirit ye shall howl.\n15. And ye shall leave your name for an oath to My chosen ones, and\nthe Lord Jehovah shall slay thee, and shall call His servants by\nanother name (lit. call another name to them), 16. (by) which the\n(man) blessing himself in the land (or, earth) shall bless himself by\nthe God of truth, and (by which) the (man) swearing in the land (or,\nearth) shall swear by the God of truth, because forgotten are the\nformer enmities (or, troubles), and because they are hidden from My\neyes.\n\n17. For lo I (am) creating (or, about to create) new heavens and a\nnew earth, and the former (things) shall not be remembered, and shall\nnot come up into the mind (lit. on the heart). 18. But rejoice and be\nglad unto eternity (in) that which I (am) creating, for lo, I (am)\ncreating Jerusalem a joy, and her people a rejoicing. 19. And I will\nrejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people; and there shall not be\nheard in her again the voice of weeping and the voice of crying.\n20. There shall be no more from there an infant of days, and an old\nman who shall not fulfil his days, for the child a hundred years old\nshall die, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed. 21\nand 22. And they shall build houses and inhabit (them), and shall\nplant vineyards and eat the fruit of them, they shall not build and\nanother inhabit, they shall not plant and another eat; for as the\ndays of a tree (shall be) the days of My people, and the work of\ntheir hands My chosen ones shall wear out (or, survive). 23. They\nshall not labour in vain, and they shall not bring forth for terror;\nfor the seed of the blessed of Jehovah are they, and their offspring\nwith them. 24. And it shall be (or, come to pass), that they shall\nnot yet have called and I will answer, yet (shall) they (be) speaking\nand I will hear. 25. The wolf and the lamb shall feed as one, and the\nlion like the ox shall eat straw, and the serpent dust (for) his\nfood. They shall not hurt and they shall not corrupt (or, destroy) in\nall My holy mountain, saith Jehovah.\n\nLXVI.--[This chapter winds up the prophetic discourse with an express\nprediction of the change of dispensation, and a description of the\ndifference between them. Jehovah will no longer dwell in temples made\nwith hands, ver. 1. Every sincere and humble heart shall be His\nresidence, ver. 2. The ancient sacrifices, though Divinely\ninstituted, will henceforth be as hateful as the rites of idolatry,\nver. 3. They who still cling to the abrogated ritual will be\nfearfully but righteously requited, ver. 4. The true Israel cast out\nby these deluded sinners shall ere long be glorified, and the carnal\nIsrael fearfully rewarded, vers. 5, 6. The ancient Zion may already\nbe seen travailing with a new and glorious dispensation, vers. 7-9.\nThey who mourned for her seeming desolation, now rejoice in her\nabundance and her honour, vers. 10-14. At the same time the carnal\nIsrael shall be destroyed, as apostates and idolaters, vers. 15-17.\nThe place where they once occupied shall now be filled by the elect\nfrom all nations, ver. 18. To gather these, a remnant of the ancient\nIsrael shall go forth among the Gentiles, ver. 19. They shall come\nfrom every quarter, and by every mode of conveyance, ver. 20. They\nshall be admitted to the sacerdotal honours by the chosen people,\nver. 21. This new dispensation shall not be temporary, like the one\nbefore it, but shall last for ever, ver. 22. While the spiritual\nIsrael is thus replenished from all nations, the apostate Israel\nshall perish by a lingering decay in the sight of an astonished\nworld, ver. 23, 24.]\n\n1. Thus saith Jehovah, the heavens (are) My throne, and the earth My\nfootstool; where is (or, what is) the house which ye will build for\nMe, and where is (or, what is) the place of My rest? 2. And all these\nMy own hand made, and all these were (or, are), saith Jehovah; and to\nthis one will I look, to the afflicted and contrite in spirit, and\ntrembling at My word.\n\n3. Slaying the ox, smiting a man--sacrificing the sheep, breaking a\ndog's neck--offering an oblation, blood of swine--making a memorial\nof incense, blessing vanity--also they have chosen their ways, and in\ntheir abominations has their soul delighted. 4. I also will choose\ntheir vexations, and their fear I will bring unto them; because I\ncalled and there was no answering, I spake and they did not hear, and\nthey did evil in My eyes, and that which I delight not in they chose.\n\n5. Hear the word of Jehovah, ye that tremble at His word. Your\nbrethren say, (these) hating you and casting you out for My name's\nsake, Jehovah will be glorified, and we shall gaze upon our joy--and\nthey shall be ashamed. 6. A voice of tumult from the city! A voice\nfrom the temple! The voice of Jehovah, rendering requital to His\nenemies!\n\n7. Before she travailed she brought forth, before her pain came she\nwas delivered of a male. 8. Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath\nseen such things? Shall a land be brought forth in one day, or shall\na nation be born at once? For Zion hath travailed, she hath also\nbrought forth her children. 9. Shall I bring to the birth and not\ncause to bring forth? saith Jehovah. Or am I the one causing to bring\nforth, and shall I shut up? saith thy God.\n\n10. Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and exult in her, all that love her;\nand be glad with her with gladness, all those mourning for her.\n11. that ye may suck and be satisfied from the breast of her\nconsolations, that ye may milk out and enjoy yourselves, from the\nfulness (or, the full breast) of her glory. 12. For thus saith\nJehovah, Behold, I am extending to her peace like a river, and like\nan overflowing stream the glory of nations; and ye shall suck; on the\nside shall ye be borne, and on the knees shall ye be dandled. 13. As\na man who his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you, and in\nJerusalem shall ye be comforted. 14. And ye shall see, and your heart\nshall leap (with joy), and your bones like grass shall sprout, and\nthe hand of Jehovah shall be known to His servants, and He shall be\nindignant at His enemies.\n\n15. For lo, Jehovah in fire will come, and like the whirlwind His\nchariots, to appease in fury His anger, and His rebuke in flames of\nfire. 16. For by fire is Jehovah striving and by His sword with all\nflesh, and multiplied (or, many) are the slain of Jehovah. 17. The\n(men) hallowing themselves and the (men) cleansing themselves to (or,\ntowards) the gardens after one in the midst, eaters of swine's flesh\nand vermin and mouse, together shall cease (or, come to an end),\nsaith Jehovah.\n\n18. And I--their works and their thoughts--it is come--to gather all\nthe nations and the tongues--and they shall come and see My glory.\n19. And I will place in them (or, among them) a sign, and I will send\nof them survivors (or, escaped ones) to the nations, Tarshish, Pul,\nand Lud, drawers of the bow, Tubal and Javan, distant isles, which\nhave not heard my fame, and have not seen My glory, and they shall\ndeclare My glory among nations. 20. And they shall bring all your\nbrethren from all nations, an oblation to Jehovah, with horses, and\nwith chariot, and with litters, and with mules, and with dromedaries,\non My holy mountain Jerusalem, saith Jehovah, as the children of\nIsrael bring the oblation in a clean vessel to the house of Jehovah.\n21. And also of them, will I take for the priests, for the Levites,\nsaith Jehovah. 22. For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I\nam making (or, about to make), are standing (or, about to stand)\nbefore Me, saith Jehovah, so shall stand your name and your seed.\n\n23. And it shall be (or, come to pass) that from new-moon to new-moon\n(or, on every new-moon), and from Sabbath to Sabbath (or, on every\nSabbath), shall come all flesh to bow themselves (or, worship) before\nMe, saith Jehovah. 24. And they shall go forth and gaze upon the\ncarcasses of the men who revolted (or, apostatised) from Me, for\ntheir worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched, and\nthey shall be a horror to all flesh.\n\n\n\nTRANSLATION\n\nOF THE\n\nPROPHECIES OF ISAIAH,\n\nBY DELITZSCH AND MARTIN.[1]\n\n\nGENERAL TITLE.--CHAP. I. 1.\n\nSeeing of Yesha'-yahu, son of Amoz, which he saw over Judah and\nJerusalem in the days of Uzziyahu, Jotham, Ahaz, _and_ Yehizkiyahu,\nthe kings of Judah.\n\n\n_PART I._\n\nPROPHECIES RELATING TO THE ONWARD COURSE OF THE GREAT\nMASS OF THE PEOPLE TOWARDS HARDENING OF HEART.--CHAPS. I.-VI.\n\n_Opening Address Concerning the Ways of Jehovah with\nHis Ungrateful and Rebellious Nation._--CHAP. I. 2., _sqq._\n\n2. Hear, O heavens; and give ear, O earth; for Jehovah speaketh! I\nhave brought up children, and raised them high, and they have fallen\naway from Me. 3. An ox knoweth its owner, and an ass its master's\ncrib: Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.\n\n4. Woe upon the sinful nation, the guilt-laden people, the miscreant\nrace, the children acting corruptly! They have forsaken Jehovah,\nblasphemed Israel's Holy One, turned away backwards.\n\n5. Why would ye be perpetually smitten, multiplying rebellion? Every\nhead is diseased, and every heart is sick. 6. From the sole of the\nfoot even to the head there is no soundness in it: cuts, and stripes,\nand festering wounds; they have not been pressed out, nor bound up,\nnor has there been any soothing with oil. 7. Your land . . . a\ndesert; your cities . . . burned with fire; your field . . .\nforeigners consuming it before your eyes, and a desert like\noverthrowing by strangers. 8. And the daughter of Zion remains like a\nhut in a vineyard; like a hammock in a cucumber field, as a besieged\ncity. 9. Unless Jehovah of hosts had left us a little of what had\nescaped, we had become like Sodom, we were like Gomorrah.\n\n10. Hear the word of Jehovah, ye Sodom judges; give ear to the law of\nour God, O Gomorrah nation! 11. What is the multitude of your slain\nofferings to Me? saith Jehovah. I am satiated with the whole\nofferings of rams, and the fat of stalled calves; and blood of\nbullocks and sheep and he-goats I do not like. 12. When ye come to\nappear before My face, who hath required this at your hands, to tread\nMy courts? 13. Continue not to bring lying meat offering; abomination\nincense is it to Me. New-moon and Sabbath, calling of festal\nmeetings . . . I cannot bear ungodliness and a festal crowd. 14. Your\nnew-moons and your festive seasons My soul hateth; they have become a\nburden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. 15. And if ye stretch out\nyour hands, I hide Mine eyes from you; if ye make ever so much\npraying, I do not hear: your hands are full of blood.\n\n16. Wash, clean yourselves; put away the badness of your doings from\nthe range of My eyes; cease to do evil; 17. learn to do good, attend\nto judgment, set the oppressor right, do justice to the orphan,\nconduct the cause of the widow.\n\n18. O come, and let us reason together, saith Jehovah. If your sins\ncome forth like scarlet cloth, they shall become white as snow; if\nthey are red as crimson, they shall come forth like wool! 19. If ye\nthen shall willingly hear, ye shall eat the good of the land; 20. if\nye shall obstinately rebel, ye shall be eaten by the sword! for the\nmouth of Jehovah hath spoken it.\n\n21. How is she become an harlot, the faithful citadel! she, full of\nright, lodged in righteousness, and now----murderers. 22. Thy silver\nhas become dross, thy drink mutilated with water. 23. Thy rulers are\nrebellious and companions of thieves; every one loveth presents, and\nhunteth after payment; the orphan they right not, and the cause of\nthe widow has no access to them.\n\n24. Therefore, saying of the Lord, of Jehovah of hosts, of the Strong\nOne of Israel; Ah! I will relieve Myself on Mine adversaries, and\nwill avenge Myself upon Mine enemies; 25. and I will bring My hand\nover thee, and will smelt out thy dross as with alkali, and will\nclear away all thy lead. 26. And I will bring back thy judges as in\nthe olden time, and thy counsellors as in the beginning; afterwards\nthou wilt be called City of Righteousness, Faithful Citadel.\n\n27. Zion will be redeemed through judgment, and her returning ones\nthrough righteousness; 28. and breaking up of the rebellious and\nsinners together; and those who forsake Jehovah will perish. 29. For\nthey become ashamed of the terebinths, in which ye had your delight;\nand ye must blush for the gardens, in which ye took pleasure. 30. For\nye shall become like a terebinth with withered leaves, and like a\ngarden that hath no water. 31. And the rich man becomes tow, and his\nwork the spark; and they will both burn together, and no one\nextinguishes them.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Reprinted from the _Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies\n     of Isaiah,_ by Franz Delitzsch, D.D. Translated from the\n     German by the Rev. James Martin, B.A. 2 vols. 8vo.\n     Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark.\n\n\nTHE WAY OF GENERAL JUDGMENT; OR THE COURSE OF\nISRAEL FROM FALSE GLORY TO THE TRUE--CHAPS. II.-IV.\n\nII.--1. The word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw of Judah and\nJerusalem.\n\n2. And it cometh to pass at the end of the days, the mountain of the\nhouse of Jehovah will be set at the top of the mountains, and exalted\nover hills; all nations pour unto it. 3. And peoples in multitude go\nand say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house\nof the God of Jacob; let Him instruct us out of His ways, and we will\nwalk in His paths: for instruction will go out from Zion, and the\nword of Jehovah from Jerusalem. 4. And He will judge between the\nnations, and deliver justice to many peoples; and they forge their\nswords into coulters, and their spears into pruning-hooks. Nation\nlifts not up sword against nation, neither do they exercise\nthemselves in war any more.\n\n5. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of Jehovah.\n\n6. For Thou hast rejected Thy people, the house of Jacob; for they\nare filled with things from the east and are conjurors like the\nPhilistines; and with the children of foreigners they go hand in\nhand. 7. And their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is\nno end in their treasures; and their land is filled with horses, and\nthere is no end of their chariots. 8. And their land is filled with\n---- idols; the work of their own hands they worship, that which\ntheir own fingers have made.\n\n9. Thus, then, men are bowed down, and lords are brought low; and\nforgive them--no, that Thou wilt not. 10. Creep into the rock, and\nbury thyself in the dust, before the terrible look of Jehovah, and\nbefore the glory of His majesty. 11. The people's eyes of haughtiness\nare humbled, and the pride of their lords is bowed down; and Jehovah,\nHe only, stands exalted in that day.\n\n12. For Jehovah of hosts hath a day over everything towering and\nlofty, and over everything exalted; and it becomes low. 13. As upon\nall the cedars of Lebanon, the lofty and exalted, so upon all the\noaks of Bashan; 14. as upon all mountains, the lofty ones, so upon\nall hills the exalted ones; 15. as upon every high tower, so upon\nevery fortified wall; 16. as upon all ships of Tarshish, so upon all\nworks of curiosity. 17. And the haughtiness of the people is bowed\ndown, and the pride of the lords brought low; and Jehovah, He alone,\nstands exalted in that day.\n\n18. And the idols pass utterly away. 19. And they will creep into\ncaves in the rocks, and cellars in the earth, before the terrible\nlook of Jehovah, and before the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth\nto put the earth in terror. 20. In that day will a man cast away his\nidols of gold; and his idols of silver, which they made for him to\nworship, to the moles and to the bats; 21. to creep into the cavities\nof the stone-blocks, and into the clefts of the rocks, before the\nterrible look of Jehovah and before the glory of His majesty, when He\narises to put the earth in terror.\n\n22. Oh then, let man go, in whose nose is a breath, for what is he to\nbe estimated at? III.--1. For, behold, the Lord, Jehovah of hosts,\ntakes away from Jerusalem and from Judah supporter and means of\nsupport, every support of bread and every support of water; 2. hero\nand man of war, judge and prophet, and soothsayer and elder;\n3. captains of fifty, and the highly distinguished, and counsellors,\nand masters in art, and those skilled in muttering. 4. And I will\ngive the boys for princes, and caprices shall rule over them. 5. And\nthe people oppress one another, one this and another that; the boy\nbreaks out violently upon the old man, and the despised upon the\nhonoured. 6. When a man shall take hold of his brother in his\nfather's house, Thou hast a coat, thou shalt be our ruler, and take\nthis ruin under thy hand; 7. he will cry out in that day, I do not\nwant to be a surgeon; there is neither bread nor coat in my house: ye\ncannot make me the ruler of the people.\n\n8. For Jerusalem is ruined and Judah fallen; because their tongue and\ntheir doings are against Jehovah, to defy the eyes of His glory.\n9. The look of their faces testifies against them, and their sin they\nmake known like Sodom, without concealing it: woe to their soul! for\nthey do themselves harm. 10. Say of the righteous, that it is well\nwith him; for they will enjoy the fruit of their doings. 11. Woe to\nthe wicked! it is ill; for what his hands have wrought will be done\nto him. 12. My people, its oppressors are boys, and women rule over\nit; my people, thy leaders are misleaders, who swallow up the way of\nthy paths.\n\n13. Jehovah has appeared to plead, and stands up to judge the\nnations. 14. Jehovah will proceed to judgment with the elders of His\npeople, and its princes. And ye, ye have eaten of the vineyard; prey\nof the suffering is in your houses. 15. What mean ye that ye crush My\npeople, and grind the face of the suffering? thus saith the Lord of\nhosts.\n\n16. Jehovah hath spoken: because the daughters of Zion are haughty,\nand walk about with extended throat, and blinking with the eyes, walk\nabout with tripping gait, and tinkle with their foot-ornaments:\n17. the Lord of all makes the crown of the daughters of Zion scabbed,\nand Jehovah will uncover their shame. 18. On that day the Lord will\nput away the show of the ankle-clasps, and of the head-bands, and of\nthe crescents; 19. the ear-rings, and the arm-chains, and the light\nveils; 20. the diadems, and the stepping-chains, and the girdles, and\nthe smelling-bottles, and the amulets; 21. the finger-rings and the\nnose-rings; 22. the gala dresses, and the sleeve-frocks, and the\nwrappers, and the pockets; 23. the hand-mirrors, and the\nSindu-cloths, and the turbans, and the gauze mantles. 24. And instead\nof balmy scent there will be mouldiness, and instead of artistic\nringlets a baldness, and instead of the dress-cloak a frock of\nsack-cloth, branding instead of beauty. 25. Thy men fall by the\nsword, and thy might in war. 26. Then will her gates lament and\nmourn, and desolate is she and sits down upon the ground. IV.--1. And\nseven women lay hold of one man in that day, saying, We will eat our\nown bread, and wear our own clothes; only let thy name be named upon\nus, take away our reproach.\n\n2. In that day will the Sprout of Jehovah become an ornament and\nglory, and the fruit of the land pride and splendour for the redeemed\nof Israel. 3. And it will come to pass, whoever is left in Zion and\nremains in Jerusalem, holy will he be called, all who are written\ndown for life in Jerusalem: 4. when the Lord shall have washed away\nthe filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged away the\nblood-guiltiness of Jerusalem from the midst thereof, by the spirit\nof judgment and by the spirit of sifting. 5. And Jehovah creates over\nevery spot of mount Zion, and over its festal assemblies, a cloud by\nday, and smoke, and the shining and flaming fire by night; for over\nall the glory comes a canopy; 6. and it will be a booth for shade by\nday and covert from storm and from rain.\n\n\nJUDGMENT OF DEVASTATION UPON THE VINEYARD OF JEHOVAH.--CHAP. V.\n\n_Closing Words of the First Cycle of Prophecies._\n\n1. Arise, I will sing of my beloved, a song of my dearest touching\nHis vineyard.\n\nMy beloved had a vineyard on a flatly-nourished mountain-horn, 2. and\ndug it up and cleared it of stones, and planted it with noble vines,\nand built a tower in it, and also hewed out a winepress therein; and\nhoped that it would bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild\ngrapes.\n\n3. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I\npray you, between Me and My vineyard! 4. What could have been done\nmore to My vineyard that I have not done in it! Wherefore did I hope\nthat it would bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes?[1]\n\n5. Now then, I will tell you what I will do at once to My vineyard:\nTake away its hedges, and it shall be for grazing; pull down its\nwall, and it shall be for treading down; 6. and I will put an end to\nit: it shall not be pruned nor dragged, and it shall break out in\nthorns and thistles, and I will command the clouds to rain no rain\nover it. 7. For the vineyard of Jehovah of hosts is the house of\nIsrael, and the men of Judah are the plantation of His delight: He\nwaited for justice, and behold, grasping; for righteousness, and\nbehold, a shriek!\n\n8. Woe unto them that join house to house, who lay field to field,\ntill there is no more room, and ye alone are dwelling in the midst of\nthe land. 9. Into mine ears, Jehovah of hosts: Of a truth many houses\nshall become a wilderness, great and beautiful ones deserted. 10. For\nten yokes of vineyard will yield one pailful, and a quarter of\nseed-corn will produce a bushel.\n\n11. Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning to run after\nstrong drink: who continue till late at night with wine inflaming\nthem! 12. And guitar and harp, kettle-drum, and flute, and wine is in\ntheir feast; but they regard not the work of Jehovah, and see not the\npurpose of His hands.\n\n13. Therefore My people go into banishment without knowing; and their\nglory will become starving men, and their tumult men dried up with\nthirst. 14. Therefore the under-world opens its jaws wide, and\nstretches open its mouth immeasurably wide; and the glory of\nJerusalem descends, and its tumult, and noise, and those who rejoice\nwithin it. 15. Then are mean men bowed down, and lords humbled, and\nthe eyes of lofty men are humbled. 16. And Jehovah of hosts shows\nHimself exalted in judgment, and God the Holy One sanctifies Himself\nin righteousness; 17. and lambs feed as upon their pasture, and nomad\nshepherds eat the waste places of the fat ones.[2]\n\n18. Woe unto them that draw crime with cords of lying, and sin as\nwith the rope of the waggon; 19. who say, Let Him hasten, accelerate\nHis work, that we may see; and let the counsel of the Holy One of\nIsrael draw near and come, that we may experience it.\n\n20. Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who give out\ndarkness for light, and light for darkness; who give out bitter for\nsweet, and sweet for bitter.\n\n21. Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in\ntheir own sight.\n\n22. Woe unto those who are heroes to drink wine, and brave men to\nmingle strong drink; 23. who acquit criminals for a bribe, and take\naway from every one the righteousness of the righteous.\n\n24. Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours stubble, and hay sinks\ntogether in the flame, their root will become like mould, and their\nblossom fly up like dust; for they have despised the law of Jehovah\nof hosts, and scornfully rejected the proclamation of the Holy One of\nIsrael. 25. Therefore is the wrath of Jehovah kindled against His\npeople, and He stretches His hand over them, and sites them; then the\nhills tremble, and their carcass become like sweepings in the midst\nof the streets.\n\nFor all this His anger is not appeased, and His hand is stretched out\nstill, 26. and lifts up a banner to the distant nations, and hisses\nto it from the end of the earth; and, behold, it comes with haste\nswiftly. 27. There is none exhausted, and none stumbling among them:\nit gives itself no slumber, and no sleep; and to none is the girdle\nof his hips loosed; and to none is the lace of his shoes broken;\n28. he whose arrows are sharpened, and all his bows strung; the hoofs\nof his horses are counted like flint, and his wheels like the\nwhirlwind. 29. Roaring issues from it as from the lioness: it roars\nlike lions, and utters a low murmur; seizes the prey, carries it off,\nand no one rescues. 30. And it utters a deep roar over it in that day\nlike the roaring of the sea: and it looks to the earth, and behold\ndarkness, tribulation, and light; it becomes night over it in the\nclouds of heaven.[3]\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Barnes, Birks, Henderson, Kay, Strahey, and the _Revised\n     English Bible,_ translate this clause substantially as it\n     is in the A. V.:--_e.g., Henderson,_ \"Why, when I expected\n     it to produce grapes did it produce bad grapes?\"\n\n [2] Henderson's translation of this paragraph is especially\n     vigorous and beautiful:--\n\n        13. Therefore My people are led captive at unaware\n            Their nobility are starvelings,\n            And their multitude are parched with thirst.\n\n        14. Therefore Sheol enlarges her appetite,\n            And gapes immeasurably with her mouth;\n            And down go her nobility and her multitude.\n            Her noisy throng, and whoever in her that exultest.\n\n        15. The man of mean condition is bowed down,\n            And the man of rank is brought low;\n            And the eyes of the haughty are humbled.\n        16. But Jehovah of hosts is exalted through justice,\n            And the Holy God is sanctified through righteousness.\n\n        17. The lambs shall feed wherever they are driven,\n            And the waste fields of the rich, strange flocks\n                shall consume.\n\n [3]    And one shall look to the earth,\n        And lo! darkness! trouble!\n        And the light is obscured by the gloomy clouds.--_Barnes._\n\n     And one shall look unto the earth, _and, behold, darkness;_\n     even the light is an adversary (or, is anguish); dark is it\n     amidst the clouds thereof.--_Kay._\n\n\n\nTHE PROPHET'S ACCOUNT OF HIS OWN DIVINE MISSION.--CHAP. VI.\n\n1. The year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord of all sitting upon\na high and exalted throne, and His borders filling the temple.\n2. Above it stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with two he\ncovered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he did\nfly. 3. And one cried to the other, and said,\n\n        Holy, holy, holy! is Jehovah of hosts!\n        Filling the whole earth is His glory.\n\n4. And the foundation of the threshold shook with the voice of them\nthat cried; and the house became full of smoke.\n\n5. Then said I, Woe unto me! for I am lost; for I am a man of unclean\nlips, and I am dwelling among a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes\nhave seen the King, Jehovah of hosts.\n\n6. And one of the seraphim flew to me with a red-hot coal in his\nhand, which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. 7. And he\ntouched my mouth with it, and said, Behold, this hath touched thy\nlips, and thine iniquity is taken away; and so thy sin is expiated.\n\n8. Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and\nwho will go for us? Then I said, Behold me here; send me!\n\n9. He said, Go, and tell this people, Hear on, and understand not;\nand look on, but perceive not. 10. Make ye the heart of this people\ngreasy, and their ears heavy, and their eyes sticky; that they may\nnot see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and their heart\nunderstand, and they be converted, and one heal them.\n\n11. Then said I, Lord, how long?\n\nAnd He answered, Until towns are wasted without inhabitant, and\nhouses are without men, and the ground shall be laid waste, a\nwilderness, 12. and Jehovah shall put men far away, and there shall\nbe many forsaken places within the land. 13. And is there still a\ntenth therein, this also is given up to destruction, like the\nterebinth and like the oak, of which, when they are felled, only a\nroot stump remains: such a root stump is the holy seed.[1]\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] And though there be only a tenth part in it, even that\n     shall be again consumed; yet as a teil-tree, and as an oak,\n     whose stocks [stumps] remain to them, when they are felled,\n     so the holy seed shall be the stock [stump]\n     thereof.--_Strachey._\n\n\n\n_PART II._\n\nCONSOLATION OF IMMANUEL IN THE MIDST OF THE\nASSYRIAN OPPRESSIONS.--CHAPS. VII.-XII.\n\n_Divine Sign of the Virgin's Wondrous Son._--CHAP. VII.\n\n1. It came to pass, in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of\nUzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Aram\u00e6a, and Pekah the\nson of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war\nagainst it, and (he) could not make war upon it. 2. And it was told\nthe house of David, Aram has settled down upon Ephraim: then his\nheart shook, and the heart of the people, as trees of the wood shake\nbefore the wind.\n\n3. Then said Jehovah to Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou and\nShear-jashub thy son, to the end of the aqueduct of the upper pool,\nto the road of the fuller's field; 4. and say unto him, Take heed,\nand keep quiet; and let not thy heart become soft from these two\nsmoking firebrand stumps! at the fierce anger of Rezin, and Aram, and\nthe son of Remaliah. 5. Because Aram hath determined evil over thee,\nEphraim and the son of Remaliah, saying, 6. We will march against\nJudah, and terrify it, and conquer it for ourselves, and make the son\nof Tabeal king in the midst of it: 7. thus saith the Lord Jehovah, It\nwill not be brought about, and will not take place. 8. For head of\nAram is Damascus, and head of Damascus Rezin, and in five-and-sixty\nyears will Ephraim as a people be broken to pieces. 9. And head of\nEphraim is Samaria, and head of Samaria the son of Remaliah; if ye\nbelieve not, surely ye will not remain.\n\n10. And Jehovah continued speaking to Ahaz as follows: 11. Ask thee a\nsign of Jehovah thy God, going deep down into Hades, or high up to\nthe height above. 12. But Ahaz replied, I dare not ask, and dare not\ntempt Jehovah. 13. And he spake, Hear ye now, O house of David! Is it\ntoo little to you to weary men, that ye weary my God also?\n14. Therefore the Lord, He will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin\nconceives, and bears a son, and calls his name Immanuel. 15. Butter\nand honey will he eat, at the time that he knows to refuse the evil\nand choose the good. 16. For before the boy shall understand to\nrefuse the evil and choose the good, the land will be desolate, of\nwhose two kings thou art afraid.\n\n17. Jehovah will bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy\nfather's house, days such as have not come since the day when Ephraim\nbroke away from Judah--the king of Asshur. 18. And it comes to pass\nin that day, Jehovah will hiss for the fly which is at the end of the\nNile-arms of Egypt, and the bees that are in the land of Asshur;\n19. and they come and settle all of them in the valleys of the\nslopes, and in the clefts of the rocks, and in all the thorn-hedges,\nand upon all grass-plats. 20. In that day will the Lord shave with a\nrazor, the thing for hire on the shore of the river, with the king of\nAssyria, the head and the hair of the feet: and even the beard it\nwill take away. 21. And it will come to pass in that day, that a man\nwill keep a small cow and a couple of sheep; 22. and it comes to\npass, for the abundance of the milk they will give he will eat cream:\nfor butter and honey will every one eat that is left within the land.\n23. And it will come to pass in that day, every place where a\nthousand vines stood at a thousand silverlings will have become\nthorns and thistles. 24. With arrows and with bows will men go, for\nthe whole land will have become thorns and thistles. 25. And all the\nhills that were accustomed to be hoed with the hoe, thou wilt not go\nto them for fear of thorns and thistles; and it has become a\ngathering-place for oxen, and a treading-place for sheep.\n\n\nTWO OMENS OF THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE.--CHAP. VIII. 1-4.\n\n1. Then Jehovah said to me, Take a large slab, and write upon it with\ncommon strokes, \"In speed spoil, booty hastens:\" 2. and I will take\nto me trustworthy witnesses, Uriyah the priest, and Zehcaryahu the\nson of Yeberechyahu.\n\n3. And I drew near to the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a\nson: and Jehovah said to me, Call his name\nIn-speed-spoil-booty-hastens (Maher-shalal-hash-baz): 4. for before\nthe boy shall know how to cry, My father, and my mother, they will\ncarry away the riches of Damascus, and the spoil of Samaria, before\nthe king of Asshur.\n\n\nESOTERIC ADDRESSES--CHAP. VIII. 5-XII.\n\n_A.--Consolation of Immanuel in the\nComing Darkness._--CHAP. VIII. 5-IX. 6.\n\n5. And Jehovah proceeded still further to speak to me, as follows:--\n\n6. Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Siloah that go\nsoftly, and regardeth as a delight the alliance with Rezin and the\nson of Remalyahu, 7. therefore, behold! the Lord of all bringeth up\nupon them the waters of the river, the mighty and the great, the king\nof Assyria, and all his military power: and he riseth over all his\nchannels, and goeth over all his banks, 8. and presses forward into\nJudah, overflows and pours onward, till it reaches the neck, and the\nspreadings out of its wings fill the breadth of thy land, Immanuel.\n\n9. Exasperate yourselves, O nations, and go to pieces; and see it,\nall who are far off in the earth! Gird yourselves, and go to pieces;\ngird yourselves, and go to pieces! 10. Consult counsel, and it comes\nto nought; speak the word, and it is not realised: for with us is God.\n\n11. For Jehovah hath spoken thus to me, overpowering me with God's\nhand, and instructing me not to walk in the way of this people,\nsaying, 12. Call ye not conspiracy all that this people calls\nconspiracy; and what is feared by it, fear ye not, neither think ye\ndreadful. 13. Jehovah of hosts, sanctify Him; and let Him be your\nfear, and let Him be your terror. 14. So will He become a sanctuary,\nbut a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence (vexation) to both the\nhouses of Israel, a snare and a trap to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.\n15. And many among them shall stumble, and shall fall; and be dashed\nto pieces, and be snared and taken.\n\n16. Bind up the testimony, seal the lesson in my disciples. 17. And I\nwill wait upon Jehovah, who hides His face before the house of Jacob,\nand hope for Him. 18. Behold, I and the children which God hath given\nme for signs and types in Israel, from Jehovah of hosts, who dwelleth\nupon mount Zion. 19. And when they shall say to you, Inquire of the\nnecromancers, and of the soothsayers that chirp and whisper:--should\nnot a people inquire of its God? for the living to the dead? 20. To\nthe teaching of God, and to the testimony! If they do not accord with\nthis word, they are a people for whom no morning dawns. 21. And it\ngoes about therein hardly pressed and hungry: and it comes to pass,\nwhen hunger befalls it, it frets itself, and curses by its king and\nby its God, and turns its face upward, 22. and looks to the earth,\nand behold distress and darkness, benighting with anguish, and thrust\nout into darkness.\n\nIX.--1. For it does not remain dark where there is now distress: in\nthe first time He brought into disgrace the land of Zebulun and the\nland of Naphtali, and in the last He brings to honour the road by the\nsea, the other side of Jordan, the circle of the Gentiles.\n\n2. The people that walk about in darkness see a great light; they who\ndwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light shines.\n3. Thou multipliest the nation, preparest it great joy; they rejoice\nbefore Thee like the joy in harvest, as men rejoice when they share\nthe spoil. 4. For the yoke of its burden and the stick of its neck,\nthe splinters, as in the day of Midian. 5. For every boot of those\nwho tramp with boots in the tumult of battle, and cloak rolled in\nblood, shall be for burning, a food of fire. 6. For unto us a child\nis born, unto us a son is given; and the government rests upon His\nshoulder: and they call His name Wonder, Counsellor, Mighty God,\nEternal Father, Prince of Peace. 7. To the increase of government and\nto peace without end, upon the throne of David, and over his kingdom,\nto strengthen it, and to support it through judgment and\nrighteousness from henceforth even for ever. The jealousy of Jehovah\nof hosts will perform this.\n\n\n_B.--Jehovah's Outstretched Hand._--CHAP. IX. 8-X. 4.\n\n8. The Lord sends out a word against Jacob, and it descends into\nIsrael. 9. And all the people must make atonement, Ephraim and the\ninhabitants of Samaria, saying in pride and haughtiness of heart,\n10. \"Bricks are fallen down, and we build with square stones;\nsycamores are hewn down, and we put cedars in their place.\"\n11. Jehovah raises Rezin's oppressors high above him; and pricks up\nhis enemies: 12. Aram from the east, and Philistines from the west;\nthey devour Israel with full mouth. For all this His anger is not\nturned away, and His hand is stretched out still.\n\n13. But the people turneth not into Him that smiteth it, and they\nseek not Jehovah of hosts. 14. Therefore Jehovah rooteth out of\nIsrael head and tail, palm-branch and rush, in one day. 15. Elders\nand highly distinguished men, this is the head; and prophets, lying\nteachers, this is the tail. 16. The leaders of this people have\nbecome leaders astray, and their followers swallowed up.\n17. Therefore the Lord will not rejoice in their young men, and will\nhave no compassion on their orphans and widows: for all together are\nprofligate and evil-doers, and every mouth speaketh blasphemy. With\nall this His anger is not turned away, and His hand is stretched out\nstill.\n\n18. For the wickedness burneth up like fire: it devours thorns and\nthistles, and burns in the thickets of the wood; and they smoke\nupwards in a lofty volume of smoke. 19. Through the wrath of Jehovah\nof hosts the land is turned into coal, and the nation has become like\nthe food of fire: not one spares his brother. 20. They hew on the\nright, and are hungry; and devour on the left, and are not satisfied:\nthey devour the flesh of their own arm: 21. Manasseh, Ephraim; and\nEphraim, Manasseh: these together over Judah. With all this His anger\nis not turned away, and His hand is stretched out still.\n\nX.--1. Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and to the\nwriters who prepare trouble; 2. to force away the needy from\ndemanding justice, and to rob the suffering of my people of their\nrightful claims, that widows may become their prey, and they plunder\norphans! 3. And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the\nstorm that cometh from afar? To whom will ye flee for help? and where\nwill ye deposit your glory? 4. There is nothing left but to bow down\nunder prisoners, and they fall under the slain. With all this His\nanger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.\n\n\n_C.--Destruction of the Imperial Kingdom of the World, and\nRise of the Kingdom of Jehovah in His Anointed._--CHAP. X. 5-XII.\n\n5. Woe to Asshur, the rod of Mine anger, and it is a staff in their\nhand, Mine indignation. 6. Against a wicked nation will I send them,\nand against the people of My wrath give them a charge, to spoil\nspoil, and to make it trodden down like street-mire. 7. Nevertheless\nhe meaneth not so, neither does his heart think so; for it is in his\nheart to destroy and cut off nations not a few. 8. For he saith, Are\nnot my generals all kings? 9. Is not Calno as Carchemish, or Hamath\nas Arpad, or Samaria as Damascus? 10. As my hand hath reached the\nkingdoms of the idols, and their graven images were more than those\nof Jerusalem and Samaria; 11. shall I not, as I have done unto\nSamaria and her idols, do likewise to Jerusalem and her idols?\n\n12. And it will come to pass, when the Lord shall have brought to an\nend all His work upon mount Zion and upon Jerusalem, I will come to\npunish over the fruit of the pride of heart of the king of Asshur,\nand over the haughty look of his eyes. 13. For he hath said, By the\nstrength of my hand I have done it, and by my own wisdom; for I am\nprudent: and I removed the bounds of the nations, and I plundered\ntheir stores, and threw down rulers like a bull. 14. And my hand\nextracted the wealth of the nations like a nest: and as men sweep up\nforsaken eggs, have I swept the whole earth; there was none that\nmoved the wing, and opened the mouth, and chirped.\n\n15. Dare the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith, or\nthe saw magnify itself against him that useth it? As if a staff were\nto swing those that lift it up, as if a stick should lift up\nnot--wood! 16. Therefore will the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send\nconsumption against his fat men; and under Asshur's glory there burns\na brand like a firebrand. 17. And the light of Israel becomes a fire,\nand his Holy One a flame; and it sets on fire and devours its\nthistles and thorns in one day. 18. And the glory of his forest and\nhis garden-ground will He destroy, even to soul and flesh, so that it\nis as when a sick man dieth. 19. And the remnant of the trees of his\nforest can be numbered, and a boy could write them.\n\n20. And it will come to pass in that day, the remnant of Israel, and\nthat which has escaped of the house of Jacob, will not continue to\nstay itself upon its chastiser, and will stay itself upon Jehovah,\nthe Holy One of Israel, in truth. 21. The remnant will turn, the\nremnant of Jacob, to God the Mighty. 22. For if thy people were even\nas the sea-sand, the remnant thereof will turn: destruction is firmly\ndetermined, flowing away righteousness. 23. For the Lord, Jehovah of\nhosts, completes the finishing-stroke and that which is firmly\ndetermined, within the whole land.\n\n24. Therefore thus saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, My people that\ndwellest on Zion, be not afraid of Asshur, if it shall smite thee\nwith the rod, and lift up its stick against thee, in the manner of\nEgypt. 25. For yet a very little while the indignation is past, and\nmy wrath turns to destroy them: 26. and Jehovah of hosts moves the\nwhip over it, as He smite Midian at the rock of Oreb; and His staff\nstretches out over the sea. 27. And it will come to pass in that day,\nits burden will remove from thy shoulder, and its yoke from thy neck;\nand the yoke will be destroyed from the pressure of the fat.\n\n28. He comes upon Ayyath, passes through Migron; in Michmash he\nleaves his baggage. 29. They go through the pass: let Geba be our\nquarters for the night! Ramah trembles; Gibeah of Saul flees.\n30. Scream aloud, O daughter of Gallim. Only listen, O Laysha! Poor\nAnathoth! 31. Madmenah hurries away; the inhabitants of Gebim rescue.\n32. He still halts in Nob to-day; swings his hand over the mountain\nof the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.\n\n33. Behold, the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, lops down the branches with\nterrific force; and those of towering growth are hewn down, and the\nlofty are humbled. 34. And He fells the thickets of the forest with\niron; and Lebanon, it falls by a Majestic One.\n\nXI.--1. And there cometh forth a twig out of the stump of Jesse, and\na shoot from the roots bringeth forth fruit. 2. And the Spirit of\nJehovah descends upon Him, spirit of wisdom and understanding, spirit\nof counsel and might, spirit of knowledge and fear of Jehovah; 3. and\nfear of Jehovah is fragrance to Him; and He judges not according to\noutward sight, neither does He pass sentence according to outward\nhearing; 4. and judges the poor with righteousness, and passes\nsentence with equity for the humble in the land; and smites the earth\nwith the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He slays\nthe wicked. 5. And righteousness is the girdle of His loins, and\nfaithfulness the girdle of His hips.\n\n6. And the wolf dwells with the lamb, and the leopard lies down with\nthe kid; and calf and lion and stalled ox together; a little boy\ndrives them. 7. And cow and bear go to the pasture; their young ones\nlie down together: and the lion eats chopped straw like the ox.\n8. And the suckling plays by the hole of the adder, and the weaned\nchild stretching its hand to the pupil of the basilisk-viper. 9. They\nwill not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain: for the land is\nfilled with knowledge of Jehovah, like the waters covering the sea.\n\n10. And it will come to pass in that day: the root-sprout of Jesse,\nwhich stands as a banner of the people's, for it will nations ask,\nand its place of rest is glory.\n\n11. And it will come to pass in that day, the Lord will stretch out\nHis hand a second time to redeem the remnant of His people that shall\nbe left, out of Asshur, and out of Egypt, and out of Pathros, and out\nof Ethiopia, and out of Elam, and out of Shinar, and out of Hamath,\nand out of the islands of the sea. 12. And He raises a banner for the\nnations, and fetches home the outcasts of Israel; and the dispersed\nof Judah will He assemble from the four borders of the earth. 13. And\nthe jealousy of Ephraim is removed, and the adversaries of Judah are\ncut off; Ephraim will not show jealousy towards Judah, and Judah will\nnot oppose Ephraim. 14. And they fly upon the shoulder of the\nPhilistines seawards; unitedly they plunder the sons of the East:\nthey seize upon Edom and Moab, and the sons of Amon are subject to\nthem. 15. And Jehovah pronounces the ban upon the sea-tongue of\nEgypt, and swings His hand over the Euphrates in the glow of His\nbreath, and smites it into seven brooks, and makes it so that men go\nthrough in shoes. 16. And there will be a road for the remnant of His\npeople that shall be left, out of Asshur, as it was for Israel in the\nday of its departure out of the land of Egypt.\n\nXII.--1, 2. And in that day thou wilt say,\n\n        I thank thee, O Jehovah, that Thou wast angry with me:\n        Thine anger is turned away, and Thou hast comforted me.\n        Behold, the God of my salvation;\n        I trust, and am not afraid;\n        For Jah Jehovah is my pride and song,\n        And He became my salvation.\n\n3. And with rapture ye will draw water out of the wells of salvation.\n4-6. And ye will say in that day,\n\n        Praise Jehovah, proclaim His name,\n        Make known His doings among the nations,\n        Boast that His name is exalted.\n        Harp to Jehovah; for He has displayed majesty:\n        Let this be known in all lands.\n        Shout and be jubilant, O inhabitant of Zion:\n        For great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.\n\n\n_PART III._\n\nCOLLECTION OF ORACLES CONCERNING THE HEATHEN.--CHAPS. XIII.-XXIII.\n\n_Oracle concerning the Chaldeans, the Heirs\nof the Assyrians._--CHAP. XIII. 1-XIV. 17.\n\nXIII.--1. Oracle concerning Babel, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did\nsee.\n\n2. On woodless mountain lift ye up a banner, call to them with a loud\nsounding voice, shake the hand, that they may enter into the gates of\nprinces! 3. I, I have summoned My sanctified ones, also called My\nheroes to My wrath, My proudly rejoicing ones. 4. Hark, a rumbling on\nthe mountains after the manner of a great people! hark, a rumbling of\nkingdoms met together! Jehovah of hosts musters an army, 5. those\nthat have come out of a distant land, from the end of heaven: Jehovah\nand His instruments of wrath, to destroy the whole earth. 6. Howl;\nfor the day of Jehovah is near; like a destructive force from the\nAlmighty it comes. 7. Therefore all arms hang loosely down, and every\nhuman heart melts away. 8. And they are troubled: they fall into\ncramps and pangs; like a woman in labour they twist themselves: one\nstares at the other; their faces are faces of flame. 9. Behold, the\nday of Jehovah cometh, a cruel one, and wrath and fierce anger, to\nturn the earth into a wilderness: and its sinners He destroys out of\nit.\n\n10. For the stars of heaven, and its Orions, will not let their light\nshine: the sun darkens itself at its rising, and the moon does not\nlet its light shine. 11. And I visit the evil upon the world, and\nupon sinners their guilt, and sink into silence the pomp of the\nproud; and the boasting of tyrants I throw to the ground. 12. I make\nmen more precious than fine gold, and people than a jewel of Ophir.\n13. Therefore I shake the heavens, and the earth trembles away from\nits place, because of the wrath of Jehovah of hosts, and because of\nthe day of His fierce anger. 14. And it comes to pass as a gazelle\nwhich is scared, and as a flock without gatherers: they turn every\none to his people, and they flee every one to his land. 15. Every one\nthat is found is pierced through, and every one that is caught falls\nby the sword. 16. And their infants are dashed to pieces before their\neyes, their homes plundered, and their wives ravished. 17. Behold, I\nrouse up the Medes over them, who do not regard silver, and take no\npleasure in gold. 18. And bows dash down young men; and they have no\ncompassion on the fruit of the womb: their eye has no pity on\nchildren.\n\n19. And Babel, the ornament of kingdoms, the proud boast of the\nChaldeans, becomes like Elohim's overthrowing judgments upon Sodom\nand Gomorrah. 20. She remains uninhabited for ever, and unoccupied\ninto generation of generations; and not an Arab pitches his tent\nthere, and shepherds do not make their folds there. 21. And there lie\nbeasts of the desert, and horn-owls fill their houses; and ostriches\ndwell there, and field-devils hop about there. 22. And jackals howl\nin her castles, and wild dogs in palaces of pleasure; and her time is\nnear to come, and her days will not be prolonged.\n\nXIV.--1. For Jehovah will have mercy on Jacob, and will once more\nchoose Israel, and will settle them down in their own land: and the\nforeigner will associate with them, and they will cleave to the house\nof Jacob. 2. And nations take them, and accompany them to their\nplace; and the house of Israel takes them to itself in the land of\nJehovah for servants and maid-servants: and they hold in captivity\nthose who led them away captive; and become lords over their\noppressors. 3. And it cometh to pass, on the day that Jehovah giveth\nthee the rest from thy plague, and from thy cares, and from the heavy\nbondage wherein thou wast made to serve, 4. that thou shalt raise\nsuch a song of triumph concerning the king of Babel and say--\n\nHow hath the oppressor ceased! the place of torture ceased!\n5. Jehovah hath broken the rod of the wicked, the ruler's staff,\n6. which smote nations in wrath with strokes without ceasing,\nsubjugated nations wrathfully with hunting that never stays. 7. The\nwhole earth rests, is quiet: they break forth into singing. 8. Even\nthe cypresses rejoice at thee, the cedars of Lebanon: \"Since thou\nhast gone to sleep, no one will come up to lay axe upon us.\"\n\n9. The kingdom of the dead below is all in uproar on account of thee,\nto meet thy coming; it stirs up the shades for thee, all the he-goats\nof the earth; it raiseth up from their throne-seats all the kings of\nthe nations. 10. They all rise up and say to thee, Art thou also made\nweak like us? Art thou become like us? 11. Thy pomp is cast down to\nthe region of the dead, the noise of the harps: maggots are spread\nunder thee, and they that cover thee are worms. 12. How art thou\nfallen from the sky, thou star of light, son of the dawn, hurled down\nto the earth, thou that didst throw down nations from above! 13. And\nthou, thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend unto heaven, I\nwill exalt my throne above the stars of God, and sit down on the\nmount of the assembly of gods in the corner of the earth; 14. I will\nascend to the heights of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most\nHigh. 15. Nevertheless, thou wilt be cast down into the region of the\ndead, into the corner of the pit. 16. They that see thee look,\nconsidering thee, look at thee thoughtfully: \"Is this the man that\nset the earth trembling, and kingdoms shaking, 17. that made the\nworld a wilderness, and destroyed its cities, and did not release its\nprisoners (to their) home?\"\n\n18. All the kings of the nations, they are all interred in honour,\nevery one in his house: 19. but thou art cast away far from thy\nsepulchre like a shoot hurled away, clothed with slain, with those\npierced through with the sword, those that go down to the stones of\nthe pit; like a carcass trodden under feet. 20. Thou art not united\nwith them in burial, for thou hast destroyed thy land, murdered thy\npeople.\n\nThe seed of evil-doers will not be named for ever. 21. Prepare a\nslaughter-house for his sons, because of the iniquity of their\nfathers! They shall not rise and conquer lands, and fill the face of\nthe earth with cities.\n\n22. And I will rise up against them, saith Jehovah of hosts, and root\nout in Babel name and remnant, sprout and shoot, saith Jehovah.\n23. And I will make it the possession of hedgehogs and marshes of\nwater, and sweep it away with the besom of destruction, saith Jehovah\nof hosts.\n\n24. Jehovah of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so\nshall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, that takes place;\n25. to break Asshur in pieces in My land, and upon My mountain will I\ntread him under foot; then his yoke departs from them, and his burden\nwill depart from their neck. 26. This is the purpose that is purposed\nover the whole earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out over\nall nations. 27. For Jehovah of hosts hath purposed, and who could\nbring it to nought? and His hand that is stretched out, who can turn\nit back?\n\n\nTHE ORACLE CONCERNING PHILISTIA.--CHAP. XIV. 28-32.\n\n28. In the year of the death of King Ahaz the following oracle was\nuttered.\n\n29. Rejoice not so fully, O Philistia, that the rod which smote thee\nis broken to pieces; for out of the serpent's root comes forth a\nbasilisk, and its fruit is a flying dragon. 30. And the poorest of\nthe poor will feed, and needy ones lie down in peace; and I kill thy\nroot through hunger, and he slays thy remnant.\n\n31 Howl, O gate! cry, O city! O Philistia, thou must melt entirely\naway; for from the north cometh smoke, and there is no isolated one\namong his hosts. 32. And what answer do the messengers of the nations\nbring? that Jehovah hath founded Zion, and that the afflicted of His\npeople are hidden therein.\n\n\nTHE ORACLE CONCERNING MOAB.--CHAPS. XV., XVI.\n\nXV.--1. Oracle concerning Moab! for in a night Ar-Moab is laid waste,\ndestroyed; for in a night Kir-Moab is laid waste, destroyed. 2. They\ngo up to the temple-house and Dibon, up to the heights to weep: upon\nNebo and upon Medebah of Moab there is weeping: on all heads\nbaldness, every beard is mutilated. 3. In the markets of Moab they\ngird themselves with sackcloth; on the roofs of the land, and in the\nstreets, everything wails, melting into tears. 4. Heshbon cries, and\n'El\u00e2le; even to Jahaz they hear their howling; even the armed men of\nMoab break out into mourning thereat; its soul trembles within it.\n5. My heart, towards Moab it crieth out; its bolts reach to Zoar, the\nthree-year-old heifer. For the mountain-slope of Luhith they ascend\nwith weeping; for on the road to Horonaijim they lift up a cry of\ndespair. 6. For the waters of Nimrim are waste places from this time\nforth: for the grass is dried up, the vegetation wasteth away, the\ngreen is gone. 7. Therefore what has been spared, what has been\ngained, and their provision, they carry it over the willow-brook.\n8. For the scream has gone round in the territory of Moab; the\nwailing of Moab resounds to Eglayim, and his wailing to Be\u0113r-Elim.\n9. For the waters of Dimon are full of blood; for I suspend over\nDimon a new calamity, over the escaped of Moab a lion, and over the\nremnant of the land.\n\nXVI.--1. Send a land-ruler's tribute of lambs from Sela desert-wards\nto the mountain of the daughter of Zion. 2. And the daughters of Moab\nwill be like birds fluttering about, a scared nest, at the fords of\nArnon. 3. Give counsel, for a decision, make thy shadow like night in\nthe midst of noon: hide the outcasts, do not betray the wanderers.\n4. Let mine outcasts tarry in thee, Moab; be a covert to it from\nbefore the spoiler. For the extortioner is at an end, desolation has\ndisappeared, treaders down are away from the land. 5. And a throne is\nestablished by grace, and there sits thereon in truth in the tent of\nDavid one judging, and zealous for right, and practised in\nrighteousness.\n\n6. We have heard of the pride of Moab, the very haughty (pride), the\nhaughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath, the falsehood of his\nspeech. 7. Therefore will Moab wail for Moab, everything will wail:\nfor the grape-cakes of Kir-Haraseth will ye whine, utterly crushed.\n8. For the fruit-fields of Heshbon have faded away: the vine of\nSimmah, lords of the nations its branches smote down: they reached to\nJa'zer, trailed through the desert: its branches spread themselves\nout wide, crossed over the sea. 9. Therefore I bemoan the vine of\nSibmah with the weeping of Jazer; I flood thee with my tears, O\nHeshbon and Elealeh, that H\u00eadad hath fallen upon thy fruit-harvest\nand upon thy vintage. 10. And joy is taken away, and the rejoicing of\nthe garden-land; and there is no exulting, no shouting in the\nvineyards: the treader treads out no wine in the presses; I put an\nend to the H\u00eadad. 11. Therefore my bowels sound for Moab like a harp,\nand my inside for Kir-Heres. 12. And it will come to pass, when it is\nseen that Moab is weary with weeping upon the mountain height, and\nenters into its sanctuary to pray, it will not gain anything.\n\n13. This is the word which Jehovah spake long ago concerning Moab.\nAnd now Jehovah speaketh thus: In three years, like the years of a\nhireling, the glory of Moab is disgraced, together with all the\nmultitude of the great: a remnant is left, contemptibly small, and\nnot great at all.\n\n\nTHE ORACLE CONCERNING DAMASCUS AND ISRAEL.--CHAP. XVII.\n\n1. The burden of Damascus.\n\nBehold, Damascus must (be taken) away out of the number of the\ncities, and will be a heap of fallen ruins. 2. The cities of Aroer\nare forsaken, they are given up to flocks, they lie there without any\none scaring them away. 3. And when the fortress of Ephraim is\nabolished, and the kingdom of Damascus; and it happens to those that\nare left of Aram as to the glory of the sons of Israel, saith Jehovah\nof hosts.\n\n4. And it comes to pass in that day, the glory of Jacob wastes away,\nand the fat of his flesh grows thin. 5. And it will be as when a\nreaper grasps the stalks of wheat, and his arm mows off the ears; and\nit will be as with one who gathers ears in the valley of Rephaim.\n6. Yet a gleaning remains from it, as at the olive-beating: two,\nthree berries high up at the top; four, five in its, the fruit-tree's\nbranches, saith Jehovah the God of Israel. 7. At that day will man\nlook up to his Creator, and his eyes will look to the Holy One of\nIsrael. 8. And he will not look to the altars, the work of his hands;\nand what his fingers have made he will not regard, neither the\nAstartes nor the sun-gods.\n\n9. In that day will his fortified cities be like the ruins of the\nforest and of the mountain top, which they cleared before the sons of\nIsrael: and there arises a waste place. 10. For thou hast forgotten\nthe God of thy salvation, and hast not thought of the Rock of thy\nstronghold, therefore thou plantest charming plantations, and didst\nset them with strange vines. 11. In the day that thou plantedst, thou\ndidst make a fence; and with the morning dawn thou madest thy sowing\nto blossom: a harvest heap in the day of deep wounds and deadly\nsorrow of heart.\n\n12. Woe to the roaring of many nations: like the roaring of seas they\nroar; and low the rumbling of nations, like the rumbling of mighty\nwaters they rumble! 13. Nations, like the rumbling of mighty waters\nthey rumble; and He threatens it: then it flies far away, and is\nchased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a\ncloud of dust before the gale. 14. At eventide, behold consternation;\nand before the morning dawn it is destroyed! this is the portion of\nour plunderers, and the lot of our robbers.\n\n\nETHIOPIA'S SUBMISSION TO JEHOVAH.--CHAP. XVIII.\n\n1. Woe to the land of the whirring of wings, which is beyond the\nrivers of Cush; 2. that sends ambassadors into the sea, and in boats\nof papyrus over the face of the waters. Go, swift messengers, to the\npeople stretched out and polished, to the terrible people far away on\nthe other side, to the nation of command upon command and treading\ndown, whose land rivers cut through. 3. All ye possessors of the\nglobe and inhabitants of the earth, when a banner rises on the\nmountains, look ye: and when they blow the trumpets, hearken! 4. For\nthus hath Jehovah spoken to me: I will be still, and I will observe\nupon My throne during clear weather in sunshine, during a cloud of\ndew in the heat of harvest. 5. For before the harvest, when the\nblossom falls off, and the fruit becomes the ripening grape: then\nwill He cut off the branches with pruning-hooks; and the tendrils He\nremoves, breaks off. 6. They are left altogether to the birds of prey\non the mountains, and to the cattle of the land; and the birds of\nprey summer thereon, and all the cattle of the land will winter\nthereon.\n\n7. At that time will there be offered as a homage to Jehovah of hosts\na nation stretched out and polished, and from a terrible people, far\naway on the other side; a nation of command upon command and treading\ndown, whose land rivers cut through, at the place of the name of\nJehovah of hosts, the mountain of Zion.\n\n\nTHE ORACLE CONCERNING EGYPT.--CHAP. XIX.\n\n1. Behold, Jehovah rideth upon a light cloud, and cometh to Egypt;\nand the idols of Egypt shake before Him, and the heart of Egypt\nmelteth within it. 2. And I spur Egypt against Egypt: and they go to\nwar, every one with his brother, and every one with his neighbour;\ncity against city, kingdom against kingdom. 3. And the spirit of\nEgypt is emptied out within it: and I swallow up its ready counsel;\nand they go to the idols to inquire, and to the mutterers, and to the\noracle-spirits, and to the soothsayers. 4. And I shut up Egypt in the\nhead of a hard rule; and a fierce king will rule over them, saith the\nLord, Jehovah of hosts.\n\n5. And the waters will dry up from the sea, and the river is parched\nand dried. 6. And the arms of the river spread a stench; the channels\nof Matzor become shallow and parched: reed and rush shrivel up.\n7. The meadow by the Nile, on the border of the Nile, and every\ncornfield of the Nile, dries up, is scattered, and disappears. 8. And\nthe fishermen groan, and all who throw draw-nets into the Nile\nlament, and they that spread out the net upon the face of the waters\nlanguish away. 9. And the workers of fine combed flax are confounded,\nand the weavers of cotton fabrics. 10. And the pillars of the land\nare ground to powder; all that work for wages are troubled in mind.\n\n11. The princes of Zoan become mere fools, the wise counsellors of\nPharaoh; readiness in counsel is stupefied. How can ye say to\nPharaoh, I am a son of wise men, a son of kings of the olden time?\n12. Where are they then, thy wise men? Let them announce to thee, and\nknow what Jehovah of hosts hath determined concerning Egypt. 13. The\nprinces of Zoan have become fools, the princes of Memphis are\ndeceived; and they have led Egypt astray who are the corner-stone of\nits castes. 14. Jehovah hath poured a spirit of giddiness into the\nheart of Egypt, so that they have led Egypt astray in all its doing,\nas a drunken man wandereth about in his vomit. 15. And there does not\noccur of Egypt any work which worked, of head and tail, palm-branch\nand rush.\n\n16. In that day will the Egyptians become like women, and tremble and\nbe alarmed at the swinging of the hand of Jehovah of hosts, which He\nsets in motion against it. 17. And the land of Judah becomes a\nshuddering for Egypt; as often as they mention this against Egypt, it\nis alarmed, because of the decree of Jehovah of hosts, that He\nsuspendeth over it.\n\n18. In that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt\nspeaking the language of Canaan, and swearing to Jehovah of hosts:\n'Ir ha-Heres will one be called. 19. In that day there stands an\naltar consecrated to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, and\nan obelisk near the border of the land consecrated to Jehovah.\n20. And a sign and a witness for Jehovah of hosts is this in the land\nof Egypt; when they cry to Jehovah for oppressors, He will send them\na helper and champion, and deliver them. 21. And Jehovah makes\nHimself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians know Jehovah in\nthat day; and they serve Him with slain-offerings and meat-offerings,\nand vow vows to Jehovah, and pay them. 22. And Jehovah smites Egypt,\nsmiting and healing; and if they return to Jehovah, He suffers\nHimself to be entreated, and heals them. 23. In that day a road will\nrun from Egypt to Asshur, and Asshur comes into Egypt, and Egypt to\nAsshur; and Egypt worships (Jehovah) with Asshur. 24. In that day\nwill Israel be a third part to Egypt and Asshur, a blessing in the\nmidst of the earth, 25. since Jehovah of hosts blesseth them thus:\nBlessed be thou, My people Egypt; and thou, Asshur, the work of My\nhands; and thou Israel, Mine inheritance.\n\n\nSYMBOL OF THE FALL OF EGYPT AND\nETHIOPIA, AND ITS INTERPRETATION.--CHAP. XX.\n\n1. In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, Sargon the king of Asshur\nhaving sent him (and he made war against Ashdod, and captured it):\n2. at that time Jehovah spake through Yesha'-yahu, the son of Amoz,\nas follows, Go and loosen the smock-front from off thy loins, and\ntake off thy shoes from thy feet. And he did so, and went stripped\nand barefooted.\n\n3. And Jehovah said, As my servant Yesha'-yahu goeth naked and\nbarefooted, a sign and a type for three years long over Egypt and\nover Ethiopia, 4. so will the king of Asshur carry away the prisoners\nof Egypt and the exiles of Ethiopia, children and old men, naked and\nbarefooted, and with their seat uncovered--a shame to Egypt.\n\n5. And they cry together, and behold themselves deceived by Ethiopia,\nto which they looked and by Egypt, in which they gloried. 6. And the\ninhabitant of this coast-land saith in that day, Behold, thus it\nhappens to those to whom we looked, whither we fled for help to\ndeliver us from the king of Asshur: and how should we, we escape?\n\n\nTHE ORACLE CONCERNING THE DESERT\nOF THE SEA (BABYLON).--CHAP. XXI. 1-10.\n\n1. As storms in the south approach, it comes from the desert, from a\nterrible land. 2. Hard vision is made known to me: the spoiler\nspoils, and the devastator devastates. Go up, Elam! Surround, Moday!\nI put an end to all their sighing. 3. Therefore are my loins full of\ncramp: pangs have taken hold of me, as the pangs of a travailing\nwoman: I twist myself, so that I do not hear; I am brought down with\nfear, so that I do not see. 4. My heart beats wildly; horror hath\ntroubled me; the darkness of night that I love, He hath turned for me\ninto quaking.\n\n5. They cover the table, watch the watch, eat, drink. Rise up, ye\nprinces! Anoint the shield! 6. For thus saith the Lord to me, Go, set\na spy; what he seeth, let him declare. 7. And he saw a procession of\ncavalry, pairs of horsemen, a procession of asses, a procession of\ncamels; and listened sharply, as sharply as he could listen. 8. Then\nhe cried with a lion's voice, Upon the watch-tower, O Lord, I stand\ncontinually by day, and upon my watch I keep my stand all the nights.\n9. And, behold, there came a cavalcade of men, pairs of horsemen, and\nlifted up its voice, and said, Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the\nimages of its gods He hath dashed to the ground! 10. O thou my\nthreshing, and child of my threshing-floor! What I have heard from\nJehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared to you.\n\n\nTHE ORACLE CONCERNING THE SILENCE\nOF DEATH (EDOM).--CHAP. XXI. 11, 12.\n\n11. A cry comes to me out of Seir: Watchman, how far is it in the\nnight? Watchman, how far in the night? 12. Watchman says, Morning\ncometh, and also night. Will ye inquire, inquire! Turn, come!\n\n\nTHE ORACLE IN THE EVENING (AGAINST ARABIA).--CHAP. XXI. 13-17.\n\n13. In the wilderness in Arabia ye must pass the night, caravans of\nthe Dedanians. 14. Bring water to meet thirsty ones! The inhabitants\nof the land of Tema are coming with its bread before the fugitive.\n15. For they are flying before swords, before drawn swords, and\nbefore a bent bow, and before oppressive war.\n\n16. For thus hath the Lord spoken to me, Within a year, as the years\nof a hired labourer, it is over with all the glory of Kedar. 17. And\nthe remnant of the number of bows of the heroes of the Kedarenes will\nbe small: for Jehovah, the God of Israel, hath spoken.\n\n\nTHE ORACLE CONCERNING THE VALLEY OF\nVISION (JERUSALEM).--CHAP. XXII. 1-14.\n\n1. What aileth thee, then, that thou art wholly ascended upon the\nhouse-tops? 2. O full of tumult, thou noisy city, shouting castle,\nthy slain men are not slain with the sword, nor slaughtered in\nbattle. 3. All thy rulers departing together are fettered without\nbow; all thy captured ones are fettered together, fleeing far away.\n\n4. Therefore I say, Look away from me, that I may weep bitterly;\npress me not with consolations for the destruction of the daughter of\nmy people! 5. For a day of noise, and of treading down, and of\nconfusion, cometh from the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, in the valley of\nvision, breaking down walls; and a cry of woe echoes against the\nmountains.\n\n6. And Elam has taken the quiver, together with chariots with men,\nhorsemen; and Kir has drawn out the shield. 7. And then it comes to\npass, that thy choicest valleys are filled with chariots, and the\nhorsemen plant a firm foot towards the gate.\n\n8. Then he takes away the covering of Judah, and thou lookest in that\nday to the store of arms of the forest-house; 9. and ye see the\nbreaches of the city of David, that there are many of them; and ye\ncollect together the waters of the lower pool. 10. And ye number the\nhouses of Jerusalem, and pull down the houses, to fortify the wall.\n11. And ye make a basin between the two walls for the waters of the\nold pool; and ye do not look to Him who made it, neither do ye have\nregard to Him who fashioned it long ago.\n\n12. The Lord, Jehovah of hosts, calls in that day to weeping, and to\nmourning, and to the pulling out of hair, and to girding with\nsackcloth; 13. and behold joy and gladness, slaughtering of oxen and\nkilling of sheep, eating of flesh and drinking of wine, eating and\ndrinking, for 'to-morrow we die.' 14. And Jehovah of hosts hath\nrevealed in mine ears, Surely this iniquity shall not be expiated for\nyou until ye die, saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts.\n\n\nAGAINST SHEBNA THE STEWARD.--CHAP. XXII. 15-25.\n\n(_Appendix to the Tetralogy in_ CHAPS XXI., XXII. 14.)\n\n15. Thus spake the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, Go, get thee to that\nsteward there, to Shebna the house-mayor. 16. What hast thou here,\nand whom hast thou here, that thou art hewing thyself out a sepulchre\nhere, hewing out his sepulchre high up, digging himself a dwelling in\nrocks? 17. Behold, Jehovah hurleth thee, hurling with a man's throw,\nand graspeth thee grasping. 18. Coiling, He coileth thee a coil, a\nball into a land far and wide; there shalt thou die, and thither the\nchariots of thy glory, thou shame of the house of thy lord! 19. And I\nthrust thee from thy post, and from thy standing-place He pulleth\nthee down.\n\n20. And it will come to pass in that day, that I call to my servant\nEliakim the son of Hilkiah, 21. and invest him with thy coat, and I\nthrow thy sash firmly round him, and place thy government in his\nhand; and he will become a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and\nto the house of Judah. 22. And I place the key of David upon his\nshoulder: and when he opens, no man shuts; and when he shuts, no man\nopens. 23. And I fasten him as a plug in a fast place, and he becomes\nthe seat of honour to his father's house. 24. And the whole mass of\nhis father's house hangs upon him, the offshoots and the side-shoots,\nevery small vessel, from the vessel of the basins even to every\nvessel of the pitchers. 25. In that day, saith Jehovah of hosts, will\nthe peg that is fastened in a sure place be removed, and be cast\ndown, and fall; and the burden that it bore falls to the ground: for\nJehovah hath spoken.\n\n\nTHE ORACLE CONCERNING TYRE.--CHAP. XXIII.\n\n(_Conclusion of the Cycle of Prophecies Relating to the Heathen._)\n\n1. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so that there is\nno house, no entrance any more! Out of the land of the Chitt\u00e6ans it\nis made known to them. 2. Be alarmed, ye inhabitants of the coast!\nSidonian merchants, sailing over the sea, filled thee once. 3. And\nthe sowing of Sichor came upon great waters, the harvest of the Nile,\nher store; and she became gain for nations. 4. Shudder, O Sidon; for\nthe sea speaketh, the fortress of the sea, thus: I have not\ntravailed, nor given birth, nor trained up young men, brought up\nmaidens. 5. When the report cometh to Egypt, they tremble at the\nreport from Tzor.\n\n6. Pass ye over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the coast! 7. Is\nthis your fate, thou full of rejoicing, whose origin is from the days\nof the olden time, whom her feet carried far away to settle? 8. Who\nhath determined such a thing concerning Tzor, the distributor of\ncrowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traders are the chief men\nof the earth! 9. Jehovah of hosts hath determined it, to desecrate\nthe pomp of every kind of ornament, to dishonour the chief men of the\nearth, all of them.\n\n10. Overflow thy land like the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish! No\ngirdle restrains thee any longer. 11. His hand hath He stretched over\nthe sea, thrown the kingdoms into trembling; Jehovah hath given\ncommandment concerning Kena'an to destroy her fortresses. 12. And He\nsaid, Thou shalt not rejoice any further, thou disgraced one, virgin\ndaughter of Sidon. Go up to Kittim, go over; there also shalt thou\nnot find rest. 13. Behold the Chaldean land: this people that has not\nbeen (Asshur--it hath prepared the same for desert beasts)--they set\nup their siege-towers, destroy the palaces of Kena'an, make it a heap\nof ruins. 14. Mourn, ye ships of Tarshish: for your fortress is laid\nwaste.\n\n15. And it will come to pass in that day, that Tzor will be forgotten\nseventy years, equal to the days of one king; after the end of\nseventy years Tzor will go, according to the song of the harlot.\n16. Take the guitar, sweep through the city, O forgotten harlot! Play\nbravely, sing zealously, that thou mayest be remembered! 17. And it\nwill come to pass at the end of the seventy years: Jehovah will visit\nTzor, and she comes again to her hire, and commits prostitution with\nall the kingdoms of the earth on the broad surface of the globe.\n18. And her gain and her reward of prostitution will be holy to\nJehovah: it is not stored up nor gathered together; but her gain from\ncommerce will be theirs who dwell before Jehovah, to eat to satiety\nand for stately clothing.\n\n\n_PART IV._\n\nFINALE ON THE GREAT CATASTROPHE.--CHAPS. XXIV.-XXVII.\n\n_The Judgment upon the Earth._--CHAP. XXIV.\n\n1. Behold, Jehovah emptieth the earth, and layeth it waste, and\nmarreth its form, and scattereth all its inhabitants. 2. And it\nhappeneth, as to the people, so to the priest; as to the servant, so\nto his master; as to the maid, so to her mistress; as to the buyer,\nso to the seller; as to the lender, so to the borrower; as to the\ncreditor, so to the debtor. 3. Emptying the earth is emptied, and\nplundering is plundered: for Jehovah hath spoken this word.\n\n4. Smitten down, withered up is the earth; pined away, wasted is the\nworld; pined away have they, the foremost of the people of the earth.\n5. And the earth has become wicked among its inhabitants; for they\ntransgressed revelations, set at naught the ordinance, broke the\neverlasting covenant. 6. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth,\nand they who dwelt in it make expiation: therefore are the\ninhabitants of the earth withered up, and there are very few mortals\nleft. 7. New wine mourneth, vine is parched, all the merry-hearted\ngroan. 8. The joyous playing of tabrets is silent; the noise of them\nthat rejoice hath ceased; the joyous playing of the guitar is silent.\n9. They drink no wine with a song: meth tastes bitter to them that\ndrink it.\n\n10. The city of Tohu is broken to pieces; every house is shut up, so\nthat no man can come in. 11. There is lamentation for wine in the\nfields; all rejoicing has set; the delight of the earth is banished.\n12. What is left of the city is wilderness, and the gate was\nshattered to ruins. 13. For so will it be within the earth, in the\nmidst of the nations; as at the olive-beating, as at the gleaning,\nwhen the vintage is over.\n\n14. They lift up the voice, and exult; for the majesty of Jehovah\nthey shout from the sea! 15. Therefore praise ye Jehovah in the lands\nof the sun, in the islands of the sea the name of Jehovah the God of\nIsrael. 16. From the border of the earth we hear songs: Praise to the\nRighteous One.\n\nThen I said, Ruin to me! ruin to me! Robbers rob, and robbing, they\nrob as robbers! 17. Horror, and pit, and snare are over thee, O\ninhabitant of the earth! 18. And it cometh to pass, whoever fleeth\nfrom the tidings of horror falleth into the pit; and whoever escapeth\nout of the pit is caught in the snare: for the trap-doors on high are\nopened, and the firm foundations of the earth shake. 19. The earth\nrending, is rent asunder; the earth bursting, is burst in pieces; the\nearth shaking, tottereth. 20. The earth reeling, reeleth like a\ndrunken man, and swingeth like a hammock; and its burden of sin\npresseth upon it; and it falleth, and riseth not again.\n\n21. And it cometh to pass in that day, Jehovah will visit the army of\nthe high place in the high place, and the kings of the earth on the\nearth. 22. And they are imprisoned, as one imprisons captives in the\npit, and shut up in prison; and in the course of many days they are\nvisited. 23. And the moon blushes, and the sun turns pale; for\nJehovah of hosts reigns royally upon mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and\nbefore His elders in glory.\n\n\nTHE FOURFOLD MELODIOUS ECHO.--CHAPS. XXV., XXVI.\n\n_A.--First echo: Salvation of the Nations after\nthe Fall of the Imperial City._--CHAP. XXV. 1-8.\n\n1. Jehovah, Thou art my God; I will exalt Thee, I will praise Thy\nname, that Thou hast wrought wonders, counsels from afar, sincerity,\ntruth. 2. For Thou hast turned it from a city into a heap of stones,\nthe steep castle into a ruin; the palace of the barbarians from being\na city, to be rebuilt no more for ever. 3. Therefore a wild people\nwill honour Thee, cities of violent nations fear Thee. 4. For Thou\nprovest Thyself a stronghold to the lowly, a stronghold to the poor\nin his distress, as a shelter from the storm of rain, as a shadow\nfrom the burning of the sun; for the blast of the terrible once was\nas a storm against a wall. 5. Like the burning of the sun in a\nparched land, Thou subduest the noise of the barbarians; (like) the\nburning of the sun through the shadow of a cloud, the triumphal song\nof the violent ones was brought low.\n\n6. And Jehovah of hosts prepares for all nations upon this mountain a\nfeast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things rich\nin marrow, of wines on the lees thoroughly strained. 7. And He casts\naway upon this mountain the veil that veiled over all peoples, and\nthe covering that covered over all nations. 8. He puts away death for\never; and the Lord Jehovah wipes the tear from every face; and He\nremoves the shame of His people from the whole earth: for Jehovah\nhath spoken it.\n\n\n_B.--Second Echo: The Humiliation of Moab._--CHAP. XXV. 9-12\n\n9. And they say in that day, Behold our God, for whom we waited to\nhelp us: this is Jehovah, for whom we waited; let us be glad and\nrejoice in His salvation. 10. For the hand of Jehovah will sink down\nupon this mountain, and Moab is trodden down there where it is, as\nstraw is trodden down in the water of the dung-pit. 11. And he\nspreadeth out his hands in the pool therein, as the swimmer spreadeth\nthem out to swim; but Jehovah forceth down the pride of Moab in spite\nof the artifices of his hands. 12. Yes, thy steep, towering walls He\nbows down, forces under, and casts earthwards into dust.\n\n\n_C.--Third Echo: Israel Brought Back,\nor Raised from the Dead._--CHAP. XXVI.\n\n1. In that day will this song be sung in the land of Judah: A city of\ndefence is ours; salvation He sets for walls and bulwarks. 2. Open ye\nthe gates, that a righteous people may enter, one keeping\ntruthfulness. 3. Thou keepest the firmly-established mind in peace,\npeace; for his confidence rests on Thee. 4. Hang confidently on\nJehovah for ever: for in Jah, Jehovah, is an everlasting rock. 5. For\nHe hath bent down them that dwell on high; the towering castle, He\ntore it down, tore it down to the earth, cast it into dust. 6. The\nfoot treads it to pieces, feet of the poor, steps of the lowly.\n7. The path that the righteous takes is smoothness; Thou makest the\ncourse of the righteous smooth.\n\n8. We also have waited for Thee, that Thou shouldest come in the path\nof Thy judgments; the desire of the soul went after Thy name, and\nafter Thy remembrance. 9. With my soul I desired Thee in the night;\nyea, with my spirit deep within me, I longed to have Thee here: for\nwhen Thy judgments strike the earth, the inhabitants of the earth\nlearn righteousness.\n\n10. If favour is shown to the wicked man, he does not learn\nrighteousness; in the most upright land he acts wickedly; and has no\neye for the majesty of Jehovah. 11. Jehovah, Thy hand has been\nexalted, but they did not see: they will see the zeal for a people,\nbeing put to shame; yea, fire will devour Thine adversaries.\n12. Jehovah, Thou wilt ordain peace for us; for Thou hast\naccomplished all our work for us. 13. Jehovah our God, lords besides\nThee had enslaved us; but through Thee we praise Thy name. 14. Dead\nmen live not again, shades do not rise again; so hast Thou visited\nand destroyed them, and caused all their memory to perish. 15. Thou\nhast added to the nation, O Jehovah, hast added to the nation;\nglorified Thyself; moved out all the borders of the land.\n\n16. Jehovah, in trouble they missed Thee, poured out light\nsupplication when Thy chastisement came upon them. 17. As a woman\nwith child, who draws near to her delivery, writhes and cries out in\nher pangs, so were we in Thy sight, O Jehovah. 18. We went with\nchild, we writhed; it was as if we brought forth wind. We brought no\ndeliverance to the land, and the inhabitants of the world did not\ncome to the light.\n\n19. Thy dead will live, my corpses rise again. Awake and rejoice, ye\nthat lie in the dust! For Thy dew is as the dew of the lights, and\nthe earth will bring shades to the day.\n\n20. Go in, my people, into thy chambers, and shut the door behind\nthee; hide thyself a little moment, till the judgment of wrath passes\nby. 21. For, behold, Jehovah goeth out of His place to visit the\niniquity of the earth upon them; and the earth discloses the blood\nthat it has sucked up, and no more covers her slain.\n\nXXVII.--1. In that day will Jehovah visit with His sword, with the\nhard, and the great, and the strong; leviathan the fleet serpent, and\nleviathan the twisted serpent, and slay the dragon in the sea.\n\n\n_D.--The Fourth Echo: The Fruit-bearing Vineyard\nunder the Protection of Jehovah._--CHAP. XXVII. 2-6\n\n        2. In that day\n           A merry vineyard--sing it!\n        3. I, Jehovah, its keeper,\n           Every moment I water it.\n           That nothing may come near it,\n           I watch it night and day.\n        4. Wrath have I none;\n           Oh, had I thorns, thistles before Me!\n           I would make up to them in battle,\n           Burn them all together.\n        5. Men would then have to grasp at My protection,\n           Make peace with Me,\n           Make peace with Me.\n\n6. In future will Jacob strike roots, Israel blossom and bud, and\nfill the surface of the globe with fruits.\n\n\nJEHOVAH'S CHASTENING AND SAVING\nCOURSE TOWARDS ISRAEL.--CHAP. XXVII. 7-13.\n\n7. Hath He smitten it like the smiting of the smiter, or is it slain\nlike the slaying of those slain by Him? 8. Thou punishedst it with\nmeasures, when Thou didst thrust it away, sifting with violent breath\nin the day of the east wind. 9. Therefore will the guilt of Jacob be\npurged thus; and this is all the fruit of the removal of his sin:\nwhen He maketh all alter-stones like chalk-stones that are broken in\npieces, Astarte images and sun-pillars do not rise up again. 10. For\nthe strong city is solitary, a dwelling given up and forsaken like\nthe steppe: there calves feed, and there they lie down, and eat of\nits branches. 11. When its branches become withered, they are broken;\nwomen come, make fires with them; for it is not a people of\nintelligence: therefore its Creator has no pity upon it, and its\nFormer doth not pardon it.\n\n12. And it will come to pass on that day, Jehovah will appoint a\nbeating of corn from the water-flood of the Euphrates to the brook of\nEgypt, and ye will be gathered one by one, O sons of Israel. 13. And\nit will come to pass in that day, a great trumpet will be blown, and\nthe lost ones in the land of Asshur come, and the outcasts in the\nland of Egypt, and cast themselves down before Jehovah on the holy\nmountain in Jerusalem.\n\n\n_PART V._\n\nBOOK OF WOES: OR, HISTORICAL DISCOURSES RELATING\nTO ASSHUR AND THE EGYPTIAN ALLIANCE.--CHAPS. XXVIII.-XXXIII.\n\n_The First Woe.--Judgment upon Samaria and\nJerusalem, and Consolation for Both._--CHAP. XXVIII.\n\n1. Woe to the proud crown of the drunken of Ephraim, and to the\nfading flower of its splendid ornament, which is upon the head of the\nluxuriant valley of those slain with wine.\n\n2. Behold, the Lord holds a strong and mighty thing like a hailstorm,\na pestilent tempest; like a storm of mighty overflowing waters, He\ncasts down to the earth with almighty hand. 3. With feet they tread\ndown the proud crown of the drunken of Ephraim. 4. And it happens to\nthe fading flower of its splendid ornament, which is upon the head of\nthe luxuriant valley, as to an early fig before it is harvest, which\nwhosoever sees it looks at, and it is no longer in his hand than he\nswallows it.\n\n5. In that day will Jehovah of hosts be the adorning crown and the\nsplendid diadem to the remnant of His people; 6. and the spirit of\njustice to them that sit on the judgment-seat, and heroic strength to\nthem that drive back war at the gate.\n\n7. And they also reel with wine, and are giddy with meth; priest and\nprophet reel with meth, reel when seeking visions, stagger when\npronouncing judgment. 8. For all tables are full of filthy vomit,\nwithout any more place.\n\n9. Whom then would He teach knowledge? And to whom make preaching\nintelligible? To those weaned from the milk. To those removed from\nthe breast. 10. For precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line\nupon line, line upon line, a little here, a little there?\n\n11. For through men stammering in speech, and through a strange\ntongue will He speak to this people. 12. He who said to them, There\nis rest, give rest to weary ones, and there is refreshing! But they\nwould not hear. 13. Therefore the word of Jehovah becomes to them\nprecept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon\nline, a little here, a little there, that they may go and stumble\nbackwards, and be wrecked to pieces, and be snared and taken.\n\n14. Therefore hear the word of Jehovah, ye scornful lords, rulers of\nthis people which is in Jerusalem! 15. For ye say, We have made a\ncovenant with death, and with Hades we have come to an agreement. The\nswelling scourge, when it cometh hither, will do us no harm: for we\nhave made a lie our shelter, and in deceit have we hidden ourselves.\n16. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I am He who laid\nin Zion a stone, a stone of trial, a precious corner-stone of\nwell-founded founding; whoever believes will not have to move.\n17. And I make justice the line, and righteousness the level; and\nhail sweeps away the refuge of lies, and the hiding-place is washed\naway by waters.\n\n18. And your covenant with death is struck out, and your agreement\nwith Hades will not stand; the swelling scourge when it comes, ye\nwill become a thing trodden down to it. 19. And as often as it passes\nit takes you: for every morning it passes, by day and by night; and\nit is nothing but shuddering to hear such preaching. 20. For the bed\nis too short to stretch in, and the covering too tight when a man\nwraps himself in it.\n\n21. For Jehovah will rise up as in the mountain of Perazim, and be\nwroth as in the valley at Gibeon to work His work; and to set His\nact; strange is His act.\n\n22. And now drive ye not mockeries, lest your fetters be\nstrengthened: for I have heard from the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, a\njudgment of destruction, and an irrevocable one, upon the whole earth.\n\n23. Lend me your ear, and hear my voice; attend, and hear my address!\n24. Does the husbandman plough continually to sow? to furrow and to\nharrow his land? 25. Is it not so: when he levels the surface\nthereof, he scatters black poppy seed, and strews cummin, and puts in\nwheat in rows, and barley in the appointed piece, and spelt on its\nborder? 26. And He has instructed him how to act rightly: his God\nteaches him.\n\n27. For the black poppy is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor\nis a cart wheel rolled over cummin; but black poppy is knocked out\nwith a stick, and cummin with a staff. 28. Is bread-corn crushed? No;\nhe does not go on threshing for ever, and drive the wheel of his cart\nand his horses over it: he does not crush it. 29. This also, it goeth\nforth from Jehovah of hosts: He gives wonderful intelligence, high\nunderstanding.\n\n\n_The Second Woe.--The Oppression\nand Deliverance of Ariel._--CHAP. XXIX.\n\n1. Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the castle where David pitched his tent!\nAdd year to year, let the feasts revolve: 2. then I distress Ariel,\nand there is groaning and moaning; and so she proves herself to Me as\nAriel. 3. And I encamp in a circle round about thee, and surround\nthee with watch-posts, and erect tortoises against thee. 4. And when\nbrought down thou wilt speak out of the ground, and thy speaking will\nsound low out of the dust; and thy voice cometh up like that of a\ndemon from the ground, and thy speaking will whisper out of the dust.\n\n5. And the multitude of thy foes will become like finely powdered\ndust, and the multitude of tyrants like chaff flying away; and it\nwill take place suddenly, very suddenly. 6. For Jehovah of hosts\nthere comes a visitation with crash of thunder and earthquake and\ngreat noise, whirlwind and tempest, and the blazing up of devouring\nfire. 7. And the multitude of all the nations that gather together\nagainst Ariel, and all those who storm and distress Ariel and her\nstronghold, will be like a vision of the night in a dream. 8. And it\nis just as a hungry man dreams, and behold he eats; and when he wakes\nup his soul is empty: and just as a thirsty man dreams, and behold he\ndrinks; and when he wakes up, behold, he is faint, and his soul is\nparched with thirst: so will it be to the multitude of nations which\ngather together against the mountain of Zion.\n\n9. Stop and stare; blind yourselves, and grow blind!\n\nThey are drunken, and not with wine; they reel, and not with meth.\n10. For Jehovah hath poured upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and\nbound up your eyes; the prophets and your heads, the seers, He has\nveiled. 11. And the revelation of all this will be to you like the\nwords of a sealed writing, which they give to him that understands\nwriting, say, Pray, read this; but he says, I cannot, it is sealed.\n12. And they give the writing to one who does not understand writing,\nsaying, Pray, read this; but he says, I do not understand writing.\n\n13. The Lord hath spoken: Because this people approaches Me with its\nmouth, and honours Me with its lips, and keeps its heart far from Me,\nand its reverence for Me has become as a commandment learned from\nmen; 14. therefore, behold, I will proceed wondrously with this\npeople, wondrously and marvellously strange; and the wisdom of its\nwise men is lost, and the understanding of its intelligent men\nbecomes invisible.\n\n15. Woe unto them that hide plans deep from Jehovah, and their doing\noccurs in a dark place, and they say, Who saw us then, and who know\nabout us? 16. Oh for your perversity! It is to be regarded as\npotter's clay; that a work could say to its maker, He has not made\nme; and an image to its sculptor, He does not understand it!\n\n17. Is it not yet a very little, and Lebanon is turned into a\nfruitful field, and the fruitful field esteemed as a forest? 18. And\nin that day the deaf hear scripture words, and the eyes of the blind\nwill see out of obscurity and out of darkness. 19. And the joy of the\nhumble increases in Jehovah, and the poor among men will rejoice in\nthe Holy One of Israel. 20. For tyrants are gone, and it is over with\nscoffers; and all who think evil are rooted out, 21. who condemn a\nman for a word, and lay snares for him that is free-spoken in the\ngate, and overthrow the righteous through shameful lies.\n\n22. Therefore thus saith Jehovah of the house of Jacob, He who\nredeemed Abraham: Jacob shall not henceforth be ashamed, nor shall\nhis face turn pale any more. 23. For when he, when his children see\nthe work of My hands in the midst of him, they will sanctify My name\nand sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shudder before the God of\nIsrael. 24. And those who were of an erring spirit discern\nunderstanding, and murmurers accept instruction.\n\n\n_The Third Woe.--The Momentous Result\nof the Alliance with Egypt._--CHAP. XXX.\n\n1. Woe to the stubborn children, saith Jehovah, to drive plans, and\nnot by My impulse, and to plait alliance, and not according to My\nspirit, to heap sin upon sin; 2. that go away to travel down to\nEgypt, without having asked My mouth, to fly to Pharaoh's shelter,\nand to conceal themselves under the shadow of Egypt. 3. And Pharaoh's\nshelter becomes a shame to them, and the concealment under the shadow\nof Egypt is a disgrace. 4. For Judah's princes have appeared in Zoan,\nand his ambassadors arrive in Haran. 5. They will all have to be\nashamed of a people useless to them, that brings no help and no use,\nbut shame, and also reproach.\n\n6. Oracle concerning the water-oxen of the south: Through a land of\ndistress and confinement, whence the lioness and lion, adders and\nflying dragons; they carry their possessions on the shoulders of\nasses' foals, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a nation\nthat profits nothing. 7. And Egypt, worthlessly and hollowly will\nthey help; therefore I call this Egypt, Great-mouth sits still.\n\n8. Now go, write it on a table with them, and note it in a book, and\nlet it stand there for future days, for ever, to eternity.\n\n9. For it is a refractory people, lying children, children who do not\nlike to hear the instruction of Jehovah; 10. who say to the seers,\nSee not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things!\nSpeak flatteries to us! 11. Get out of the way, turn aside from the\npath, remove from our face the Holy One of Israel.\n\n12. Therefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye dislike\nthis word, and put your trust in force and shufflings, and rely upon\nthis; 13. therefore will this iniquity be to like a falling breach,\nbent forwards in a high-towering wall, which falls to ruin suddenly,\nvery suddenly. 14. And He smites it to pieces, as a potter's vessel\nfalls to pieces when they smash it without sparing, and of which,\nwhen it lies smashed to pieces there, you cannot find a sherd to\nfetch fire with from the hearth, or to take water with out of a\ncistern.\n\n15. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, Through\nturning and rest ye would be helped; your strength would show itself\nin quietness and confidence; but ye would not. 16. And ye said, No,\nbut we will fly upon horses; therefore ye shall flee: and, We will\nride upon race-horses; therefore your pursuers will race. 17. A\nthousand, ye will flee from the threatening of one, from the\nthreatening of five, until ye are reduced to a remnant, like a pine\nupon the top of the mountain, and like a banner upon the hill.\n\n18. And therefore will Jehovah wait till He inclines towards you, and\ntherefore will He withdraw Himself on high till He has mercy upon\nyou; for Jehovah is a God of right, salvation to those who wait for\nHim.\n\n19. For a people continues dwelling in Zion, in Jerusalem; thou shalt\nnot weep for ever: He will prove Himself gracious to thee at the\nsound of thy cry for help; as soon as He hears, He answers thee.\n20. And the Lord giveth you bread in penury, and water for your need;\nand thy teachers will not hide themselves any more, and thine eyes\ncome to see thy teachers. 21. And thine ears will hear words behind\nthee, saying, \"This is the way, walk ye in it!\" whether ye turn to\nthe right hand or the left. 22. And ye defile the covering of thy\ngraven images of silver, and the clothing of thy molten images of\ngold; thou wilt scatter them like a filthy thing: \"Get out!\" thou\nsayest to it.\n\n23. And He gives rain to thy seed, with which thou sowest the land;\nand bread of the produce of the land, and it is full of sap and fat;\nin that day your flocks will feed in roomy pastures. 24. And the oxen\nand the young asses, which work the land, salted mash will they eat,\nwhich is winnowed with the winnowing shovel and winnowing fork!\n25. And upon every high mountain, and every hill that rises high,\nthere are springs, brooks in the day of the great massacre, when the\ntowers fall.\n\n26. And the light of the moon will be as light of the sun, and the\nlight of the sun will be multiplied sevenfold, like the light of\nseven days, in the day that Jehovah bindeth the hurt of His people,\nand healeth the crushing of His stroke.\n\n27. Behold, the name of Jehovah cometh from far, burning His wrath,\nand quantity of smoke: His lips are full of wrathful foam, and His\ntongue like devouring fire. 28. And His breath is like an overflowing\nbrook, which reaches half-way to the neck, to sift nations in the\nsieve of nothingness; and a misleading bridle comes to the cheeks of\nthe nations.\n\n29. Your song will then sound as in the night, when the feast is\ncelebrated; and ye will have joy of heart like those who march with\nthe playing of flutes, to go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the\nRock of Israel.\n\n30. And Jehovah causes His majestic voice to be heard, and causes the\nlowering of His arm to be seen, with the snorting of wrath and the\nblazing of devouring fire, the bursting of a cloud, and pouring of\nrain and hailstones. 31. For Asshur will be terrified at the voice of\nJehovah, when He smites with the staff. 32. And it will come to pass\nevery stroke of the rod of destiny, which Jehovah causes to fall upon\nAsshur, is dealt amid the noise of drums and the playing of guitars;\nand in battles of swinging arm He fights it. 33. For a place for the\nsacrifice of abominations has long been made ready, even for the king\nit is prepared: deep, broad has He made it: its funeral-pile has fire\nand wood in abundance; the breath of Jehovah like a stream of\nbrimstone sets it on fire.\n\n\n_The Fourth Woe.--The False Help; the Despised\nOne Pitied; and the New Era._--CHAPS. XXXI.-XXXII. 8.\n\n1. Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, and rely upon horses,\nand put their trust in chariots, that there are many of them, and in\nhorsemen, that there is a powerful multitude of them: and to not look\nup to the Holy One of Israel, and do not inquire for Jehovah! 2. And\nyet He also is wise; thus then He brings evil, and sets not His words\naside; and rises up against the house of miscreants, and against the\nhelp of evil-doers. 3. And Egypt is man, and not God; and its horses\nflesh, and not spirit. And when Jehovah stretches out His hand, the\nhelper stumbles, and he that is helped falls, and they all perish\ntogether.\n\n4. For thus hath Jehovah spoken unto me, As the lion growls and the\nyoung lion over its prey, against which a whole crowd of shepherds is\ncalled together; he is not alarmed at their cry, and does not\nsurrender at their noise; so will Jehovah of hosts descend to the\ncampaign against the mountain of Zion, and against their hill.\n5. Like fluttering birds, so will Jehovah of hosts screen Jerusalem;\nscreening and delivering, sparing and setting free.\n\n6. Then turn, O sons of Israel, to Him from whom men have so deeply\ndeparted. 7. For in that day they will abhor every one their silver\nidols and their gold idols, which your hands have made to you for a\nsin. 8. And Asshur falls by a sword not of a man, and a sword not of\na man will devour him; and he flees before a sword, and his young men\nbecome tributary. 9. And his rock, for fear it will pass away, and\nhis princes be frightened away by the flags: the saying of Jehovah,\nwho has His fire in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem.\n\nXXXII.--1. Behold the king will reign according to righteousness; and\nthe princes, according to right will they command. 2. And every one\nwill be like a shelter from the wind, and a covert from the storm;\nlike water-brooks in a dry place, like the shadow of a gigantic rock\nin a languishing land.\n\n3. And the eyes of the seeing no more are closed, and the ears of the\nhearing attend. 4. And the heart of the hurried understands to know,\nand the tongue of stammerers speaks clear things with readiness.\n\n5. The fool will no more be called a nobleman, nor the crafty a\ngentleman. 6. For a fool speaks follies, and his heart does godless\nthings, to practise tricks and to speak error against Jehovah, to\nleave the soul of hungry men empty, and to withhold the drink of\nthirsty ones. 7. And the craft of the crafty man is evil, who devises\nstratagems to destroy suffering ones by lying words, even when the\nneedy exhibits his right. 8. But a noble man deviseth noble things,\nand to noble things he adheres.\n\n\nAGAINST THE WOMEN OF JERUSALEM.--CHAP. XXXII. 9-20.\n\n_Appendix to the Fourth Woe._\n\n9. Ye contented women, rise up, hear my voice, ye confident\ndaughters, hearken to my speech! 10. Days to the year: then will ye\ntremble, confident ones! for it is all over with the vintage, the\nfruit harvest comes to nought. 11. Tremble, contented ones! Quake, ye\nconfident ones! Strip, make yourselves bare, and gird your loins with\nsackcloth! 12. They smite upon their breasts for the pleasant fields,\nfor the fruitful vine. 13. On the land of my people there come up\nweeds, briers; yes, upon all joyous houses of the rejoicing city.\n14. For the palace is made solitary: the crowd of the city is left\ndesolate; the ophel and watch-tower serve as caves for ever, for the\ndelight of wild asses, for the tending of flocks.\n\n15. Until the Spirit is poured out over us from on high, and the\nwilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is\ncounted as the forest. 16. And justice makes its abode in the desert,\nand righteousness settles down upon the fruit-field. 17. And the\neffect of righteousness will be peace, and the reward of\nrighteousness rest and security for ever. 18. And my people dwells in\na place of peace, and in trustworthy, safe dwellings, and in cheerful\nresting-places. 19. And it hails with the overthrow of the forest,\nand into lowliness must the city be brought low.\n\n20. Blessed are ye that sow by all waters, and let the foot of the\noxen and asses rove in freedom.\n\n\n_The Fifth Woe.--Woe Concerning Asshur;\nDeliverance and Glory of Jerusalem._--CHAP. XXXIII.\n\n1. Woe, devastator, and thyself not devastated; and thou spoiler, and\nstill not spoiled! Hast thou not done with devastating? thou shalt be\ndevastated. Hast thou attained to rob? men rob thee.\n\n2. Jehovah, be gracious to us; we wait for Thee: be their arm every\nmorning, yea, our salvation in time of need!\n\n3. At the sound of a noise peoples pass away: at Thy rising nations\nare scattered. 4. And your booty is swept away as a swarm of locusts\nsweeps away; as beetles run, they run upon it.\n\n5. Jehovah is exalted; for dwelling on high, He has filled Zion with\njustice and righteousness. 6. And there will be security of thy\ntimes, riches of salvation, of wisdom, and knowledge. Fear of Jehovah\nis then the treasure of Judah.\n\n7. Behold, their heroes weep without; the messengers of peace weep\nbitterly. 8. Desolate are roads, disappeared are travellers; he has\nbroken covenant, insulted cities, despised men. 9. The land mourns,\nlanguishes; Lebanon stands ashamed, parched; the meadow of Sharon has\nbecome like a steppe, and Bashan and Carmel shake their leaves.\n10. Now will I arise, saith Jehovah, now exalt Myself, now lift up\nMyself.\n\n11. Ye are pregnant with hay, ye bring forth stubble! Your snorting\nis the fire that will devour you. 12. And nations become as lime\nburnings, thorns cut off, which are kindled with fire.\n\n13. Hear, ye distant ones, what I have accomplished; and perceive, ye\nnear ones, my omnipotence! 14. The sinners in Zion are afraid;\ntrembling seizes the hypocrites: who of us can dwell with devouring\nfire? who of us abide with everlasting burnings?\n\n15. He that walketh in righteousness, and speaketh uprightness; he\nthat despiseth gain of oppressions, whose hand keepeth from grasping\nbribes; he that stoppeth his ear from hearing murderous counsel, and\nshutteth his eyes from looking at evil; 16. he will dwell upon high\nplaces; rocky fastnesses are his castle; his bread is abundant, his\nwaters inexhaustible.\n\n17. Thine eyes will see the King in His beauty, will see a land that\nis very far off.\n\n18. Thy heart meditates upon the shuddering. Where is the valuer?\nwhere is the weigher? where he who counted the towers? 19. The rough\npeople thou seest no more, a people of deep inaudible lip, of\nstammering unintelligible tongue.\n\n20. Look upon Zion, the castle of our festal meeting. Thine eyes will\nsee Jerusalem, a pleasant place, a tent that does not wander about,\nwhose pegs are never drawn, and none of whose cords are ever broken.\n21. No, there dwells for us a glorious One, Jehovah; a place of\nstreams, canals of wide extent, into which no fleet of rowing vessels\nventures, and which no strong man of war shall cross. 22. For Jehovah\nis our Judge; Jehovah is our war-Prince; Jehovah is our King; He will\nbring us salvation.\n\n23. Thy ropes hang loose; they do not hold fast the support of thy\nmast; they do not hold the flag extended: then is the booty of\nplunder divided in abundance; even lame men share the prey. 24. And\nnot an inhabitant will say, I am weak: the people settled there have\ntheir sins forgiven.\n\n\n_PART VI._\n\nFINALE OF THE JUDGMENT UPON ALL THE WORLD (MORE ESPECIALLY UPON\nEDOM) AND REDEMPTION OF THE PEOPLE OF JEHOVAH.--CHAPS. XXXIV., XXXV.\n\n1. Come near, ye peoples, to hear; and ye nations, attend. Let the\nearth hear, and that which fills it, the world, and everything that\nsprings from it. 2. For the indignation of Jehovah will fall upon all\nnations, and burning wrath upon all their host; He has laid the ban\nupon them, delivered them to the slaughter. 3. And their slain are\ncast away, and their corpses--their stench will arise, and mountains\nmelt with their blood. 4. And all the host of the heavens are rolled\nup like a scroll, and all their heat withers as a leaf withers away\nfrom the vine, and like withered leaves from the fig-tree.\n\n5. For My sword has become intoxicated in the heaven; behold, it\ncomes down upon Edom, and upon the people of My ban to judgment.\n6. The sword of Jehovah fills itself with blood, is fattened with\nfat, with blood of lambs and he-goats, with kidney-fat of rams; for\nJehovah has a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land\nof Edom. 7. And buffaloes fall with them, and bullocks together with\nbulls; and their land becomes intoxicated with blood, and their dust\nfattened with fat.\n\n8. For Jehovah hath a day of vengeance, a year of recompense, to\ncontend for Zion. 9. And the brooks of Edom are turned into pitch,\nand its dust into brimstone, and its land becomes burning pitch.\n10. Day and night it is not quenched; the smoke of Edom goes up for\never: it lies waste from generation to generation; no one passes\nthrough it for ever and ever. 11. And pelican and hedgehog take\npossession of it, and eared-owl and raven dwell there; and He\nstretched over it the measure of Tohu and the level of Bohu. 12. Its\nnobles--there is no longer a monarchy which they elected; nettles and\nthistles in the castles; and it and all its princes come to nought.\n13. And the palaces of Edom break out into thorns, nettles and\nthistles in the castles; and it becomes the abode of wild dogs,\npasture for ostriches. 14. And martens meet with jackals, and a\nwood-devil runs upon its fellow; yea, L\u012bl\u012bth dwells there, and finds\nrest for itself. 15. There the arrow-snake makes its nest, and breeds\nand lays eggs, and broods in the shadow there; yea, there vultures\ngather one to another. 16. Search in the book of Jehovah, and read!\nNot one of the creatures falls, not one misses the other: for My\nmouth--it has commanded it; and His breath--it has brought them\ntogether. 17. And He has cast the lots for them, and His hand has\nassigned it (this land) to them by measure; they will possess it for\never; to generation and generation they will dwell therein.\n\nXXXV.--1. Gladness fills the desert and the heath; and the steppe\nrejoices, and flowers like the crocus. 2. It flowers abundantly, and\nrejoices; yea, rejoicing and singing: the glory of Lebanon is given\nto it, the splendour of Carmel and the plain of Sharon; they will see\nthe glory of Jehovah, the splendour of our God.\n\n3. Strengthen ye the weak hands, and make the trembling knees strong.\n4. Say to those of a terrified heart, Be strong, Fear ye not! Behold,\nyour God will come for vengeance, for a Divine retribution: He will\ncome, and bring you salvation. 5. Then the eyes of the blind will be\nopened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. 6. Then will the lame man\nleap as the stag, and the tongue of the dumb man shout; for waters\nbreak out in the desert, and brooks in the steppe. 7. And the mirage\nbecomes a fish-pond, and the thirsty ground gushing water-springs; in\nthe place of jackals, where it lies, there springs up grass with\nreeds and rushes.\n\n8. And a highway rises there, and a road, and it will be called the\nHoly Road; no unclean man will pass along it, as it is appointed for\nthem: whoever walks the road, even simple ones do not go astray.\n9. There will be no lion there, and the most ravenous beast of prey\nwill not approach it, will not be met with there; and redeemed ones\nwalk. 10. And the ransomed of Jehovah will return, and come to Zion\nwith shouting, and everlasting joy upon their heads; they lay hold of\ngladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing flee away.\n\n\n_PART VII._\n\nFULFILMENT OF PROPHECY; AND PROPHECIES BELONGING\nTO THE FOURTEENTH YEAR OF HEZEKIAH'S REIGN, AND\nTHE TIMES IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING.--CHAPS. XXXVI.-XXXIX.\n\n_A.--First Assyrian Attempt to Compel the\nSurrender of Jerusalem._--CHAPS. XXXVI.-XXXVII. 7.\n\nXXXVI.--1. And it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king\nHizikiyahu, Sancher\u00eeb, king of Asshur, came up against all the\nfortified cities of Judah, and took them. 2. Then the king of Asshur\nsent Rabshakeh from Lachish towards Jerusalem to king Hizkiyahu with\na great army, and he advanced to the conduit of the upper pool by the\nroad of the fuller's field; 3. and there went out to him Eliakim, son\nof Hilkiyahu, the house-minister, and Shebna the chancellor, and\nJoah, son of Asaph the recorder.\n\n4. And Rabshakeh said to them, Say now to Hizkiyahu, Thus saith the\ngreat king, the king of Asshur, What sort of confidence is this that\nthou hast got? 5. I say, Vain talk is counsel and strength for war:\nnow, then, in whom dost thou trust, that thou hast rebelled against\nme? 6. Behold, thou trustest in this broken reed-staff there, in\nEgypt, on which one leans, and it runs into his hand and pierces it;\nso does Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. 7. But if thou\nsayest to me, We trust in Jehovah our God; is it not He whose high\nplaces and altars Hizkiyahu has removed, and has said to Judah and\nJerusalem, Ye shall worship before the altar? 8. And not take a wager\nwith my lord the king of Asshur; I will deliver thee two thousand\nhorses, if thou art able for thy part to give horsemen upon them.\n9. And how couldst thou repel the advance of a single satrap among\nthe least of the servants of my lord? Thou puttest thy trust then in\nEgypt for chariots and riders! 10. And now have I come up without\nJehovah against this land to destroy it? Jehovah said to me, Go up to\nthis land, and destroy it.\n\n11. Then said Eliakim, and Shebna, and Joah, to Rabshakeh, Pray,\nspeak to thy servants in Aram\u00e6an, for we understand it; and do not\nspeak to us in Jewish, in the ears of the people that are on the wall.\n\n12. Then Rabshakeh said to them, Has my lord sent me to thy lord and\nto thee, not rather to the men who sit upon the wall, to eat their\ndung, and to drink their urine together with you?\n\n13. Then Rabshakeh went near, and cried with a loud voice in the\nJewish language, and said, Hear the words of the great king, the king\nof Asshur. 14. Thus saith the king, Let not Hizkiyahu practise\ndeception upon you; for he cannot deliver you. 15. And let not\nHizkiyahu feed you with hope in Jehovah, saying, Jehovah will\ndeliver, yea, deliver us: this city will not be delivered into the\nhand of the king of Asshur. 16. Hearken not to Hizkiyahu; for thus\nsaith the king of Asshur, Enter into a connection of mutual good\nwishes with me, and come out to me: and enjoy every one his vine, and\nevery one his fig-tree, and drink every one the water of his cistern:\n17. till I come and take you away into a land like your own land, a\nland of corn and wine, a land of bread-corn and vineyards; 18. that\nHizkiyahu do not befool you, saying, Jehovah will deliver us. Have\nthe gods of the nations delivered every one his land out of the hand\nof the king of Asshur? 19. Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad?\nWhere the gods of Sepharvayim? and how much less have they delivered\nthat Samaria out of my hand? 20. Who were they among all the gods of\nthese lands who delivered their land out of my hand? how much less\nwill Jehovah deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?\n\n21. But they held their peace, and answered him not a word; for it\nwas the king's commandment, Ye shall not answer him.\n\n22. Then came Eliakim, son of Hilkiyahu, the house-minister, and\nShebna that chancellor, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder, to\nHizkiyahu, with torn clothes, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.\n\nXXXVII.--1. And it came to pass, when king Hizkiyahu had heard, he\nrent his clothes, and wrapped himself in mourning linen, and went\ninto the house of Jehovah. 2. And sent Eliakim the house-minister,\nand Shebna the chancellor, and the eldest of the priests, wrapped in\nmourning linen, to Isaiah son of Amoz, the prophet. 3. And they say\nto him, Thus saith Hizkiyahu, A day of affliction, and punishment,\nand blasphemy is this day; for children are come to the matrix, and\nthere is no strength to bring them forth. 4. Perhaps Jehovah thy God\nwill hear the words of Rabshakeh, with which the king of Asshur his\nlord has sent him to revile the living God; and Jehovah thy God will\npunish for the words He hath heard, and thou wilt make intercession\nfor the remnant that still exists.\n\n5. And the servants of king Hizkiyahu came to Isaiah. 6. And Isaiah\nsaid to them, Speak thus to your lord, Thus saith Jehovah, Be not\nafraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of\nthe king of Asshur have blasphemed Me. 7. Behold, I will bring a\nspirit upon him, and he will hear a hearsay, and return to his own\nland; and I will cut him down with the sword in his own land.\n\n\n_B.--Second Attempt of the Assyrians to Force the Surrender\nof Jerusalem. Its Miraculous Deliverance._--CHAP. XXXVII. 8-38.\n\n8. Rabshakeh thereupon returned, and found the king of Asshur warring\nagainst Libnah; for he had heard that he had withdrawn from Lachish.\n9. And he had heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, he has\ncome out to make war against thee; and heard, and sent messengers to\nHiskiyahu, saying, 10. Thus shall ye say to Hizkiyahu king of Judah,\nsaying, Let not the God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying,\nJerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Asshur.\n11. Behold, thou hast surely heard what the kings of Asshur have done\nto all lands, to lay the ban upon them; and thou, thou shouldest be\ndelivered? 12. Have the gods of the nations, which my fathers\ndestroyed, delivered them? Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the\nB\u2022n\u0113-'Eden, which are in Telassar? 13. Where is the king of Hamath,\nand the king of Arpad, and the king of 'Ir-Sepharvayim, Hen'a, and\n'Ivah?\n\n14. And Hizkiyahu took the letter out of the hand of the messengers,\nand read it, and went up to the house of Jehovah; and Hizkiyahu\nspread it before Jehovah. 15. And Hizkiyahu prayed to Jehovah,\nsaying, 16. Jehovah of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned upon the\ncherubim, Thou, yea Thou alone, art God of all the kingdoms of the\nearth; Thou, Thou hast made the heavens and the earth. 17. Incline\nThine ear, Jehovah, and hear! Open Thine eyes, Jehovah, and see; and\nhear the words of Sennacherib, which he hath sent to despise the\nliving God! 18. Truly, O Jehovah, the kings of Asshur have laid waste\nall lands, and their land, 19. and have put their gods into the fire:\nfor they were not gods, only the work of men's hands, wood and stone;\ntherefore they have destroyed them. 20. And now, Jehovah our God,\nhelp us out of his hand, and all the kingdoms of the earth may know\nthat Thou Jehovah art it alone.\n\n21. And Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hizkiyahu, saying, Thus saith\nJehovah the God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed to me\nconcerning Sennacherib the king of Asshur: 22. This is the utterance\nwhich Jehovah utters concerning him:--The virgin daughter of Zion\ndespiseth thee, laugheth thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem\nshaketh her head after thee. 23. Whom hast thou reviled and\nblasphemed, and over whom hast thou spoken loftily, that thou hast\nlifted up thine eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel. 24. By\nthy servants hast thou reviled the Lord, in that thou sayest, \"With\nthe multitude of my chariots have I climbed the height of the\nmountains, the inner side of Lebanon; and I shall fell the lofty\ngrowth of its cedars, the choice of its cypresses; and I shall\npenetrate to the height of its uttermost border, the grove of its\norchard. 25. I, I have digged and drank waters, and will make dry\nwith the sole of my feet all the Nile-arms.\" 26. Hast thou not heard?\nI have done it long ago, from the days of ancient time have I formed\nit, and now brought it to pass, that thou shouldest lay waste\nfortified cities into desolate stone heaps; 27. and their\ninhabitants, powerless, were terrified, and were put to shame: became\nherb of the field and green of the turf, herb of the house-tops, and\na cornfield before the blades. 28. And thy sitting down, and thy\ngoing out, and thy entering in, I know; and thy heating thyself\nagainst Me. 29. On account of thy heating thyself against Me, and\nbecause thy self-confidence has risen up into Mine ears, I put My\nring into thy nose, and My muzzle into thy lips, and lead thee back\nby the way by which thou hast come.\n\n30. And let this be a sign to thee, Men eat this year what is\nself-sown; and in the second year what springs from the roots; and in\nthe third year they sow and reap and plant vineyards, and eat their\nfruit. 31. And that which is escaped of the house of Judah, that\nwhich remains will again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.\n32. For from Jerusalem will a remnant go forth, and a fugitive from\nMount Zion; the zeal of Jehovah of hosts will carry this out.\n\n33. Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning the king of Asshur, He\nwill not enter into this city, nor shoot off an arrow there; nor do\nthey assault it with a shield, nor cast up earthworks against it.\n34. By the way by which he came will he return; and he will not enter\ninto this city, saith Jehovah. 35. And I shield this city, to help,\nfor Mine own sake, and for the sake of David My servant.\n\n36. Then the angel of Jehovah went forth and smote in the camp of\nAsshur a hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when men rose up in\nthe morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. 37. Then Sennacherib\nking of Asshur decamped, and went forth and returned, and settled\ndown in Nineveh. 38. And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in\nthe temple of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharazer his sons\nsmote him with the sword; and when they escaped to the land of\nArarat, Esar-haddon reigned in his stead.\n\n\n_C.--Hezekiah's Illness. Isaiah\nAssures Him of His Recovery._--CHAP. XXXVIII.\n\n1. In those days Hizkiyahu became dangerously ill. And Isaiah son of\nAmoz, the prophet, came to him, and said to him, Thus saith Jehovah,\nSet thine house in order; for thou wilt die, and not recover. 2. Then\nHizkiyahu turned his face to the wall, and prayed to Jehovah, 3. and\nsaid, O Jehovah, remember this, I pray, that I have walked before\nThee in truth, and with the whole heart, and have done what was good\nin Thine eyes. And Hizkiyahu wept with loud weeping.\n\n4. And it came to pass the word of Jehovah came to Isaiah as follows:\n5. Go and say to Hizkiyahu, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of David\nthine ancestor, I have heard thy prayer, seen thy tears; behold, I\nadd to thy days fifteen years. 6. And I will deliver thee and this\ncity out of the hand of the king of Asshur, and defend this city.\n\n[21. Then Isaiah said they were to bring a fig-cake; and they\nplastered the boil, and he recovered. 22. And Hizkiyahu said, What\nsign is there that I shall go up to the house of Jehovah?]\n\n7. And let this be the sign to thee on the part of Jehovah, that\nJehovah will perform the word which He has spoken: 8. Behold, I will\nmake the shadow retrace the steps, which it has gone down upon the\nsun-dial of Ahaz through the sun, ten steps backward. And the sun\nwent back ten steps upon the dial, which it had gone down.\n\n9. Writing of Hizkiyahu king of Judah, when he was sick, and\nrecovered from his sickness.\n\n10, 11, 12:--\n        I said, in quiet of my days shall I depart into\n            the gates of Hades:\n        I am mulcted of the rest of my years.\n        I said, I shall not see Jah, Jah, in the land of\n            the living:\n        I shall behold man no more, with the inhabitants\n            of the regions of the dead.\n        My home is broken up, and is carried off from me\n            like a shepherd's tent:\n        I rolled up my life like a weaver: He would have\n            cut me loose from the roll:\n        From day to night Thou makest an end of me.\n\n13, 14:--\n        I waited patiently till the morning; like the lion,\n        So will He break in pieces all my bones:\n        From day to night Thou makest it all over with me.\n        Like a swallow, a crane, so I chirped;\n        I cooed like the dove:\n        Mine eyes pined for the height.\n        O Lord, men assault me! Be bail for me.\n\n15-17:--\n        What shall I say, That He promised me,\n            and He hath carried it out:\n        I should walk quietly all my years,\n            on the trouble of my soul?\n        Oh Lord, by such things men revive, and the life\n            of my spirit is always therein:\n        And so wilt Thou restore me, and make me\n            to live!\n        Behold, bitterness became salvation to me,\n            bitterness;\n        And Thou, Thou hast delivered my soul in\n            love out of the pit of corruption:\n        For Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back.\n\n18-20:--\n        For Hades does not praise Thee; death does not sing\n            praises to Thee:\n        They that sink into the grave do not hope for\n            Thy truth.\n        The living, the living, he praises Thee,\n            as I do to-day;\n        The father to the children makes known Thy truth,\n        Jehovah is ready to give me salvation;\n        Therefore will we play my stringed instruments\n            all the days of my life\n        In the house of Jehovah.\n\n\n_D.--Threatening of the Babylonish\nCaptivity Occasioned by Hezekiah._--CHAP. XXXIX.\n\n1. At that time Merodach Bal'adan, son of Bal'adan king of Babel,\nsent writings and a present to Hizkiyahu, and heard that he had been\nsick, and was restored again.\n\n2. And Hizkiyahu rejoiced concerning them, and showed them all his\nstorehouses: the silver, and the gold and the spices, and the fine\noil, and all his arsenal, and all that was in his treasures: there\nwas nothing that Hizkiyahu had now shown them in all his house or in\nall his kingdom.\n\n3. Then came Isaiah the prophet to king Hizkiyahu, and said to him,\nWhat have these men said, and whence came they to thee? Hizkiyahu\nsaid, They came to me from a far country, out of Babel. 4. He said\nfurther, What have they seen in thy house? Hizkiyahu said, All that\nis in my house have they seen; there was nothing in my treasures that\nI had not shown them. 5. Then Isaiah said to Hizkiyahu, Hear the word\nof Jehovah of hosts; 6. Behold, days come, that all that is in thy\nhouse, and all that thy fathers have laid up unto this day, will be\ncarried away to Babel: nothing will be left behind, saith Jehovah.\n7. And of thy children that proceed from thee, whom thou shalt beget,\nwill they take; and they will be courtiers in the palace of the king\nof Babel. 8. Then said Hizkiyahu to Isaiah, Good is the word of\nJehovah which thou hast spoken. And he said further, Yea, there shall\nbe peace and steadfastness in my days.\n\n\nSECOND HALF OF THE COLLECTION, CHAPS. XL.-LXVI.\n\n_PART I._\n\nFIRST PROPHECY.--CHAP. XL.\n\n_Words of Comfort, and the God of Comfort._\n\n1. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. 2. Speak ye to\nthe heart of Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her affliction is\nended, that her debt is paid, that she has received from the hand of\nJehovah double for all her sins.\n\n3. Hark, a crier! In the wilderness prepare ye a way for Jehovah,\nmake smooth in the desert a road for our God. 4. Let every valley be\nexalted, and every mountain and hill made low; and let the rugged by\nmade a plain, and the ledges of rock a valley. 5. And the glory of\nthe Lord will be revealed, and all flesh seeth together; for the\nmouth of Jehovah hath spoken it.\n\n6. Hark, one speaking, Cry! And he answers, What shall I cry? All\nflesh is grass, and all its beauty as the flower of the field.\n7. Grass is withered, flower faded, for the breath of Jehovah has\nblown upon it. Surely grass is the people; 8. grass withereth, flower\nfadeth: yet the word of our God shall stand for ever.\n\n9. Upon a high mountain get thee up, O evangelistess Zion;[1] lift up\nthy voice with strength, evangelistess Jerusalem! lift up, be not\nafraid; say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God.\n\n10. Behold, the Lord Jehovah as a mighty one will He come! His arm\nruling for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, and His retribution\nbefore Him. 11. He will feed His flock like a shepherd, take the\nlambs in His arm, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those\nthat are giving suck.\n\n12. Who hath measured the waters with the hollow of His hand, and\nregulated the heavens with a span, and taken up the dust of the earth\nin a third measure, and weighed the mountains with a steelyard, and\nhills with balances? 13. Who regulated the Spirit of Jehovah, and\n(who) instructed Him as His counsellor? 14. With whom took He\ncounsel, and who would have explained to Him and instructed Him\nconcerning the path of right, and taught Him knowledge, and made\nknown to Him a prudent course?\n\n15. Behold, nations like a little drop on a bucket, and like a grain\nof sand in a balance, are they esteemed; behold, islands like an atom\nof dust that rises in the air. 16. And Lebanon is not a sufficiency\nof burning, nor its game a sufficiency of burnt-offerings. 17. All\nthe nations are as nothing before Him; they are regarded by Him as\nbelonging to nullity and emptiness. 18. And to whom can ye liken God,\nand what king of image can ye place beside Him!\n\n19. The idol, when the smith has cast it, the melter plates it with\ngold, and melteth silver chains for it. 20. The man who is\nimpoverished in oblations, he chooseth a block of wood that will not\nrot; he seeketh for himself a skilful smith, to prepare an idol that\nwill not shake.\n\n21. Do ye not know? Do ye not hear? Is it not proclaimed to you from\nthe beginning? Have ye not obtained an insight into the foundations\nof the earth? 22. He who is enthroned above the vault of the earth,\nand its inhabitants resemble grasshoppers; who has spread out the\nheavens like gauze, and stretched them out like a tent-roof to dwell\nin; 23. He who giveth up rulers; maketh judges of the earth like a\ndesolation. 24. They are hardly planted, hardly sown, their stem has\nhardly taken root in the earth, and He only blows upon them, and they\ndry up, and the storm carries them away like stubble.\n\n25. And to whom will ye compare Me, to whom can I be equal? saith the\nHoly One.\n\n26. Lift[2] up your eyes on high and see; who hath created these\nthings? It is He who bringeth out their host by number, calleth them\nall by names, because of the greatness of (His) might, and as being\nstrong in power: there is not one that is missing.\n\n27. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is\nhidden from Jehovah, and my right hand is overlooked by my God?\n28. Is it not known to thee, or hast thou not heard, an eternal God\nis Jehovah, Creator of the ends of the earth? He fainteth not,\nneither becomes weary; His understanding is unsearchable. 29. Giving\npower to the faint, and to the incapable He giveth strength in\nabundance. 30. And youths grow faint and weary, and young men suffer\na fall. 31. But they who wait for Jehovah gain fresh strength; lift\nup their wings like eagles; run, and are not weary; go forward, and\ndo not faint.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] 9. O thou that bringest good tidings to Zion, get thee up\n     into the high mountain! lift up thy voice with strength, O\n     thou that bringest good tidings to Jerusalem! lift it up,\n     &c.--_Birks and Kay._\n\n [2] Lift up your eyes into the heavens, and behold! who hath\n     created these things? He bringeth out their host by number,\n     He calleth them all by names; by the greatness of His\n     might, for that He is strong in power, not one\n     faileth.--_Matthew Arnold._\n\n\n\nSECOND PROPHECY.--CHAP. XLI.\n\n_The God of the World's History, and of Prophecy._\n\n1. Be silent to Me, ye islands; and let the nations procure fresh\nstrength: let them come near, then speak; we will enter into contest\ntogether.\n\n2. Who hath raised up the man from the rising of the sun, whom\njustice meets at His foot, He giveth up nations before Him, and kings\nHe subdues, giveth men like dust to His sword, and like driven\nstubble to His bow? 3. He pursueth them, and marcheth in peace by a\ncourse which He never trod with His foot. 4. Who hath wrought and\nexecuted it? He who calleth the generations of men from the\nbeginning, I Jehovah am first, and with the last one am I HE.\n5. Islands have seen it and shuddered; the ends of the earth\ntrembled; they have approached, and drawn near. 6. One helped his\ncompanion, and he said to his brother, Only firm! 7. The caster puts\nfirmness into the melter, the hammer-smoother into the anvil-smelter,\nsaying of the soldering, It is good; and made him firm with nails,\nthat he should not shake.\n\n8. And[1] thou, Israel My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, seed of\nAbraham My friend;[2] 9. thou whom I have laid hold of from the ends\nof the earth, and called from the corners thereof, and said to Thee,\nThou art My servant, I have chosen and not despised thee, 10. fear\nthou not, for I am with thee; be not afraid, for I am thy God: I have\nchosen thee, I also help thee, I also hold thee with the right hand\nof My righteousness. 11. Behold, all they that were incensed against\nthee must be ashamed and confounded; the men of thy conflict become\nas nothing, and perish. 12. Thou wilt seek them, and not find them,\nthe men of thy feuds; the men of thy warfare become as nothing, and\nnonentity. 13. For I, Jehovah thy God, lay hold of thy right hand, He\nwho saith to thee, Fear not, I will help thee.\n\n14. Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and handful[3] Israel: I will help\nthee, saith Jehovah; and thy Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.\n15. Behold, I have made thee a threshing roller, a sharp new one,\nwith double edges; thou wilt thresh mountains, and pound them; and\nhills thou wilt make chaff. 16. Thou wilt winnow them, and wind\ncarries them away, and tempest scatters them; and thou wilt rejoice\nin Jehovah, and glory in the Holy One of Israel.\n\n17. The poor and needy, who seek for water and there is none, their\ntongue faints for thirst. I Jehovah will hear them, I the God of\nIsrael will not forsake them. 18. I open streams upon hills of the\nfield, and springs in the midst of valleys; I make the desert into a\npond, and dry land into fountains of water. 19. I give in the desert\ncedars, acacias, and myrtles, and oleasters; I set on the steppe\ncypresses, plane-trees, sherbin-trees together, 20. that they may\nsee, and know, and lay to heart, and understand all together, that\nthe hand of Jehovah hath accomplished it, and the Holy One of Israel\nhath created it.\n\n21. Bring hither your cause, saith Jehovah; bring forward your\nproofs, saith the King of Jacob. 22. Let them bring forward, and make\nknown to us what will happen; make known the beginning, what it is,\nand we will fix our heart upon it, and take knowledge of its issue;\nor let us hear what is to come. 23. Make known to us what is coming\nlater, and we will acknowledge that ye are gods! yea, do good, and do\nevil, and we will measure ourselves, and see together.\n\n25. I have raised up from the north, and he came: from the rising of\nthe sun one who invokes my name; and he treads upon satraps as mud,\nand like a potter kneadeth clay.\n\n26. Who hath made it known from the beginning, we will acknowledge\nit, and from former time, we will say He is in the right! Yea, there\nwas none that made known; yea, none that caused to hear; yea, none\nthat heard your words. 27. As at the first I said to Zion,[4] Behold,\nbehold, there it is; and I bestow evangelists upon Jerusalem. 28. And\nI looked, and there was no man; and of these there was no one\nanswering whom I could ask, and who would give me an answer. 29. See\nthem all, vanity; nothingness are their productions, wind and\ndesolation their molten images.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] But, &c.--_Birks._\n\n [2] Abraham that loved me.--_Kay._\n\n [3] And ye mortals of Israel.--_Birks._\n\n [4] Or, beforehand is it said unto Zion, Behold, behold\n     them!--_Kay._\n\n\n\nTHIRD PROPHECY.--CHAPS. XLII. 1-XLIII. 18.\n\n_The Mediator of Israel and Saviour of the Gentiles._\n\n1. Behold My servant, who I uphold; Mine elect, whom My soul loveth;\nI have laid My Spirit upon Him; He will bring out right to the\nGentiles. 2. He will not cry, nor lift up, nor cause to be heard in\nthe street, His voice. 3. A bruised reed He does not break, and a\nglimmering wick He does not put out: according to truth He brings out\nright.[1] 4. He will not become faint or broken till He establish\nright upon earth, and the islands wait for His instruction.\n\n5. Thus saith God, Jehovah, Who created the heavens and stretched\nthem out; Who spread the earth, and its productions; Who gave the\nspirit of life to the people upon it, and the breath of life to them\nthat walk upon it: 6. I, Jehovah, I have called Thee in\nrighteousness, and grasped Thy hand; and I keep Thee, and make Thee\nthe covenant of the people, the light of the Gentiles, 7. to open\nblind eyes, to bring out prisoners out of the prison, them that sit\nin darkness out of the prison-house.\n\n8. I am Jehovah, that is My name, and My glory I will not give to\nanother, nor My renown to idols. 9. The first, behold, is come to\npass, and new things am I proclaiming; before it springs up, I will\nlet you hear it.\n\n10. Sing ye to Jehovah a new song, His praise from the end of the\nearth, ye navigators of the sea, and its fulness; ye islands and\ntheir inhabitants. 11. Let the desert and the cities thereof strike\nup, the villages the Kedar doth inhabit; the inhabitants of the\nrock-city may rejoice, about from the summits of the mountains.\n12. Let them give glory to Jehovah, and proclaim His praise in the\nislands. 13. Jehovah, like a hero will He go forth, kindle jealousy\nlike a man of war; He will break forth into a war-cry, a yelling\nwar-cry, prove Himself a hero upon His enemies.\n\n14. I have been silent eternally long, over still, restrained myself;\nlike[2] a travailing woman, I now breathe again, snort and snuff\ntogether. 15. I will make waste mountains and hills, and all their\nherbage I dry up, and change streams into islands, and lakes I dry\nup. 16. And I lead the blind by a way that they know not; by steps\nthat they know not, I make them walk; I turn dark space before them\ninto light, and rugged places into a plain. These are the things that\nI carry out, and do not leave.\n\n17. They fall back, are put deeply to shame, that trust in molten\nimages, that say to the molten image, Thou art our god.\n\n18. Ye deaf, hear; and ye blind, look up that ye may see.\n\n19. Who is blind but My servant? and deaf, as My messenger who I\nsend? who blind as the confident of God, and blind as the servant of\nJehovah? 20. Thou hast seen much, and yet keepest not; opening the\nears, he yet doth not hear. 21. Jehovah was pleased for His\nrighteousness' sake: He gave a Church [direction, instruction,\nrevelation] great and glorious. 22. And yet it is a people robbed and\nplundered; fastened in holes all of them, and they are hidden in\nprison-houses: they have become booty, without deliverers; a spoil,\nwithout any one saying, Give it up again!\n\n23. Who among you will give ear to this, attend, and hear afar off?\n24. Who has given up Jacob to plundering, and Israel to the spoilers?\nIs it not Jehovah, against whom we have sinned? and they would not\nwalk in His way, and hearkened not to His law. 25. Then He poured\nupon it in burning heat His wrath, and the strength of the fury of\nwar: and this set it in flames round about, and it did not come to be\nrecognised; it set on fire, and it did not lay it to heart.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] He shall cause judgment to go forth unto\n     truth.--_Kay._\n\n [2] Now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will desolate and\n     swallow up at once.--_Kay._\n\n\nXLIII.--1. But now thus saith Jehovah thy Creator, O Jacob, and thy\nFormer, O Israel! Fear not, for I have redeemed thee; I have called\nthee by thy name, thou art Mine. 2. When thou goest through the\nwater, I am with thee; and through rivers, they shall not drown thee:\nwhen thou goest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; and the\nflame shall not set thee on fire. 3. For I Jehovah am thy God; (I)\nthe Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I give up Egypt as a ransom for\nthee, Ethiopia and Seba in thy stead. 4. Because thou art dear in my\neyes, highly esteemed, and I loved thee; I give up men in thy stead,\nand peoples for thy life.\n\n5. Fear not, for I am with thee: I bring thy seed from the east, and\nfrom the west will I gather thee; 6. I will say to the north, Give\nup; and to the south, Keep not back: bring My sons from far, and My\ndaughters from the end of the earth; 7. everything that is called by\nMy name, and I have created for My glory, that I have formed, yea\nfinished!\n\n8. Bring out a blind people, and it has eyes: and deaf people, and\nyet furnished with ears! 9. All ye hearken, gather yourselves\ntogether, and let peoples assemble! Who among you can proclaim such a\nthing? And let them cause former things to be heard, appoint their\nwitnesses, and be justified. Let these hear, and say, True! 10. Ye\nare My witnesses, saith Jehovah, and My servant whom I have chosen;\nthat ye may know and believe Me, and see that it is I: before Me was\nno God formed, and there will be none after Me.\n\n11. I, I am Jehovah; and beside me there is no Saviour. 12. I,[1] I\nhave proclaimed and brought salvation, and given to perceive, and\nthere was no other God among you: and ye are My witnesses, saith\nJehovah, and I am God. 13. Even from the day onwards I am so; and\nhere is no deliverer out of My hand; I act, and who can turn it back?\n\n\nFOURTH PROPHECY.--CHAP. XLIII. 14.-XLIV. 5.\n\n_Avenging and Deliverance; and Outpouring of the Spirit._\n\n14. Thus saith Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, For\nyour sake I have sent to Babel, and will hurl them all down as\nfugitives, and the Chaldeans into the ships of their rejoicing.\n15. I, Jehovah, am your Holy One; (I), Israel's Creator, your King.\n\n16. Thus saith Jehovah, who giveth a road through the sea, and a path\nthrough tumultuous waters; 17. who bringeth out chariot and horse,\narmy[2] and hero; they lie down together, they never rise: they have\nflickered away, extinguished like a wick. 18. Remember not things of\nolden time, nor meditate upon those of earlier times! 19. Behold, I\nwork out a new thing; will ye not live to see it? Yea, I make a road\nthrough the desert, and streams through solitudies. 20. The beast of\nthe field will praise Me, wild dogs and ostriches; for I give water\nin the desert, streams in solitude, to give drink to My people, My\nchosen. 21. The people that I formed for Myself, they shall show\nforth My praise.\n\n22.[3] And thou hast not called upon Me, O Jacob, that thou shouldest\nhave wearied thyself for Me, O Israel! 23. Thou hast not brought Me\nsheep of My burnt-offerings, and thou hast not honoured Me with thy\nslain-offerings. I have not burdened thee with meat-offerings, and\nhave not troubled thee about incense. 24. Thou hast brought Me no\nspice-cane for silver, nor hast thou refreshed Me with the fat of thy\nslain-offerings. No; thou hast wearied Me with thy sins, troubled Me\nwith thine iniquities. 25. I, I alone, blot out thy transgressions\nfor My own sake, and do not remember thy sins.\n\n26. Call to My remembrance; we will strive together; tell Me now,\nthat thou mayest appear just. 27. Thy first forefather sinned, and\nthy mediators have fallen away from Me. 28. Then I profaned holy\nprinces, and gave up Jacob to the curse, and Israel to blasphemies.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] I myself declared (beforehand), and saved (in accordance\n     with that declaration), and published (the account of that\n     deliverance); I myself have done this, and there was no\n     strange (god) among you.--_Kay._\n\n     I have declared, and have saved, and I have showed, and it\n     was no strange god that was among you.--_Matthew Arnold._\n\n [2] The valiant and the strong.--_Kay._\n\n [3] 22-24. Yet on Me hast thou not called: but thou hast toiled\n     in respect of Me. Thou broughtest not for _Me_ the lamb of\n     thy burnt-offerings; with thy sacrifices thou didst not\n     glorify Me; I caused thee no labour in meat-offering,\n     neither made thee to toil in respect of incense. Thou\n     broughtest not sweet cane with money for _Me;_ and with the\n     fat of thy sacrifices thou didst not refresh _Me._ Verily,\n     thou hast caused Me to labour by thy sins; thou hast made\n     Me to toil by thine iniquities.--_Kay._\n\n\n\nXLIV.--1. And now hear, O Jacob, My servant, and Israel whom I have\nchosen. 2. Thus saith Jehovah, thy Creator, and thy Former from the\nwomb, who cometh to thy help: Fear not, My servant Jacob, and\nJeshurun, whom I have chosen! 3. For I will pour water on thirsty\nones, and brooks upon the dry ground; will pour My Spirit upon thy\nseed, and My blessing upon thine after-growth; 4. and they shoot up\namong the grass, as willows by flowing waters. 5. One will say, I\nbelong to Jehovah; and a second will solemnly name the name of Jacob;\nand a third[1] will inscribe himself to Jehovah, and name the name of\nIsrael with honour.\n\n\nFIFTH PROPHECY.--CHAP. XLIV. 6-23.\n\n_The ridiculous Gods of the Nations; and the God\nof Israel, Who Makes His People to Rejoice._\n\n6. Thus saith Jehovah the King of Israel, and its Redeemer, Jehovah\nof hosts; I am first, and I last; and beside Me there is no God.\n7.[2] And who preaches as I do? Let him make it known, and show it to\nMe; since I founded the people of ancient time! And future things,\nand what is approaching, let them only make known. 8. Despair ye not,\nneither tremble: have I not told thee long ago, and made it known,\nand ye are My witnesses: is there a God beside Me? And nowhere a\nRock; I know of none.\n\n9. The makers of idols, they are all desolation, and their bosom\nchildren worthless; and those who bear witness for them see nothing\nand know nothing, that they may be put to shame. 10. Who hath formed\nthe god, and cast the idol to no profit? 11. Behold, all its\nfollowers will be put to shame; and the workmen are men; let them all\nassemble together, draw near, be alarmed, be all put to shame\ntogether.\n\n12. The iron-smith[3] has a chisel, and works with red-hot coals, and\nshapes it with hammers, and works it with his powerful arm. He gets\nhungry thereby, and his strength fails; if he drink no water he\nbecomes exhausted. 13. The carpenter draws the line, marks it with\nthe pencil, carries it out with planes, and makes a drawing of it\nwith the compass, and carries it out like the figure of a man, like\nthe beauty of a man, which may dwell in the house.\n\n14. One[4] prepares to cut down cedars, and takes holm and oak-tree,\nand chooses for himself among the trees of the forest. He planteth a\nfig, and the rain draws it up. 15. And it serves the man for firing;\nhe takes thereof, and warms himself; he also heats, and bakes bread;\nhe also works it into a god, and prostrates himself; makes an idol of\nit, and falls down before it. 16. The half of it he has burned in the\nfire! over the half of it he eats flesh, roasts a roast, and is\nsatisfied; he also warms himself, and says, Hurrah! I am getting\nwarm, I feel the heat. 17. And the rest of it he makes into a god,\ninto his idol, and says, Save me, for thou art my god!\n\n18. They perceive not, and do not understand: for their eyes are\nsmeared over, so that they do not see; their hearts that they do not\nunderstand. 19. And men take it not to heart, no perception and no\nunderstanding, that men should say, The half of it I have burned in\nthe fire, and also baked bread upon the coals thereof; roasted flesh,\nand eaten: and ought I to make the rest of it into an abomination, to\nfall down before the produce of a tree? 20. He who striveth after\nashes, a befooled heart has led him astray, and he does not deliver\nhis soul, and does not think, Is there not a lie in my right hand?\n\n21. Remember this, Jacob and Israel; for thou art My servant: I have\nformed thee, thou art servant to Me, O Israel: thou art not forgotten\nby Me. 22.[5] I have blotted out thy transgressions as a mist, and\nthy sins as clouds: return to Me; for I have redeemed thee.\n\n23. Exult, O heavens; for Jehovah hath accomplished it: shout, ye\ndepths of the earth; break out, ye mountains, into exulting; thou\nforest, and all the wood therein: for Jehovah hath redeemed Jacob,\nand He showeth Himself glorious unto Israel.\n\n\nSIXTH PROPHECY.--CHAPS. XLIV. 24-XLV.\n\n_Cyrus, the Anointed of Jehovah, and Deliverer of Israel._\n\n24. Thus saith Jehovah, thy Redeemer, and He that formed thee from\nthe womb, I Jehovah am He that accomplisheth all; who stretched out\nthe heavens alone, spread out the earth by Himself; 25. who bringeth\nto nought the signs of the prophets of lies, and exposeth the\nsoothsayers as raging mad; who turneth back the wise men, and maketh\ntheir science folly; 26. who realiseth the word of His servant, and\naccomplisheth the prediction of His messengers; who saith to\nJerusalem, She shall be inhabited, and their ruins I raise up again!\n27. who saith to the whirlpool, Dry up; and I dry its streams;\n28. who saith to Koresh, My shepherd, and he will perform all my\nwill; and will say to Jerusalem, She shall be built, and the temple\nfounded!\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Shall write with his hand THE LORD'S.--_Kay._\n\n [2] 7. And who, as I, can ordain, and announce\n     it, and set it in order for me, ever since I appointed\n     the ancient people? and coming things,\n     and those which shall come, can they show\n     unto them?--_Kay._\n\n     And who, as I, hath foretold (let him declare it, and set\n     it in order for me!) since I appointed the ancient people?\n     and the things that are coming, and that shall come, let\n     them show!--_Matthew Arnold._\n\n [3] The iron-smith (maketh) an adze, and worketh it in the\n     coal.--_Kay._\n\n [4] 14. He must cut down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the\n     oak, and he encourageth himself in the trees of the\n     forest.--_Kay._\n\n [5] 22. I have swept away as a cloud thy transgressions, and as\n     a dark cloud thy sins.--_Kay._\n\n     I blot out, as a dark cloud, thy transgressions, and, as\n     the clouds, thy sins.--_Revised English Bible._\n\n\n\nXLV.--1. Thus saith Jehovah to His anointed, to Koresh, whom I have\ntaken by his right hand to subdue nations before him, and the loins\nof kings I ungird, to open before him doors and gates, that they may\nnot continue shut. 2. I shall go before thee, and level what is\nheaped up: gates of brass shall I break to pieces, and bolts of iron\nshall I smite to the ground. 3. And I shall give thee treasures of\ndarkness, and jewels of hidden places, that thou mayest know that I\nJehovah am He who called out thy name, (even) the God of Israel.\n\n4. For the sake of My servant Jacob, and Israel My chosen, I called\nthee hither by name, surnamed thee when thou knewest Me not. 5. I\nJehovah, and there is none else, beside Me no God: I equipped thee\nwhen thou knewest Me not; 6. that they may know from the rising of\nthe sun, and its going down, that there is none without Me; I\nJehovah, and there is none else; 7. Former of the light, and Creator\nof the darkness; Founder of peace, and Creator of evil: I Jehovah am\nHe Who worketh all this.\n\n8. Cause to trickle down, ye heavens above, and let the blue sky rain\ndown righteousness; let the earth open, and let salvation blossom,\nand righteousness; let them sprout together, I Jehovah have created\nit.\n\n9. Woe to him that quarreleth with his Maker--a pot among the pots of\nearthenware! Can the clay indeed say to him that shapeth it, What\nmakest thou? and thy work, He hath no hands? 10. Woe to him that\nsaith to his father, What begettest thou? and to the woman, What\nbringest thou forth?\n\n11. Thus saith Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker, Ask Me\nwhat is to come; let My sons and the work of My hands be committed to\nMe! 12. I, I have made the earth, and created men upon it; I, My\nhands have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I\ncalled forth. 13. I, I have raised him up in righteousness, and all\nhis ways shall I make smooth: he will build My city, and release My\nbanished ones, not for price nor for reward, saith Jehovah of hosts.\n\n14. Thus saith Jehovah, The productions of Egypt, and gain of\nEthiopia, and the Sabeans, men of tall stature, will come over to\nthee, and belong to thee; they will come after thee; in chains they\nwill come over, and cast themselves down to thee; they pray to thee,\nSurely God is in thee, and there is none else; no Deity at all.\n\n15. Verily Thou art a mysterious God, Thou God of Israel, Thou\nSaviour.\n\n16. They are put to shame, and also confounded, all of them; they go\naway into confusion together, the forgers of idols. 17. Israel is\nredeemed by Jehovah with everlasting redemption; ye are not put to\nshame nor confounded to everlasting eternities.\n\n18. For thus saith Jehovah, the Creator of the heavens (He is the\nDeity), the Former of the earth, and its Finisher; He has established\nit, He has not created it a desert, He has formed it to be inhabited;\nI am Jehovah, and there is none else. 19. I have not spoken in\nsecret, in a place of the land of darkness; I did not say to the seed\nof Jacob, Into the desert seek ye me! I Jehovah am speaking\nrighteousness, proclaiming upright things.\n\n20. Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye escaped of\nthe heathen! Irrational are they who burden themselves with the wood\nof their idol, and pray to a god that bringeth no salvation. 21. Make\nknown, and cause to draw near; yes, let them take counsel together:\nWho has made such things known from the olden time, proclaimed it\nlong ago? have not I, Jehovah? and there is no Deity beside Me;  God\njust, and bringing salvation; there is none without Me!\n\n22. Turn unto Me, and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth; for I am\nGod, and none else. 23. By Myself have I sworn, a word has gone out\nof My mouth of righteousness, and will not return, That to Me every\nknee shall bend, every tongue swear. 24.[1] Only in Jehovah, do men\nsay of Me, in fulness of Righteousness and strength; they come to\nHim, and all that were incensed against Him are put to shame. 25. In\nJehovah all the seed of Israel shall become righteous, and shall\nglory.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] 24. Only in the Lord (saith one unto Me) is righteousness and\n     strength; even to Him shall one come; and all that were incensed\n     against Him shall be ashamed.--_Kay._\n\n\n\nSEVENTH PROPHECY.--CHAP. XLVI.\n\n_Fall of the Gods of Babel._\n\n1. Bel sinketh down. Nebo stoopeth; the images come to the beast of\nburden and draught cattle: your[1] litters are laden, a burden for\nthe panting. 2. They stooped, sank down all at once, and could not\nget rid of the burden; and their own self went into captivity.\n\n3. Hearken unto Me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the\nhouse of Israel: ye, lifted up from the womb; ye, carried from the\nmother's lap. 4. And till old age it is I, and to grey heir I shall\nbear you on My shoulder; I have done it, and I shall carry; and I put\nupon My shoulder, and deliver. 5. To whom can ye compare Me, and\nliken, and place side by side, that we should be equal?\n\n6. They who pour gold out of the bag, and weigh silver with the\nbalance, hire a goldsmith to make it into a god, that they may bow\ndown, yes, throw themselves down. 7. They lift it up, carry it away\non their shoulder, and set it down in its place! there it is; from\nits place it does not move; men also cry to it, but it does not\nanswer; it saves no man out of distress.\n\n8. Remember this, and become firm; take it to heart, ye rebellious\nones! 9. Remember the beginning from the olden time, that I am God,\nand none else: Deity, and absolutely none like me, 10. proclaiming\nthe issue from the beginning, and from ancient times what has not yet\ntaken place, saying, My counsel shall stand, and all My good pleasure\nI carry out, 11. calling[2] a bird of prey from the east, the man of\nMy counsel from a distant land: not only have I spoken, I also bring\nit; I have purposed it, I will also execute it.\n\n12. Hearken to Me, ye strong-hearted, that are far from\nrighteousness. 13. I have brought My righteousness near; it is not\nfar off, and My salvation tarrieth not: and I give salvation in Zion,\nMy glory to Israel.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] The things that ye carried are borne heavily.--_Kay._\n\n     What were borne by you are made into loads.--_Jones._\n\n [2] Calling from the sunrising a bird of prey.--_Kay._\n\n     Calling an eagle from the east.--_Birks and Arnold._\n\n\n\nEIGHTH PROPHECY.--CHAP. XLVII.\n\n_Fall of Babel, the Capital of the Empire of the World._\n\n1. Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin-daughter Babel; sit on\nthe ground without a throne,[1] O Chaldean's daughter! For men no\nlonger call thee delicate and voluptuous. 2. Take the mill, and grind\nmeal; throw back thy train, uncover thy thigh, wade through streams.\n3. Let thy nakedness be uncovered, even let thy shame be seen; I\nshall take vengeance, and[2] not spare men. 4. Our Redeemer, Jehovah\nof hosts is His name, Holy One of Israel.\n\n5. Sit silent, and creep into the darkness, O Chaldean's daughter!\nfor men no longer call thee lady of kingdoms. 6. I was wroth with My\npeople; I polluted mine inheritance, and gave them into thy hand:\nthou hast shown them no mercy; upon old men thou laidst thy yoke very\nheavily. 7. And thou saidst, I shall be lady for ever; so that thou\ndidst not take these things to heart; thou didst not consider the\nlatter end thereof.\n\n8. And now hear this, thou voluptuous one, she who sitteth so\nsecurely, who sayeth in her heart, I am it, and none else; I shall\nnot sit a widow, nor experience bereavement of children. 9. And these\ntwo come upon thee suddenly in one day: bereavement of children and\nwidowhood; they come upon thee in fullest measure, in spite of the\nmultitude of thy sorceries, in spite of the great abundance of thy\nwitchcrafts. 10. Thou trustedst in thy wickedness, and saidst, No one\nseeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, they led thee astray; so that\nthou saidst in thy heart, I am it, and none else. 11. And misfortune\ncometh upon thee, which[3] thou understandest not how to charm away:\nand destruction will fall upon thee, which thou canst not atone for;\nfor there will come suddenly upon thee ruin which thou suspectest not.\n\n12. Come near, then, with thy enchantments, and with the multitude of\nthy witchcrafts, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth: perhaps\nthou canst profit, perhaps thou canst inspire terror. 13. Thou art\nwearied through the multitude of thy consultations;[4] let the\ndissectors of the heavens come near, then, and save thee, the\nstar-gazers, they who with every new moon bring things to light that\nwill come upon thee. 14. Behold, they have become like stubble: fire\nhas consumed them; there is not a red-hot coal to warm themselves, a\nhearth-fire to sit before. 15. So[5] it is with thy people, for whom\nthou hast laboured: thy partners in trade from thy youth, they wander\naway every one in his own direction; no one who brings salvation to\nthee.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Sit on the ground throneless.--_Kay._\n\n [2] I will meet thee, not as man.--_Birks._\n\n     And I will be entreated of for thee by no man.--_Matthew\n     Arnold._\n\n     And I will accept no man.--_Revised English Version._\n\n [3] Thou shalt not know its dawn.--_Birks and Kay._\n\n [4] Let them stand now and save thee,--they that have portioned\n     out the heavens, those star-gazers, prognosticating at each\n     new moon,--from the things that shall come upon\n     thee.--_Kay._\n\n     Let now the astrologers, the star-gazers, the\n     prognosticators by the new moon, stand up and save thee\n     from these things that shall come upon thee.--_Matthew\n     Arnold._\n\n [5] Of such worth unto thee are the things wherein thou hast\n     toiled: they that trafficked with thee from thy youth have\n     wandered every one to his own quarter; there is none to\n     save thee.--_Kay._\n\n     Thus will they prove to be unto thee, amongst whom\n          thou hast laboured,\n     Those with whom thou hast had dealing from thy youth:\n     They shall become bewildered, every one in his quarter:\n     Not one will be there to save thee.--_Jones._\n\n\n\nNINTH PROPHECY.--CHAP. XLVIII.\n\n_Deliverance from Babylon._\n\n1. Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of\nIsrael, and have flowed out of the waters of Judah, who swear by the\nname of Jehovah, and extol the God of Israel, not in truth, and not\nin righteousness! 2. For they call themselves of the holy city, and\nstay themselves upon the God of Israel, Jehovah of hosts His name.\n\n3. The first I long ago proclaimed, and it has gone forth out of My\nmouth, and I caused it to be heard. I carried it out suddenly, and it\ncame to pass. 4. Because I knew that thou art hard, and thy neck an\niron clasp, and thy brow brass; 5. I proclaimed it to thee long ago;\nbefore it came to pass I caused thee to hear it, that thou mightest\nnot say, My idol has done it, and my graven image and molten image\ncommanded it. 6. Thou hast heard it, look then at it all; and ye,\nmust ye not confess it? I give thee new things to hear from this time\nforth, and hidden things, and what thou didst not know. 7. It is\ncreated now, and not long ago; and thou hast not heard it before;\nthat thou mightest not say, Behold, I knew it. 8. Thou hast neither\nheard it, nor known it, nor did thine ear open itself to it long ago;\nfor I knew thou art altogether faithless, and thou art called\nrebellious from the womb. 9. For My name's sake I lengthen out My\nwrath, and for My praise I hold back towards thee, that I may not cut\nthee off. 10. Behold, I have refined thee, and not in the manner of\nsilver; I have proved thee in the furnace of affliction. 11. For Mine\nown sake, for Mine own sake I accomplish it (for how[1] it is\nprofaned!) and My glory I give not to another.\n\n12. Hearken to me, O Jacob, and Israel my called! I am it; I first,\nalso I last. 13. My hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth,\nand my right hand hath spanned the heavens: I call to them, and they\nstand there together. 14. All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear: Who\namong you hath proclaimed this? He who Jehovah loveth will accomplish\nHis will upon Babel, and His arm upon the Chaldeans. 15. I, I have\nspoken, have also called him, have brought him here, and his way\nprospers. 16. Come ye near to Me! Hear ye this! I have not spoken in\nsecret; from the beginning from the time that it takes place, there\nam I: and now the Lord Jehovah hath sent Me and His Spirit.\n\n17. Thus saith Jehovah, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I,\nJehovah thy God, am He that teacheth thee to do that which profiteth,\nand leadest thee by the way that thou shouldest go. 18. Oh[2] that\nthou hadst hearkened to My commandments! then thy peace becomes like\nthe river, and thy righteousness like waves of the sea; 19. and thy\nseed like the sand, and the children of thy body like the grains\nthereof; its name will not be cut off nor destroyed away from My\ncountenance.\n\n20. Go out of Babel, flee from Chaldea with voice of shouting:\ndeclare ye, preach ye this, carry it out to the end of the earth! Say\nye, Jehovah hath redeemed Jacob His servant. 21. And they thirsted\nnot: He led them through dry places; He caused water to trickle out\nof rocks for them; He split rocks, and waters gushed out. 22. There\nis no peace, saith Jehovah, for the wicked.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] For how should my name be profaned?--_Kay and Arnold._\n\n [2] 18. Oh that thou wouldst hearken to my commandments! then\n     should thy peace be as a river, and thy righteousness as\n     the waves of the sea; 19. thy seed also should be as the\n     sand, and the offspring of thy bowels as the gravel\n     thereof; his name should not be cut off, &c.--_Kay._\n\n\n\n_PART II._\n\nFIRST PROPHECY.--CHAP. XLIX.\n\n_Self-Attestation of the Servant of\nJehovah. The Despondency of Zion Reproved._\n\n1. Listen, O isles, unto Me; and hearken, ye nations afar off:\nJehovah hath called Me from the womb; from My mother's lap hath He\nremembered My name. 2. And He made My mouth like a sharp sword; in\nthe shadow of His hand hath He hid Me, and made Me a polished shaft;\nin His quiver hath He concealed Me. 3. And He said to Me, Thou art My\nservant, O Israel, Thou in Whom I glorify Myself.\n\n4. And I, I said, I have wearied Myself in vain, and thrown away My\nstrength for nothing and to no purpose; yet My right[1] is with\nJehovah, and My reward with My God.\n\n5. And now, saith Jehovah, that formed Me from the womb to be His\nservant, to bring back Jacob to Him, and that Israel[2] may be\ngathered together to Him; and I am honoured in the eyes of Jehovah,\nand My God has become My strength. 6. He saith, It is only a small\nthing that Thou becomest My servant, to set up the tribes of Jacob,\nand to bring back the preserved of Israel: I have set Thee for the\nlight of the Gentiles, to become My salvation to the end of the earth.\n\n7. Thus saith Jehovah, the Redeemer of Israel, His Holy One, to him\nof contemptible soul, to the abhorrence of the people, to the servant\nof tyrants: Kings shall see and arise; princes, and prostrate\nthemselves for the sake of Jehovah, who is faithful, the Holy One of\nIsrael, that He hath chosen Thee. 8. Thus saith Jehovah, In[3] a time\nof favour I have heard Thee, and in the day of salvation have I\nhelped Thee: and I form Thee, and set Thee for a covenant of the\npeople, to raise up the land, to apportion again desolate\ninheritances, 9. saying to prisoners: Go ye out; to those who are in\ndarkness, Come ye to the light.\n\nThey shall feed by the ways, and[4] there is pasture for them upon\nall field-hills. 10. They shall not hunger nor thirst, and the mirage\nand sun shall not blind them: for He that hath mercy on them shall\nlead them, and guide them by bubbling water-springs. 11. And I make\nall My mountains ways, and My roads are exalted. 12. Behold these,\nthey come from afar; and behold these from the north and from the\nsea; and these from the land of the Sinese. 13. Sing, O heavens, and\nshout, O earth; and break out into singing, ye mountains! for Jehovah\nhath comforted His people, and He hath compassion upon His afflicted\nones.\n\n14. Zion said, Jehovah hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten\nme. 15. Does a woman forget her sucking child, so as not to have\ncompassion upon the child of her womb? Even though mothers should\nforget, I will not forget thee. 16. Behold, I have graven thee upon\nthe palms of My hands; thy walls stand continually before Me.\n\n17. Thy children make haste, thy destroyers and masters draw out from\nthee. 18. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see; all these assemble\nthemselves together, and come to thee. As truly as I live, saith\nJehovah, thou wilt put them all on like jewellery, and gird them\nabout thee like a bride. 19. For thy ruins and thy waste places and\nthy land full of ruin,--yea, now thou wilt be too narrow for the\ninhabitants, and thy devourers are far away. 20. Thy[5] children,\nthat were formerly taken from thee, shall say in thine ears, The\nspace is too narrow for me; give way for me, that I may have room.\n21. And thou wilt say in thy heart, Who hath borne me these, seeing I\nam robbed of children, and barren, banished, and thrust away; and\nthese, who hath brought them up? Behold, I was left alone; these,\nwhere were they?\n\n22. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I lift up My hand to\nnations, and set up My standard to peoples: and they bring thy sons\nin their bosom; and thy daughters, upon shoulders are they carried.\n23. And kings become thy foster-fathers, and their princesses thy\nnurses: they bow down their face to thee to the earth, and they lick\nthe dust of thy feet; and thou shalt learn that I am Jehovah, He\nwhose hoping ones are not put to shame.\n\n24. Can the booty indeed be wrested from a giant, or will the\ncaptive[6] host of the righteous escape? 25. Yea, thus saith Jehovah,\nEven the captive hosts of a giant are wrested from him, and the booty\nof a tyrant escapes! and I[7] will make war upon him that warreth\nwith thee, and I will bring salvation to thy children. 26. And[8] I\nfeed them that pain thee with their own flesh; and they shall be\ndrunken with their own blood, as if with new wine; all flesh shall\nsee that I Jehovah am thy Saviour, and that thy Redeemer is the\nMighty One of Jacob.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Yet surely my righteousness is with the Lord, and my\n     recompense with my God. 5. And now, saith the Lord that\n     formed me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob\n     again to Him, and that Israel may be gathered: (for I have\n     honour in the eyes of the Lord, and my God is my strength;)\n     6. and He said, &c.--_Arnold._\n\n [2] But Israel wil not be gathered; yet shall I be glorious,\n     &c.--_Kay._\n\n [3] In a time of acceptance have I answered thee.--_Kay._\n\n [4] And on all bare hill-tops is there pasturage for\n     _them._--_Kay._\n\n [5] The sons of thy childlessness shall say, &c.--_Kay._\n\n [6] The just one's captives.--_Kay._\n\n [7] For I Myself will contend with him that contendeth with\n     thee.--_Kay._\n\n [8] And I will let them that oppress thee eat their own\n     flesh.--_Kay._\n\n     And I will gorge thine opponents with their own flesh;\n     And with their own blood, as with new wine, shall\n          they be drunken.--_Jones._\n\n\n\nSECOND PROPHECY.--CHAP. L.\n\n_Israel's Self-rejection; and the\nSteadfastness of the Servant of Jehovah._\n\n1. Thus saith Jehovah, Where is your mother's bill of divorce, with\nwhich I put her away? Or where is one of My creditors, to whom I sold\nyou? Behold,[1] for your iniquities are ye sold, and for your\ntransgressions is your mother put away.\n\n2. Why did I come, and there was no one there? Why did I call, and\nthere was no one who answered? Is My hand too short to redeem? Or is\nthere no strength in Me to deliver? Behold, through My threatening I\ndry up the sea; turn streams into a plain: their fish rot because\nthere is no water, and die for thirst. 3. I clothe the heavens in\nmourning, and make sackcloth their covering.\n\n4. The Lord Jehovah hath given Me a disciple's tongue, that I may\nknow how to set up the wearied with words: He wakeneth every morning;\nwakeneth Mine ear to attend in a disciple's manner. 5. The Lord\nJehovah hath opened Mine ear; and I, I was not rebellious, and did\nnot turn back. 6. I offered My back to smiters, and My cheeks to them\nthat pluck off the hair; I hid not My face from shame and spitting.\n7. But the Lord Jehovah will help Me; therefore have I not suffered\nMyself to be overcome by mockery: therefore did I make My face like\nthe flint, and knew that I should not be put to shame. 8. He is near\nthat justifieth Me; who will contend with Me? We will draw near\ntogether! Let him draw near to Me! 9. Behold, the Lord Jehovah will\nhelp Me; who is he that could condemn Me? Behold, they shall all fall\nto pieces like a garment; the moth shall eat them up.\n\n10. Who among you is fearing Jehovah, hearkening to the voice of His\nservant? He that walketh in darkness, and without a ray of light, let\nhim trust in the name of Jehovah, and stay himself upon his God.\n11. Behold,[2] all ye that kindle fire, that equip yourself with\nburning darts: away into the glow of your own fire, and into the\nburning darts that ye have kindled! This comes to you from My hand;\nye shall lie down in sorrow.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Behold, by your iniquities ye have sold yourselves.--_Birks\n     and Kay._\n\n [2] Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that gird on firebrands:\n     walk amid the flame of your fire, and amid the brands that\n     ye have kindled.--_Kay._\n\n\n\nTHIRD PROPHECY.--CHAP. LI.\n\n_The Bursting Forth of Salvation,\nand Turning Away of the Cup of Wrath._\n\n1. Hearken to me, ye that are in pursuit of righteousness, ye that\nseek Jehovah. Look up to the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the\nhollow of the pit whence ye are dug. 2. Look who bare you, that he\nwas one when I called him, and blessed him, and multiplied him.\n3. For Jehovah hath comforted Zion, comforted all her ruins, and\nturned her desert like Eden, and her steppe as the garden of God; joy\nand gladness are found in her, thanksgiving and sounding music.\n\n4. Hearken unto Me, My people, and give ear unto Me, O My\ncongregation! for instruction will go forth from Me, and I make a\nplace for My right, to be a light of the nations. 5. My salvation is\nnear, My salvation is drawn out, and My arms will judge nations: the\nhoping of the islands looks to Me, and for Mine arm is their waiting.\n6. Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath:\nfor the heavens will pass away like smoke, and the earth fall to\npieces like a garment, and[1] its inhabitants die out like a\nnonentity; and My salvation will last for ever, and My righteousness\ndoes not go to ruin.\n\n7. Hearken unto Me, ye that know about righteousness, thou people\nwith My law in the heart; fear ye not the reproach of mortals, and be\nye not alarmed at their revilings. 8. For the moth will devour them\nlike a garment, and the worm devour them like woollen cloth; and My\nrighteousness shall stand for ever, and My salvation to distant\ngenerations.\n\n9. Awake, awake, clothe thyself in might, O arm of Jehovah; awake, as\nin the days of ancient time, the ages of the olden world! Was it not\nThou that didst split Rahab in pieces, and pierced the dragon?\n10. Was it not Thou that didst dry up the sea, the waters of the\ngreat billow; that didst turn the depths of the sea into a way for\nthe redeemed to pass through? 11. And[2] the emancipated of Jehovah\nwill return, and come to Zion with shouting, and everlasting joy upon\ntheir head; they grasp at gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing\nflees away.\n\n12. I, I am your comforter: who art thou, that thou shouldest be\nafraid of a man who will die, and of a son of man who is made a blade\nof grass; 13. that thou shouldest forget Jehovah thy Creator, who\nstretched out the heavens and founded the earth; that thou shouldest\nbe afraid continually all the day of the fury of the tormentor, as he\naims to destroy? and where is the fury of the tormentor left?\n14. He[3] that is bowed down is quickly set loose, and does not die\nto the grave, and his bread does not fail him; 15. as truly as I\nJehovah am thy God, who frighteneth up the sea, so that its waves\nroar; Jehovah of hosts is His name. 16. And I put My words into thy\nmouth, and in the shadow of My hand have I covered thee, to plant\nheavens, and to found on earth, and to say to Zion, Thou art My\npeople.\n\n17. Wake thyself up, stand up, O Jerusalem; thou that hast drunk out\nof the hand of Jehovah the goblet of His fury; the goblet-cup of\nreeling hast thou drunk, sipped out. 18. There was none who guided\nher of all the children she had brought forth; and none who took her\nby the hand of all the children she had brought up. 19. There were\ntwo things that happened to thee; who should console thee?[4]\nDesolation, and ruin, and famine, and the sword: how should I comfort\nthee? 20. Thy children were benighted, lay at the corners of all the\nstreets like a snared antelope: as those who were full of the fury of\nJehovah, the rebuke of thy God. 21. Therefore hearken to this, O\nwretched and drunken, but not with wine: 22. Thus saith thy Lord,\nJehovah, and thy God that defendeth His people, Behold, I take out of\nthy hand the goblet-cup of My fury: thou shalt not continue to drink\nit any more. 23. And I put it into the hand of thy tormentors; who\nsaid to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over; and thou madest thy\nback like the ground, and like a public way for those who go over it.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] And her inhabitants, as in like manner, shall die.--_Kay._\n\n [2] So, _Kay, Birks._ Even so, _Arnold._ Thus, _Jones._\n\n [3] He that was bent down hath made haste to be loosed, and he\n     shall not die in the pit, neither shall his bread\n     fail.--_Kay._\n\n [4] Who will mourn with thee?--_Kay._\n\n\n\nFOURTH PROPHECY.--CHAP. LII. 1-12.\n\n_Jerusalem Exchanges Servitude for\nDominion, and Imprisonment for Liberty._\n\n1. Awake, awake; clothe thyself in thy might, O Zion; clothe thyself\nin thy state dresses, O Jerusalem, thou holy city; for henceforth\nthere shall no more enter into thee one uncircumcised and unclean!\n2. Shake thyself from the dust; arise, sit down, O Jerusalem: loose\nthyself from the dust, arise, sit down, O Jerusalem: loose[1] thyself\nfrom the chains of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion!\n\n3. For thus saith Jehovah, Ye have been sold for nothing, and ye\nshall not be redeemed with silver. 4. For thus saith the Lord\nJehovah, My people went down to Egypt in the beginning to dwell there\nas guests; and Asshur has oppressed it for nothing. 5. And now, what\nhave I to do here? saith Jehovah; for My people are taken away for\nnothing; their oppressors shriek, saith Jehovah, and My name is\ncontinually blasphemed all the day. 6. Therefore My people shall\nlearn My name; therefore, in that day, that I am He who saith, Here\nam I.\n\n7. How lovely[2] upon the mountains are the feet of them that bring\ngood tidings, that publish peace, that bring tidings of good, that\npublish salvation, that say unto Zion, Thy God reigneth royally!\n8. Hark, thy watchers! They lift up the voice together; they rejoice:\nfor they see eye to eye, how[3] Jehovah bringeth Zion home. 9. Break\nout into exultation, sing together, ye ruins of Jerusalem: for\nJehovah hath comforted His people, He hath redeemed Jerusalem.\n10. Jehovah hath made bare His holy arm before the eyes of all\nnations, and all the ends of the earth see the salvation of our God.\n\n11. Go ye forth, go ye forth, go out from thence, lay hold of no\nunclean thing; go ye out from the midst of her, cleanse yourselves,\nye that bear the vessels of Jehovah. 12. For ye shall not go out in\nconfusion, and ye shall not go forth in flight: for Jehovah goeth\nbefore you, and the God of Israel is your rear-guard.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] The bands of thy neck are unloosed.--_Key._\n\n [2] How comely.--_Cheyne._\n\n [3] When Jehovah restoreth Zion.--_Jones._\n     When the Lord returneth to Zion.--_Kay._\n\n\n\nFIFTH PROPHECY.--CHAP. LII. 13-LIII.\n\n_Golgotha and Sheblemini_ (= Sit Thou at my right hand), _or,\nthe Exaltation of the Servant of Jehovah out of Deep Degradation._\n\n13. Behold, My Servant shall act wisely; He will come forth and\narise, and be very high. 14. Just as many were astonished at Thee: so\ndisfigured, His appearance was not human, and form not like that of\nthe children of men: 15. so will He make many nations to tremble:\nkings will shut their mouths at Him! for[4] they see what has not\nbeen told them, and discover what they have not heard.\n\nLIII.--1. Who hath believed our preaching; and the arm of Jehovah,\nover whom has it been revealed?\n\n2. And He sprang up like a layer-shoot before Him, and like a\nroot-sprout out of dry ground: He had no form, and no beauty; and we\nlooked, and there was no look, such that we could have found pleasure\nin Him. 3. He was despised and forsaken by men; a man of griefs, and\nwell acquainted with disease; and like one from whom men hide their\nface: despised, and we esteemed Him not.\n\n4. Verily He hath borne our diseases and our pains! He hath laden\nthem upon Himself; but we regarded Him as one stricken, smitten of\nGod, and afflicted. 5. Whereas He was pierced for our sins, bruised\nfor our iniquities! the punishment was laid on Him for our peace; and\nthrough His stripes we were healed. 6. All we like sheep went astray;\nwe had turned every one to his own way; and Jehovah caused the\niniquity of us all to fall on Him.\n\n7. He[1] was ill-treated; whilst He suffered willingly, and opened\nnot His mouth, like the sheep that is led to the slaughter-bench, and\nlike a lamb that is dumb before its shearers, and opened not His\nmouth. 8. He[2] has been taken away from prison and judgment; and of\nHis generation who considered: \"He was snatched away out of the land\nof the living; for the wickedness of my people punishment fell on\nHim\"? 9. And they assigned Him His grave with sinners, and with a\nrich man in His martyrdom, because He had done no wrong, and there\nwas no deceit in His mouth.\n\n10. And it pleased Jehovah to bruise Him, to afflict Him with\ndisease; if His soul would pay a trespass-offering, He should see\nposterity, should live long days, and the purpose of Jehovah should\nprosper through His hand. 11. Because of the travail of His soul, He\nwill see, and be refreshed; through His knowledge will He procure\njustice, My Righteous Servant, for the many, and will take their\niniquities upon Himself. 12. Therefore I give Him a portion among the\ngreat, and with strong ones will He divide the spoil; because He has\npoured out His soul into death: and He let Himself be reckoned among\ntransgressors; whilst He bare the sin of many, and made intercession\nfor the transgressors.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [4] For they to whom it had not been told shall see, and they\n     which had not heard shall consider.--_Birks._\n\n [1] He was oppressed, yet He submitted Himself.--_Kay and\n     Jones._\n\n [2] Through oppression and judgment was He taken away, and His\n     life who will consider!--_Kay._\n\n\n\nSIXTH PROPHECY.--CHAP LIV.\n\n_The Glory of Jerusalem, the Church of the Servants of Jehovah._\n\n1. Exult, O barren one, thou that didst not bear; break forth into\nexulting, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child; for\nthere are more children of the solitary one than children of the\nmarried wife, saith Jehovah. 2. Enlarge the space of thy tent, and\nlet them stretch out the curtains of thy habitations; forbid not!\nlengthen thy cords, and fasten thy plugs. 3. For thou wilt break\nforth on the right and on the left; and thy seed will take possession\nof nations, and they will people desolate cities.\n\n4. Fear not, for thou wilt not be put to shame; and bid defiance to\nreproach, for thou wilt not blush: no, thou wilt not blush: no, thou\nwilt forget the shame of thy youth, and wilt no more remember the\nreproach of thy widowhood. 5. For thy husband is thy Creator; Jehovah\nof hosts is His name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; God of\nthe whole earth is He called. 6. For Jehovah calleth thee as a wife\nforsaken and burdened with sorrow, and as a wife of youth,[1] when\nonce she is despised, saith thy God.\n\n7. For a small moment have I forsaken thee, and with great mercy will\nI gather thee. 8. In an effusion of anger I hid my face from thee for\na moment, and with everlasting grace I have compassion upon thee,\nsaith Jehovah thy Redeemer. 9. For it is now as at the waters of\nNoah, when I swore that the waters of Noah should not overflow the\nearth any more; so have I sworn not to be wroth with thee, and not to\nthreaten thee. 10. For the mountains may depart, and the hills may\nshake; my grace will not depart from thee, and my covenant of peace\nwill not shake, saith Jehovah who hath compassion on thee. 11. O thou\nafflicted, tossed with tempest, not comforted, behold I lay the stone\nin stibium,[2] [_i.e.,_ antimony], and lay thy foundations with\nsapphires; 12. and make thy minarets of ruby, and thy gates into\ncarbuncles, and all thy boundary into jewels.\n\n13. And all thy children will be the learned of Jehovah; and great\nthe peace of thy children. 14. Through righteousness wilt thou be\nfortified: be far from anxiety, for thou hast nothing to fear; and\nfrom terror, for it will not come near thee. 15. Behold, men crowd\ntogether in crowds; My will is not there. Who crowd together against\nthee?--he shall fall by thee.\n\n16.[3] Behold, I have created the smith who bloweth the coal-fire,\nand brings to the light a weapon according to his trade; and I[4]\nhave created the destroyer to destroy. 17. Every weapon formed\nagainst thee has no success, and every tongue that cometh before the\njudgment with thee thou wilt condemn. This is the inheritance of the\nservants of Jehovah; and their righteousness from Me, saith Jehovah.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] When she is cast off.--_Kay._\n     (Grieving) because she is rejected.--_Birks._\n\n [2] I am laying thy stones with fair adornment.--_Birks._\n\n     I will lay thy stones in cement of brilliant\n     colour.--_Jones._\n\n     \"Same word as in 1 Chron. xxxix. 2 (A.V. glistering\n     [stones]): probably, stones used for mosaic work (so\n     Targhere); as black marble, &c. In the two other places\n     where the word occurs (2 Kings ix. 30; Jer. iv. 30), it\n     denotes the paint which was used by females for colouring\n     the edges of the eyelids. Grotius notices (from Jos.\n     'J. W.' v. 5) that the open court of the temple had a\n     tesselated floor.\"--_Kay._\n\n [3] Behold, it is _I_ who create the smith. . . . And it is _I_\n     who create the waster to destroy.--_Revised English Bible_\n     and _Cheyne._\n\n [4] Second reference to note 3 immediately above.\n\n\n\nSEVENTH PROPHECY.--CHAP. LV.\n\n_Come and Take the Sure Salvation of Jehovah._\n\n1. Alas, all ye thirsty ones, come ye to the water; and ye that have\nno silver, come ye, buy and eat! Yea, come, buy wine and milk without\nmoney and without payment! 2. Wherefore do ye weigh silver for that\nwhich is not bread, and the result of your labour for that which\nsatisfieth not? Oh, hearken ye to Me, and eat the good, and let your\nsoul delight itself in fat.\n\n3. Incline your ear, and come to Me! hear, and let your soul revive;\nand I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the true mercies of\nDavid. 4. Behold, I have set him as a witness[1] for nations, a\nprince and commander of nations. 5. Behold, thou wilt call a mass of\npeople that thou knowest not; and a mass of people that knoweth thee\nnot will hasten to thee, for the sake of Jehovah thy God, and for the\nHoly One of Israel that He hath made thee glorious.\n\n6. Seek ye Jehovah while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He\nis near. 7. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man\nhis thoughts: and let him return to Jehovah, and He will have\ncompassion upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.\n8. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My\nways, saith Jehovah: 9. as heaven is high above the earth; so high\nare My ways above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts.\n10. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and\nreturneth not thither, till it has moistened the earth, and\nfertilised it, and made it green, and offered seed to the sower and\nbread to the eater; 11. so will My word be which goeth forth out of\nMy mouth: it will not return to Me fruitless, till it has\naccomplished that which I willed, and prosperously carried out that\nfor which I sent it. 12. For ye will go out with joy, and be led\nforth[2] in peace: the mountains and the hills will break out before\nyou into shouting, and all the trees of the field will clap their\nhands. 13. Instead of the thorn will cypresses shoot up, and instead\nof the fleabane[3] will myrtles spring up: and it will be to Jehovah\nfor a name, for an everlasting memorial that will not be swept away.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] A lawgiver.--_Arnold._\n\n [2] And be led on with peace.--_Jones._\n\n [3] Nettle.--_Cheyne._\n\n\n\nEIGHTH PROPHECY.--CHAP. LVI. 1-8.\n\n_Sabbatical Admonitions, and\nConsolations for Proselytes and Eunuchs._\n\n1. Thus saith Jehovah, Keep ye right, and do righteousness; for My\nsalvation is near to come, and My righteousness to reveal itself.\n2. Blessed is the mortal that doeth this, and the son of man that\nlayeth fast hold thereon; who keepeth the Sabbath, that he doth not\ndesecrate it, and keepeth his hand from doing any kind of evil.\n\n3. And let not the foreigner, who hath joined himself to Jehovah,\nspeak thus: Assuredly Jehovah will cut me off from His people; and\nlet not the eunuch say, I am only a dry tree. 4. For thus saith\nJehovah to the eunuchs, Those who keep My Sabbaths, and decide for\nthat in which I take pleasure, and take fast hold of My covenant,\n5. I give to them in My house and within My walls a memorial[1] and a\nname better than sons and daughters; I give such a man an everlasting\nname, that shall not be cut off. 6. And the foreigners, who have\njoined themselves to Jehovah, to serve Him, and to love the name of\nJehovah, to be His servants, whoever keepeth the Sabbath from\ndesecrating it, and those who hold fast to My covenant; 7. I bring\nthem to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer;\ntheir whole-offerings and their slain-offerings are well-pleasing\nupon Mine altar; for My house, a house of prayer shall it be called\nfor all nations. 8. Word of the Lord, Jehovah: gathering the outcasts\nof Israel, I will also gather beyond itself to its gathered ones.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] \"Trophy.\"--_Cheyne._\n     \"Place.\"--_Arnold, Birks, Strachey._\n\n\n\nNINTH PROPHECY.--CHAP. LVI. 9-LVII. 21.\n\n_Neglect of Duty by the Leaders of Israel; and Errors of the People._\n\n9. All ye beasts of the field, come near! To devour, all ye beasts of\nthe forest! 10. His watchmen are blind; they (are) all ignorant,[2]\nthey (are) all dumb dogs that cannot bark; raving, lying down, loving\nto slumber. 11. And the dogs are mightily greedy, they know no\nsatiety; and such are shepherds! They know no understanding; they\nhave all turned to their own ways, every one for his own gain\nthroughout his border.\n\n12. Come here, I will fetch wine, and let us drink meth; and\nto-morrow shall be like to-day, great, excessively abundant.\n\nLVII.--1. The righteous perisheth, and no man taketh it to heart; and\npious[1] men are swept away,[2] without any one considering that the\nrighteous is swept away from misfortune.[3] 2. He entereth into\npeace: they rest upon their beds, whoever has walked straight before\nhim.\n\n3. And ye, draw near hither, children of the sorceress, seed of the\nadulterer, and of her that committed whoredom! 4. Over whom do ye\nmake yourselves merry? Over whom do ye open the mouth wide, and put\nthe tongue out long? Are ye not the brood of apostasy, seed of lying?\n5. Ye that inflame yourselves by the terabinths, under every green\ntree, ye slayers of children in the valleys, under the clefts of the\nrocks. 6. By the smooth ones of the brook was thy portion; they, they\nwere thy lot: thou also pourest out libations to them, thou laidst\nmeat-offerings upon them. Shall I be contented with this?[4] 7. Upon\na lofty and high mountain hast thou set up thy bed; thou also\nascendest thither to offer slain offerings. 8. And behind the door\nand the post thou didst place thy[5] reminder: for thou uncoveredst\naway from me, and ascendest; thou madest thy bed broad, and didst\nstipulate for thyself what they had to do: thou lovedst their lying\nwith thee; thou sawest their manhood.[6]\n\n9. And thou wentest to the king with oil, and didst measure copiously\nthy spices, and didst send thy messengers to a great distance, and\ndidst deeply abase thyself, even to Hades. 10. Thou didst become wary\nof the greatness of thy way; yet thou saidst not, It is\nunattainable:[7] thou obtainedst the reward of thy strength:\ntherefore thou wast not pained.[8]\n\n11. And of whom hast thou been afraid, and (whom) didst thou fear,\nthat thou becamest a liar, and didst not continue mindful of Me, and\ndidst not take it to heart?\n\nAm I not silent, and that for a long time, whereas thou wast not\nafraid of Me? 12. I, I will proclaim thy righteousness; and thy\nworks, they will not profit thee. 13. When thou criest, let thy heaps\nof idols[9] save thee: but a wind carries them all away; a breath\ntakes them off; and whoever putteth trust in Me will inherit the\nland, and take possession of My holy mountain.\n\n14. And He saith, Heap up, heap up, prepare a way, take away every\nobstruction from the way of My people. 15. For thus saith the High\nand Lofty One, the eternally dwelling One, He whose name is Holy One;\nI dwell on high and in the holy place, and with the contrite one and\nhim that is of a humbled spirit, to revive the spirit of humbled\nones, and to revive the heart of contrite ones. 16. For I do not\ncontend for ever, and I am not angry for ever: for the spirit would\npine away before me, and the souls of men which I have created.\n17. And because of the iniquity of its selfishness,[10] I was wroth,\nand smote it; hiding Myself away in the way of its own heart. 18. I\nhave seen its ways and will heal it; and will lead it, and afford\nconsolations to it, and to its mourning ones.\n\n19. Creating fruit of the lips; Jehovah saith, \"Peace, peace to those\nthat are far off, and to those that are near; and I heal it.\" 20. But\nthe wicked are like the sea that is cast up; for it cannot rest; and\nits waters cast out slime and mud. 21. There is no peace, saith my\nGod, for the wicked.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [2] \"Without knowledge.\"--_Kay, Strachey._\n     \"Undiscerning.\"--_Cheyne._\n\n [1] \"Godly men.\"--_Jones._ \"Gracious men.\"--_Kay._\n\n [2] \"Gathered.\"--_Cheyne._ \"Gathered in.\"--_Kay._\n\n [3] \"Out of the way of evil.\"--_Kay, Jones._\n\n [4] \"Shall I for all these things relent?\"--_Kay._ \"Shall I by\n     these things be appeased?\"--_Birks._ \"Comforted.\"--_Jones,\n     Arnold._ \"Should I quiet myself in spite of these\n     things?\"--_Cheyne._\n\n [5] \"Thy own remembrance.\"--_Kay._\n\n [6] \"And thou hast sought occasion.\"--_Birks._ \"Thou hast beheld\n     the phallus.\"--_Cheyne._\n\n [7] \"There is no result.\"--_Cheyne._\n\n [8] \"Thou hast yet found strength in thine hand, therefore thou\n     wast not discouraged.\"--_Arnold._ \"Thou didst get renewal\n     of thy strength, therefore thou feltest not\n     weak.\"--_Cheyne._\n\n [9] \"Thy medley of gods.\"--_Cheyne._\n\n [10] \"For his unjust gain,\" lit. \"for the iniquity of his\n      gain.\"--_Cheyne._\n\n\n\n_PART III._\n\nFIRST PROPHECY.--CHAP. LVIII.\n\n_The False Worship and the True._\n\n1. Cry with full throat, hold not back; lift up thy voice like a\nbugle, and proclaim to My people their apostasy, and to the house of\nJacob their sins. 2. And they seek Me[1] day by day, and desire to\nlearn My ways, like a nation which has done righteousness; they\ndesire the drawing near of Elohim.\n\n3. Wherefore do we fast and Thou seest not, afflict our soul and Thou\nregardest not? Behold, on the day of your fasting ye carry on your\nbusiness, and ye oppress all your labourers. 4. Behold, ye fast with\nstrife and quarrelling, and with smiting of the fist maliciously\nclosed: ye do not fast now to make your voice audible on high.[2]\n\n5. Can such things as these pass for a fast that I have pleasure in,\nas a day for a man to afflict his soul? To bow down his head like a\nbulrush, and spread sackcloth and ashes under him--dost thou call\nthis a fast and an acceptable day for Jehovah? 6. Is not this a fast\nthat I have pleasure in: to loose coils of wickedness, to untie the\nbands[3] of the yoke, and for sending away the oppressed as free, and\nthat ye break every kind of yoke? 7. Is it not this, to break thy\nbread to the hungry, and to take the poor and houseless to thy\nhome;[4] when thou seest a naked man that thou clothest him, and dost\nnot deny thyself before thine own flesh?\n\n8. Then will thy light break forth as the morning dawn, and thy\nhealing will sprout up speedily, and thy righteousness will go before\nthee, the glory of Jehovah will follow thee. 9. Then will thou call,\nand Jehovah will answer; then wilt beseech, and He will say, Here am\nI.\n\nIf thou put away from the midst of thee the yoke, the pointing of the\nfinger, and speaking of evil, 10. and offerest up thy gluttony to the\nhungry;[5] and satisfiest the soul that is bowed down: thy light will\nstream out in the darkness, and thy darkness become like the\nbrightness of noon-day. 11. And Jehovah will guide thee continually,\nand satisfy thy soul in droughts, and refresh thy bones; and thou\nwilt become like a well-watered garden, and like a fountain, whose\nwaters never deceive.[6] 12. And thy people[7] will build ruins of\nthe olden time, foundations of earlier generations wilt thou erect;\nand men will call thee Repairer of breaches, Restorer of habitable\nstreets.\n\n13. If thou hold back thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy\nbusiness on my holy day, and callest the Sabbath a delight, the holy\nof Jehovah, reverend, and honourest it, not doing thine own ways, not\npursuing thy business and speaking words:[8] 14. then wilt thou have\ndelight in Jehovah, and I will cause thee to ride upon the high\nplaces of the land, and make thee enjoy the inheritance of Jacob thy\nforefather, for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] \"Me they consult daily.\"--_Cheyne._\n\n [2] \"Ye shall not fast as ye do now, to make your outcry to be\n     heard on high.\"--_Birks._ \"Ye do not so fast at this time\n     so as to make your voice to be heard in the\n     height.\"--_Cheyne._\n\n [3] \"Thongs.\"--_Kay, Cheyne._\n\n [4] \"And that thou bring miserable outcasts to their\n     home.\"--_Cheyne._ \"To thine house.\"--_Birks, Arnold._\n\n [5] \"And minister thy sustenance to the hungry.\"--_Cheyne._\n\n [6] \"Disappoint not.\"--_Kay, Cheyne._\n\n [7] \"And thy children shall build up the ancient\n     ruins.\"--_Cheyne._\n\n [8] \"So as not to do after thy word, nor pursue thy business,\n     nor speak words.\"--_Cheyne._ \"Nor using idle\n     talk.\"--_Jones, Birks._\n\n\n\nSECOND PROPHECY.--CHAP. LIX.\n\n_The Existing Wall of Partition Broken Down at Last._\n\n1. Behold, Jehovah's hand is not too short to help, nor His ear too\nheavy to hear; 2. but your iniquities have become a party-wall\nbetween you and your God and your sins have hidden His face from you,\nso that He does not hear. 3. For your hands are defiled with blood,\nand your fingers with iniquity; your lips speak lies, your tongue\nmurmurs wickedness.\n\n4. No one speaks with justice, and no one pleads with faithfulness;\nmen trust in vanity, and speak with deception;[1] they conceive\ntrouble, and bring forth ruin. 5. They hatch basilisks' eggs, and\nweave spiders' webs. He that eateth of their eggs must die; and if\none is trodden upon, it splits into an adder. 6. Their webs do not\nsuffice for clothing,[2] and men cannot cover themselves with their\nworks: their works are works of ruin, and the practice of injustice\nis in their hands. 7. Their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed\ninnocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of wickedness; wasting\nand destruction are in their paths. 8. The way of peace they know\nnot, and there is no right in their roads: they make their paths\ncrooked: every one who treads upon them knows no peace.\n\n9. Therefore right remains far from us, and righteousness does not\novertake us; we hope for light, and behold darkness; for\nbrightness--we walk in thick darkness. 10. We grope along the wall\nlike the blind, and like eyeless men we grope: we stumble in the\nlight of noon-day as in the darkness, and among the living like the\ndead.[3] 11. We roar all like bears, and moan deeply like doves; we\nhope for right, and it cometh not; for salvation--it remaineth far\nfrom us.\n\n12. For our transgressions are many before Thee, and our sins testify\nagainst us; for our transgressions are known to us, and our evil\ndeeds well known: 13. apostasy and denial of Jehovah, and turning\nback from following our God, oppressive and false speaking,[4]\nconceiving and giving out from the heart words of falsehood. 14. And\nright is forced back, and righteousness stands afar off; for truth is\nfallen in the market-place,[5] and honesty finds no admission.\n15. And truth became missing, and he who avoids evil is outlawed.\n\nAnd Jehovah saw it, and it was displeasing in His eyes, that there\nwas no right. 16. And He saw that there was not a man anywhere, and\nwas astonished that there was nowhere an intercessor: then His arm\nbrought Him help and His righteousness became His stay. 17. And He\nput on righteousness as a coat of mail, and the helmet of salvation\nupon His head; and put on garments of vengeance as armour, and\nclothed Himself in zeal as in a cloak. 18. According to the deeds,\naccordingly He will repay; burning wrath to His adversaries,\npunishment to His foes; the islands He will repay with\nchastisement.[6]\n\n19. And they will fear the name of Jehovah from the west, and His\nglory from the rising of the sun: for He will come like a stream\ndammed up, which a tempest of Jehovah drives away.[7] 20. And a\nRedeemer comes from Zion, and for those who turn from apostasy in\nJacob, saith Jehovah.\n\n21. And I, this is My covenant with them, saith Jehovah: My Spirit\nwhich is upon thee, and My word which I have put in thy mouth, shall\nnot depart out of thy mouth, and out of the mouth of thy seed, and\nout of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith Jehovah, from henceforth\nand for ever.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] \"None preferreth his suit with trustfulness, and none\n     pleadeth with honesty; they trust in chaos, and speak\n     emptiness.\"--_Cheyne._ \"None calleth (on Me) in\n     righteousness.\"--_Birks, Kay._ \"None pronounceth a verdict\n     in justice.\"--_Jones._\n\n [2] \"Their webs will not serve for clothing.\"--_Cheyne._\n\n [3] \"Amidst those full of life (?) as dead men.\"--_Cheyne._\n     \"Amidst dark places, like the dead.\"--_Kay._ \"Amid rich\n     abundance are like the dead.\"--_Birks, Jones._ \"We are in\n     desolate places as dead men.\"--_Arnold, Strachey._\n\n [4] \"Speaking oppression and untruth.\"--_Kay._ Speaking\n     \"perverseness and transgression.\"--_Cheyne._\n\n [5] \"Truth has stumbled in the broad place.\"--_Cheyne._\n\n [6] \"Recompence to His enemies; to the far lands He will repay\n     recompence.\"--_Arnold._ \"Retribution to His enemies; to the\n     countries He will repay retribution.\"--_Cheyne._\n\n [7] \"When the adversary cometh in like the river, the Spirit of\n     the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.\"--_Kay._\n     \"Shall put him to flight.\"--_Jones._ \"When the enemy shall\n     come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a\n     standard in the midst thereof.\"--_Birks._ \"For He shall\n     come like a rushing stream, which the breath of Jehovah\n     driveth.\"--_Cheyne._\n\n\n\nTHIRD PROPHECY.--CHAP. LX.\n\n_The Glory of the Jerusalem of the Last Days._\n\n1. Arise, grow light: for thy light cometh, and the glory of Jehovah\nriseth upon thee. 2. For, behold, the darkness covereth the earth,\nand deep darkness the nations; and Jehovah riseth over thee, and His\nglory becomes visible over thee. 3. And nations walk to thy light,\nand kings to the shining of thy rays.\n\n4. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: they all crowd together,\nthey come to thee: thy sons come from afar, and thy daughters are\ncarried hither upon arms. 5. Then wilt thou see and shine,[1] and\nthine heart will tremble and expand; for the abundance of the nations\ncometh to thee. 6. A swarm of camels will cover thee, the foals of\nMidian and Ephah; they come all together from Saba; fully make known\nthe praises of Jehovah. 7. All the flocks of Kedar gather together\nunto thee, the rams of Nabaioth will serve thee; they will come up\nwith acceptance upon Mine altar, and I will adorn the house of My\nadorning. 8. Who are these who fly hither as a cloud, and like the\ndoves to their windows? 9. Yea, the islands wait for Me; and the\nships of Tarshish come first, to bring thy children from far, their\nsilver and their gold with them, to the name of thy God, and to the\nHoly One of Israel, because He hath ornamented thee.\n\n10. And the sons of strangers build thy walls, and their kings serve\nthee; for in My wrath I have smitten thee, and in My favour I have\nhad mercy upon thee. 11. And thy gates remain open continually day\nand night, they shall not be shut, to bring into thee the possessions\nof the nations, and their kings in triumph.[2] 12. For the nation and\nthe kingdom which will not serve thee will perish, and the nations be\ncertainly laid waste. 13. The glory of Lebanon will come to thee,\ncypresses, plane-trees, and sherbin-trees, all together, to beautify\nthe place of My sanctuary, and to make the place of My feet glorious.\n14. The children also of thy tormentors come bending unto thee, and\nall thy despisers stretch themselves at the soles of thy feet, and\ncall thee City of Jehovah, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.\n\n15. Whereas thou wast forsaken and hated, and no one walked through\nthee, I make thee now into eternal splendour, a rapture from\ngeneration to generation. 16. And thou suckest the milk of nations,\nand the breast of kings thou wilt suck, and learn that I Jehovah am\nthy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. 17. For copper\nI bring gold, and for iron I bring silver, and for wood copper, and\nfor stones iron, and to make peace thy magistracy, and righteousness\nthy bailiffs.[3] 18. Injustice is no more seen in thy land, wasting\nand destruction in thy borders; and thou callest salvation thy walls,\nand renown thy gates.\n\n19. The sun will be no more thy light by day, neither for brightness\nwill the moon shine upon thee: Jehovah will be to thee an everlasting\nlight, and thy God thy glory. 20. Thy sun will no more go down and\nthy moon will not be withdrawn: for Jehovah will be to thee an\neverlasting light, and the days of thy mourning will be finished.\n21. And thy people, they are all righteous; they possess the land for\na sprout of My plantations, a work of My hands for glorification.\n22. The smallest one will become thousands, and the meanest one a\npowerful nation.\n\nI, Jehovah, will hasten it in His time.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] \"Then shalt thou look and overflow with joy.\"--_Jones._\n     \"Then shalt thou see and be radiant.\"--_Cheyne._\n\n [2] \"And their kings royally attended.\"--_Jones_\n\n [3] \"I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors\n     righteousness.\"--_Arnold._\n\n\n\nFOURTH PROPHECY.--CHAP. LXI.\n\n_The Glory of the Office is Committed to the Servant of Jehovah._\n\n1. The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is over me, because Jehovah hath\nanointed me to bring glad tidings to sufferers;[1] hath sent me to\nbind up broken-hearted ones, to proclaim liberty to those led\ncaptive, and emancipation to the fettered; 2. to proclaim a year of\ngrace from Jehovah, and a day of vengeance from our God; to comfort\nall that mourn; 3. to put upon the mourners of Zion, to give them a\nhead-dress[2] for ashes, oil of joy for mourning, a wrapper of renown\nfor an expiring spirit, that they may be called terebinths of\nrighteousness, a planting of Jehovah for glorification.\n\n4. And they will build up wastes of the olden time, raise up\ndesolations of the forefathers, and renew desolate cities,\ndesolations of former generations. 5. And strangers stand and feed\nyour flocks, and foreigners become your ploughmen and vinedressers.\n6. But ye will be called priests of Jehovah; Servants of our God,\nwill men say to you: ye will eat the riches of the nations, and pride\nyourselves in their glory.\n\n7. Instead of shame ye shall have double, and (instead) of insult\nthey rejoice at their portion: thus in their land[3] they will\npossess double; everlasting joy will they have. 8. For I, Jehovah,\nlove right, hate robbery in wickedness;[4] and give them their reward\nin faithfulness, and conclude an everlasting covenant with them.\n9. And their family will be known among the nations, and their\noffspring in the midst of the nations: all who see them will\nrecognise them, for they are a family that Jehovah hath blessed.\n\n10. Joyfully I rejoice in Jehovah; my soul shall be joyful in my God,\nthat He hath given me garments of salvation to put on, hath wrapped\nme in the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom who wears the turban\nlike a priest, and as a bride who puts on her jewellery. 11. For like\nthe land which brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden which causes\nthe things sown in it to sprout up; so the Lord Jehovah bringeth\nrighteousness to sprouting and renown before all nations.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] \"The afflicted.\"--_Cheney, Jones, Arnold._ \"The\n     \"poor.\"--_Birks._\n\n [2] \"A coronet.\"--_Kay, Cheney._ \"A diadem.\"--_Strachey._\n\n     \"To appoint unto the mourners of Zion,\n      _Yea,_ to give unto them ornament instead of ashes,\n      The oil of praise instead of a desponding spirit.\"--_Jones._\n\n [3] \"In their own land.\"--_Kay._\n\n [4] \"That which is wasted in wickedness.\"--_Kay._ \"Things torn\n     away unjustly.\"--_Cheyne._ \"Robbery in\n     burnt-offering.\"--_Birks._ \"Robbery and wrong.\"--_Arnold,\n     Strachey._\n\n\n\nFIFTH PROPHECY.--CHAP. LXII.\n\n_The Gradual Extension of the Glory of Jerusalem._\n\n1. For Zion's sake I shall not be silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I\nshall not rest, till her righteousness breaks forth like morning\nbrightness, and her salvation like a blazing torch. 2. And nations\nwill see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory; and men will\ncall thee by a new name which the mouth of the Lord will determine.\n3. And thou wilt be an adorning coronet in the hand of Jehovah, and a\nroyal diadem in the lap[1] of thy God. 4. Men will no more call thee\n\"Forsaken One;\" and thy land they will not more call \"Desert;\" but\nmen will name thee \"My delight in her,\" and thy home \"Married one:\"\nfor Jehovah hath delight in thee, and thy land is married. 5. For the\nyoung man marrieth the maiden, thy children will marry thee; and as\nthe bridegroom rejoiceth in the bride, thy God will rejoice in thee.\n\n6. Upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, have I stationed watchmen; all the\nday and all the night continually they are not silent. O ye who\nremember Jehovah,[2] leave yourselves not rest! 7. And give Him no\nrest, till He raise up, and till He set Jerusalem for a praise in the\nearth.\n\n8. Jehovah hath sworn by His right hand, and by His powerful arm,\nSurely I no more give thy corn for food to thine enemies; and\nforeigners will not drink thy must, for which thou hast laboured\nhard. 9. No, they that gather it in shall eat it, and praise Jehovah;\nand they that store it, shall drink it in the courts of My sanctuary.\n\n10. Go forth, go forth through the gates, clear the way of the\npeople. Cast up, Cast up the road, clean it of stones; lift up a\nbanner above the nations![3] 11. Behold, Jehovah hath caused tidings\nto sound to the end of the earth. Say to the daughter of Zion,\nBehold, thy salvation cometh; behold, His reward is with Him, and His\nrecompence before Him. 12. And men will call them the holy people,\nthe redeemed of Jehovah; and men will call thee, Striven after, A\ncity that will not be forsaken.[4]\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] \"In the open palm.\"--_Kay._\n\n [2] \"Ye that are the Lord's remembrancers, keep not\n     silence.\"--_Arnold, Birks._\n\n [3] \"A standard for the peoples.\"--_Kay._\n\n [4] And thou shalt be called, \"Sought out, City not\n     forsaken.\"--_Cheyne._\n\n\n\nSIXTH PROPHECY.--CHAP. LXIII. 1-6.\n\n_Judgment upon Edom, and upon the\nWhole World That is Hostile to the Church._\n\n1. Who is this that cometh from Edom, in deep red clothes\nfrom Bozrah? This, glorious in His apparel, bending to and\nfro in the fulness of His strength?[1]\n\nI am He that speaketh in righteousness, mighty to aid.\n\n2. Whence the red in Thine apparel, and Thy clothes like those of a\nwine-presser?\n\n3. I have trodden the wine-trough alone, and of the nations no one\nwas with Me: and I trode them in My wrath, and trampled them down in\nMy fury; and their life-sap spirted upon My clothes, and all My\nraiment was stained. 4. For a day of vengeance was in My heart, and\nthe year of My redemption was come. 5. And I looked round, and there\nwas no helper; and I wondered there was no supporter: then Mine own\narm helped Me; and My fury, it became My support. 6. And I trode down\nnations in My wrath, and made them drunk in My fury, and made their\nlife-blood run down to the earth.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] \"Tosseth His head in the fulness of His\n     strength.\"--_Cheyne._ \"Confident in the greatness of His\n     strength.\"--_R. E. B._\n\n\n\nTHE THREE CLOSING PROPHECIES.\n\nFIRST CLOSING PROPHECY.--CHAP. LXIII. 7-LXIV.\n\n_Thanksgiving, Confession, and\nSupplication of the Church of the Captivity._\n\n7. I will celebrate the mercies of Jehovah, the praises of\nJehovah,[2] as is seemly for all that Jehovah hath shown us, and the\ngreat goodness towards the house of Israel, which He hath shown them\naccording to His pity, and the riches of His mercies. 8. He said,\nThey are my people, children who will not lie;[3] and He became their\nSaviour. 9. In all their affliction, He was afflicted,[4] and the\nAngel of His face brought them salvation. In His love and in His pity\nHe redeemed them, and lifted them up, and bare them all the days of\nthe olden time.\n\n10. But they resisted and vexed His Holy Spirit: then He turned to be\ntheir enemy; He made war upon them. 11. Then His people remembered\nthe days of the olden time, of Moses: Where is He who brought them up\nout of the see with the shepherd of His flock? Where is He who put\nthe Spirit of His holiness in the midst of them; 12. who caused the\narm of His majesty to go at the right of Moses; who split the waters\nbefore them, to make Himself an everlasting name; 13. who caused them\nto pass through abysses of the deep, like the horse upon the plain,\nwithout their stumbling? 14. Like the cattle which goeth down into\nthe valley, the Spirit of Jehovah brought them to rest: thus hast\nThou led Thy people, to make Thyself a majestic name.\n\n15. Look from heaven and see, from the habitation of Thy holiness and\nmajesty! Where is Thy zeal and Thy display of might? The pressure of\nThy bowels and Thy compassions are restrained towards me. 16. For\nThou art our Father; for Abraham is ignorant of us, and Israel\nknoweth us not.[5] Thou, O Jehovah, art our Father; our Redeemer is\nfrom olden time Thy name. 17. O Jehovah, why leadest Thou us astray\nfrom Thy ways, hardenest our heart, so as not to fear Thee? Return\nfor Thy servants' sake, the tribes of Thine inheritance. 18. For a\nlittle time Thy holy people was in possession. Our adversaries have\ntrodden down Thy sanctuary. 19. We have become such as He who is from\neverlasting has not ruled over, upon whom Thy name was not called.\nLXIV.--1. O that Thou wouldst rend the heavens, come down, the\nmountains would shake before Thy countenance;--2. (wouldst come down)\nas fire kindles brushwood, fire causes water to boil; to make known\nThy name to Thine adversaries, that the heathen may tremble before\nThy face! 3. When Thou doest terrible things which we hoped not for;\nwouldst come down, (and) mountains shake before Thy countenance![1]\n\n4. For from olden times men have not heard, nor perceived, nor hath\nan eye seen, a God beside Thee, who acted on behalf of him that\nwaiteth for Him. 5. Thou didst meet him that rejoiceth to work\nrighteousness, when they remembered Thee in Thy ways.\n\nBehold, Thou, Thou art enraged, and we stood as sinners there;\nalready have we been long in this state, and shall we be saved?[2]\n6. We became like the unclean thing, and all our virtues like a\ngarment soiled with blood; and we all faded away together like the\nleaves; and our iniquities, like the storm, they carried us away.\n7. And there was no one who called upon Thy name, who aroused himself\nto lay firm hold of Thee: for Thou hadst hidden Thy face from us, and\ndidst melt us into the hand of our transgressions.[3]\n\n8. And now, O Jehovah, Thou art our Father: we are the clay, and Thou\nour Maker;[4] and we are all the work of Thy hand. 9. Be not\nextremely angry, O Jehovah, and remember not the transgression for\never! Behold, consider, we beseech Thee, we are Thy people.\n\n10. The cities of Thy holiness have become a pasture-ground; Zion has\nbecome a pasture-ground, Jerusalem a desert. 11. The house of our\nholiness and of our adorning, where our fathers praised Thee, is\ngiven up to the fire, and everything that was our delight given up to\ndevastation. 12. Wilt Thou restrain Thyself in spite of this, O\nJehovah, be silent, and leave us to suffer the utmost?\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [2] \"Jehovah's loving-kindness will I celebrate, Jehovah's\n     deeds of renown.\"--_Cheyne._\n\n [3] \"Deal falsely.\"--_Kay._ \"Play the liar.\"--_Cheyne._\n\n [4] \"In all their adversity He was no adversary; but the angel\n     of His presence saved them.\"--_Kay, Jones._ \"In all their\n     affliction, His was the conflict, and,\" &c.--_Birks._ \"In\n     all their distress, He was distressed.\"--_Cheyne._ \"In all\n     their affliction, He was afflicted.\"--_R. E. B., and\n     others._\n\n [5] \"Abraham taketh no notice of us, and Israel does not\n     recognise us.\"--_Cheyne._\n\n [1] \"When Thou didst terrible things, which we looked not for,\n     Thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at Thy\n     presence.\"--_Birks._ \"To make Thy name known to Thine\n     adversaries, so that nations trembled before Thee, while\n     Thou didst terrible things which we hoped not for: [that\n     Thou didst come down, that the mountains shook at Thy\n     presence] yea, from old men have not heard,\" &c.--_Cheyne,_\n     who adopts the suggestion that the words in brackets have\n     been repeated by accident from ver. 1. \"The passage gains\n     greatly by their removal.\"\n\n [2] \"Behold, Thou wast wroth, and we were guilty: in those is\n     continuance, and we shall be saved.\"--_Kay._ \"Yes, Thou\n     hast been wroth, and we have sinned, and still by these are\n     we preserved from of old.\"--_Birks._ \"Behold, Thou art\n     wroth (for we have sinned) with Thy people\n     continually!--and shall we be saved?\"--_Arnold._ \"Behold,\n     Thou wast wroth when we sinned; [Thou wast] against them of\n     old, and shall we be saved?\"--_Jones._ \"Behold Thou wast\n     wroth, and we sinned; * * * and we went astray.\"--_Cheyne._\n\n [3] \"And hast delivered us into the hand of our\n     iniquities.\"--_Cheyne._ \"And Thou causest us to perish by\n     our iniquities.\"--_R. E. B._\n\n [4] \"Our fashioner.\"--_Cheyne._\n\n\n\nSECOND CLOSING PROPHECY.--CHAP. LXV.\n\n_Jehovah's Answer to the Church's Prayer._\n\n1. I was discernible to those who did not inquire, discoverable by\nthose who did not seek Me.[1] I said, \"Here am I, Here am I,\" to a\nnation where My name was not called. 2. I spread out My hands all the\nday to a refractory people, who walked in the way that was not good,\nafter their own thoughts. 3. The people that continually provoketh Me\nby defying Me to My face, sacrificing in the gardens, and burning\nincense upon the tiles; 4. who sit in the graves, and spend the night\nin closed places; to eat the flesh of swine, and broken pieces of\nabominations is in their dishes; 5. who say, Stop! come not too near\nMe; for I am holy to thee; they are a smoke in My nose, a fire\nblazing continually.\n\n6. Behold, it is written before Me: I will not keep silence without\nhaving recompensed, and I will recompense into their bosom. 7. Your\noffences, and the offences of your fathers together, saith Jehovah,\nthat they have burned incense upon the mountains, and insulted Me\nupon the hills, and I measure their reward first of all into their\nbosom.\n\n8. Thus saith Jehovah, As when the must is found in the cluster, men\nsay, Do not destroy it, for there is a blessing within it, so will I\ndo for the sake of My servants, that I may not destroy the whole.\n9. And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and an heir of My\nmountains out of Judah, and My chosen ones shall inherit it, and My\nservants shall dwell there. 10. And the plain of Sharon becomes a\nmeadow for flocks, and the valley of Achor a resting-place for oxen,\nfor My people that asketh for Me.\n\n11. And ye, who are enemies to Jehovah, O ye that are unmindful of My\nholy mountain, who prepare a table for Gad, and fill up mixed drink\nfor the goddess of destiny,--12. I have destined you to the sword,\nand ye will bow down to the slaughter, because I have called, and ye\nhave not replied, I have spoken, and ye have not heard; and ye did\nevil in Mine eyes, and ye chose that which I did not like.\n\n13. Therefore thus saith the Lord, Jehovah: Behold My servants will\neat, but ye will hunger; behold My servants will drink, but ye will\nthirst; behold My servants will rejoice, but ye will be put to shame;\n14. behold My servants will exult for delight of heart, but ye will\ncry for anguish of heart, and ye will lament for brokenness of\nspirit. 15. And ye will leave your name for a curse to My chosen\nones, and the Lord, Jehovah, will slay thee; by His servants He will\ncall by another name, 16. so that whosoever blesseth himself in them\nand will bless himself by the God of truthfulness,[2] and whosoever\nsweareth in the land will swear by the God of truthfulness,[3]\nbecause the former troubles are forgotten, and because they have\nvanished from Mine eyes.\n\n17. For behold I create a new heaven and a new earth; and men will\nnot remember the first, nor do they come to any one's mind. 18. No,\nbe ye joyful and exult for ever at that which I create; for behold I\nturn Jerusalem into exulting, and her people into joy. 19. And I\nshall exult over Jerusalem, and be joyous over My people, and the\nvoice of weeping and screaming will be heard in her no more. 20. And\nthere shall be no more come thence a suckling of a few days, and an\nold man who has not lived out all his days; for the youth in it will\ndie as one a hundred years old, and the sinner be smitten with a\ncurse as one a hundred years old.[4]\n\n21. And they will build houses and inhabit them, and plant vineyards\nand enjoy the fruit thereof. 22. They will not build and another\ninhabit, nor plant and another enjoy; for like the days of trees are\nthe days of My people, and My chosen ones will consume the work of\ntheir hands. 23. They will not weary themselves in vain, nor bring\nforth for sudden disaster; for they are a family of the blessed of\nJehovah, and their offspring are left to them.\n\n24. And it will come to pass: before they call, I will answer; they\nare still speaking, and I already hear. 25. Wolf and lamb then feed\ntogether, and the lion eats chopped straw like the ox, and the\nserpent--dust is its bread. They will neither do harm nor destroy in\nall My holy mountain, saith Jehovah.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] \"I am sought of them who asked not [of Me]; I am found [of\n     them] that sought Me not.\"--_Jones, R. E. B._ \"I gave ear\n     to them that asked not for Me.\"--_Arnold._ \"I have offered\n     answers to those who have not asked; I have been as hard to\n     those who have not sought Me.\"--_Cheyne._\n\n [2] \"By the God of the AMEN.\"--_Cheyne, Kay._\n\n [3] Duplicate reference to note 2, immediately above.\n\n [4] \"For he that dieth a hundred years old shall die a youth;\n     and he that falleth short of a hundred years shall be held\n     accursed.\"--_Jones._ \"There shall no more be any from\n     thence, infant of days or old man, that shall not have\n     fulfilled his days.\"--_Kay._\n\n\n\nTHIRD CLOSING PROPHECY.--CHAP. LXVI.\n\n_Exclusion of Scorners from the Coming Salvation._\n\n1. Thus saith Jehovah: The heaven is My throne, and the earth My\nfootstool. What kind of house is it that ye would build Me, and what\nkind of place for My rest? 2. My hand hath made all these things;\nthen all these things arose, saith Jehovah; and at such persons do I\nlook, at the miserable and broken-hearted, and him that trembleth at\nMy word.[1] 3. He that slaughtereth the ox is the slayer of a man; he\nthat sacrificeth the sheep is a strangler of dogs; he that offereth a\nmeat offering, it is swine's blood; he that causeth incense to rise\nup in smoke, blesseth idols. As they have chosen their ways, and\ntheir soul cherisheth pleasure in their abominations; 4. so will I\nchoose their ill-treatments,[2] and bring their terrors upon them,\nbecause I called and no one replied, I spake and they did not hear,\nand they did evil in Mine eyes, and chose that in which I took no\npleasure.\n\n5. Hear ye the word of Jehovah, ye that tremble at His word: your\nbrethren that hate you, that thrust you from them for My name's sake,\nsay, \"Let Jehovah get honour, that we may see your joy;\" they will be\nput to shame.\n\n6. Sound of tumult from the city! Sound from the temple! Sound of\nJehovah, who repays His enemies with punishment.\n\n7. Before she travailed she brought forth; before pains came upon\nher, she was delivered of a boy. 8. Who hath heard such a thing? Who\nhath seen anything like it? Are men delivered of a land in one day?\nOr is a nation begotten at once? For Zion hath travailed, yea, hath\nbrought forth her children. 9. Should I bring to the birth, and not\ncause to bring forth? saith Jehovah; or should I, who cause to bring\nforth, shut up? saith thy God.\n\n10. Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and exult over her, all ye that love\nher; be ye delightfully glad with her, all ye that mourn over her,\n11. that ye may suck and be satisfied with the breast of her\nconsolations, that ye may sip and delight yourselves in the abundance\nof her glory. 12. For thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I guide peace to\nher like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like an overflowing\nstream, that ye may suck; ye shall be borne upon arms, and fondled\nupon knees. 13. Like a man whom his mother comforteth, so will I\ncomfort you, and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. 14. And ye will\nsee, and your heart will be joyful, and your bones will flourish like\nyoung herbage; and thus does the hand of Jehovah make itself known to\nHis servants, and fiercely does He treat His enemies. 15. For behold\nJehovah, in the fire will He come, and His chariots are like the\nwhirlwind, to pay out His wrath in burning of fire. 16. For in the\nmidst of fire Jehovah holds judgment, and in the midst of His sword\nwith all flesh; and great will be the multitude pierced through by\nJehovah. 17. They that consecrate themselves and purify themselves\nfor the gardens behind one in the midst, who eat swine's flesh and\nabomination and the field mouse--they all come to an end together,\nsaith Jehovah. 18. And I, their works and their thoughts--it comes to\npass that all nations and tongues are gathered together, that they\ncome and see My glory.[3]\n\n19. And I set a sign upon them, and send away those that have escaped\nfrom them to the Gentiles, to Tarshish, Ph\u00fbl and L\u00fbd, to the\nstretchers of the bow, Tubal and Javan--the distant islands that have\nnot heard My fame and have not seen My glory, and they will proclaim\nMy glory among the Gentiles. 20. And they will bring your brethren\nout of all heathen nations, a sacrifice for Jehovah, upon horses and\nupon chariots, and upon litters, and upon mules, and upon\ndromedaries, to My holy mountain, to Jerusalem, saith Jehovah, as the\nchildren of Israel bring the meat-offering in a clean vessel to the\nhouse of Jehovah. 21. And I will also add some of them to the\npriests, to the Levites, saith Jehovah. 22. For as the new heaven and\nthe new earth, which I am about to make, continue before Me, saith\nJehovah, so will your family and your name continue. 23. And it will\ncome to pass, from new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath,\nall flesh will come, to worship before Me, saith Jehovah. 24. And\nthey go out and look at the corpses of the men that have rebelled\nagainst Me, for their worm will not die, and their fire will not be\nquenched, and they become an abomination to all flesh.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] \"But to this will I look, even to him that is poor, and\n     contrite in spirit, and trembleth at My word.\"--_Birks._\n     \"Afflicted, and crushed in spirit.\"--_Cheyne._ \"Meek and of\n     a contrite spirit.\"--_Arnold._\n\n [2] \"Freaks of fortune.\"--_Cheyne._ \"I also will choose to mock\n     them.\"--_Arnold, Strachey._\n\n [3] \"But [I will punish] their works and their thoughts;\n     [behold the time] is come that I gather all nations and\n     tongues, and they shall come and see My glory.\"--_Cheyne._\n     _Arnold_ treats the words: \"For I know their works and\n     their thoughts,\" as the completion of a paragraph, and\n     commences the next paragraph: \"It shall come, that I will\n     gather all nations,\" &c.\n\n\n\nCALKINS.[1]\n\nCHAPS. LII. 13-LIII.\n\nI.\n\n13. Behold my Servant shall prosper,\n    He shall rise up, and be extolled, and stand triumphantly\n        exalted.\n14. Even as many were shocked at Him\n    (His countenance was so marred as to be no more that of\n        a man,\n    His form no more that of sons of men!)\n15. So shall He sprinkle many nations.\n    The kings shall shut their mouths before Him;\n    For what had not been told them they shall see,\n    And what they never heard they shall consider.\n\n\nII.\n\n 1. Who hath believed our report?\n    And to whom is Jehovah's arm revealed?\n 2. For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,\n    And as a sprout out of dry ground.\n    He hath no form nor comeliness that we should look up to Him,\n    No beauty that we should take pleasure in Him.\n 3. He is despised and rejected of men,\n    A man of sorrows, well acquainted with sickness;\n    And like one hiding his face before us,\n    He was despised and we esteemed Him not.\n 4. And yet it was our own sickness that He bore,\n    And our sorrows that He loaded upon Himself.\n    But we supposed He was punished,\n    Smitten of God and tormented!\n 5. Oh, no! He was wounded for our transgressions,\n    Bruised for our iniquities,\n    Chastisement for our peace was upon Him,\n    And with His stripes we are made whole.\n 6. All we like sheep have gone astray,\n    We have turned every one to his own way,\n    And Jehovah made the guilt of us all to meet upon Him.\n 7. He was oppressed, and yet He humbled Himself,\n    And He opened not His mouth, like a lamb that is brought\n        to the slaughter,\n    And as a sheep is dumb before her shearers,\n    So He opened not His mouth.\n 8. He was dragged to punishment by violence, and yet by\n        process of law;\n    And who of the men of His generation took it to heart,\n    That He was cut off from the land of the living,\n    That the stroke for my people's transgression fell upon Him!\n 9. They appointed Him His grave with criminals\n    (Still He was with a rich man in His death!).\n    Although He had done no wrong,\n    Neither was any deceit in His mouth.\n10. And yet it pleased Jehovah to bruise Him;\n    He laid sickness upon Him.\n    But when He has made over His soul as a sin-offering,\n    He shall see offspring; He shall prolong His days,\n    And the pleasure of Jehovah shall prosper in His hands!\n\n\nIII.\n\n11. Free from the travail of His soul,\n    He shall see and be satisfied.\n    By His knowledge shall my righteous Servant make many righteous,\n    Because He shall bear their iniquities.\n12. Therefore will I give Him the great as a portion,\n    And He shall distribute the strong as spoil.\n    For He hath poured out His soul unto death,\n    And He was numbered with transgressors,\n    While He was bearing the sin of many\n    And was making intercession for the transgressors.\n\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n [1] Dickinson's Theological Quarterly, vol. iv. pp. 19-30:\n     _Article,_ \"The Great Messianic Prophecy,\" by the Rev.\n     Wolcott Calkins, D.D.\n\n\n\nURWICK.\n\nTHE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH.[1]--CHAP LII. 13-LIII. 12.\n\nLII.--13. Behold! My Servant shall deal prudently, He shall be\nexalted, and extolled, and be very high. 14. As many were astonied,\nso marred more than any man: His visage and His form more than the\nsons of men. 15. So shall He sprinkle many nations; kings shall shut\ntheir mouths at Him, for that which hath not been told them shall\nthey see, and that which they had not heard shall they understand.\n\nLIII.--1. Who hath believed our report? and the arm of the Lord to\nwhom hath it been revealed? 2. For He grew up as a tender plant\nbefore Him, and as a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form nor\ncomeliness that we should regard Him, and no beauty that we should\ndesire Him. 3. He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows\nand acquainted with grief. And there was, as it were, the hiding of\nthe face from Him. He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.\n\n4. Surely our griefs HE hath bore, and our sorrows HE hath carried\nthem; yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.\n5. But HE was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our\niniquities; the chastisement of OUR peace (or, our peace,\nchastisement) was upon HIM; and with His stripes we are healed.\n6. All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to\nhis own way, and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.\n\n7. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His\nmouth; as the lamb to the slaughter, He was brought; and as a sheep\nbefore her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. 8. He was\ntaken from prison and from judgment, and who considereth His\ngeneration? For He was cut off out of the land of the living; for the\ntransgression of my people was He stricken. 9. And they made His\ngrave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death, though He had\ndone no violence, neither was there deceit in His mouth. 10. Yet it\npleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief.\n\nWhen Thou shalt make His soul an offering for guilt (or, a\nguilt-offering), He shall see (His) seed, He shall prolong (His)\ndays, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.\n11. Because of the travail of His soul He shall be satisfied; by His\nknowledge shall My Righteous Servant justify the many, for their\niniquities He shall bear. 12. Therefore will I divide Him a portion\nin the many [_i.e.,_ the many shall be the portion allotted to Him],\nand with the strong shall He divide the spoil; for in that He poured\nout His soul unto the death, and was numbered with the transgressors,\nHe Himself bare the sin of the many, and made intercession for the\ntransgressors.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] The Servant of Jehovah. A Commentary, Grammatical and\n     Critical, upon Isaiah lii. 13-liii. 12. By William Urwick,\n     M.A., Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark.\n\n\n\nEND OF VOL. I.\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Notes.\n\n - The pound sign or hash (#) has been used to indicate a missing\n   character, throughout.\n\n - When the book refers to a range of pages, the first page number of\n   the range is coded as a hyperlink. Page ranges in the Index of\n   Authors link to the beginning of an outline by the named author on\n   the indicated page.\n\n - Index of Subjects, throughout: dashes used as ditto marks have\n   been removed.\n\n - Index of Subjects, page vii. (numbered 7 originally), capitalize\n   \"That\" in \"Book That Will Bear Testing, A;\" capitalize \"A\" in\n   \"Church, The Christian, A Continuation of the Jewish;\" capitalize\n   \"Their\" in \"Children of Babylon, Their Doom;\" change the page\n   number for outline \"The Discipline of Sin\" from 292 to 291; and\n   capitalize \"Its\" in \"Drink and Its Woes.\"\n\n - Index of Subjects, page viii. (numbered 8 originaly), add a second\n   outline \"False Refuges\" at page 488; add outline \"Great\n   Deliverance, A\" at page 437; capitalize \"Be\" in \"Hallowed Be Thy\n   Name;\" capitalize \"Art\" in \"In Whom Art Thou Trusting;\" capitalize\n   \"His\" in \"Isaiah, His Interview with Ahaz,\" \"Isaiah, His Vision of\n   the King and His Kingdom,\" \"Isaiah, His Vision of God,\" and\n   \"Isaiah, His Vision of the Last Days;\" capitalize \"The\" in\n   \"Isaiah, The Evangelical Prophet\" and change the page from 3 to 1;\n   capitalize \"Its\" in \"Language, Its Influence on Character;\"\n   capitalize \"Life\" in \"Life, The Shortening of\" and capitalize\n   \"Instead\" in \"Lip Service Instead of Heart Worship.\"\n\n - Index of Subjects, page ix. (numbered 9 originally), capitalize\n   \"The\" in \"National Peace, The Gift of God;\" correct \"Needless\n   Strifes\" to \"Needless Stripes;\" change the page number for outline\n   \"Nobility and Security\" from 483 to 492; capitalize \"Their\" in\n   \"Oppressed and Their Relief, The;\" capitalize second \"Our\" in \"Our\n   Trust and Our Test\" and change the page from 364 to 304;\n   capitalize \"The\" in \"Peace, The Work of Righteousness;\" change the\n   page number for outline \"Spreading the Letter before the Lord\"\n   from 486 to 494; capitalize \"To\" and \"Be\" in \"Things To Be\n   Considered;\" and capitalize \"But\" in \"Threatened But Safe.\"\n\n - Index of Authors, page x. (numbered 10 originally), correct\n   \"Archdeacou Bather\" to \"Archdeacon Bather\" and change page number\n   446 to 445; for R. A. Bertram, change 221 to 220; for R. W.\n   Forrest, change 134 to 133; insert \"Griffin, E.\" at page 348; for\n   Robert Hall, change 345 to 344; R. Macculloch, change 122 to 121;\n   for A. Maclaren, change 328 to 348, and add a link to his second\n   outline on page 348.\n\n - Index of Authors, page xi. (numbered 11 originally), change\n   \"M'Auslane\" to \"McAuslane;\" for W. Manning, insert a reference to\n   page 241; insert \"Monks, Richard\" at page 433; insert \"Monod,\n   Horace\" at page 434; for Thomas Neave, change 106 to 105; insert\n   \"Smith, George\" at pages 224 and 252; for Dr. Talmage, change 311\n   to 310; for Samuel Thodey, change 332 to 333. In the list of\n   Times, Seasons, and Occasions, update a Missionary Sermon from 319\n   to 318 and a Peace Society Sermon from 229 to 228.\n\n - The list of Texts is not in the original.\n\n - On page 1, capitalize \"Kings\" in \"Chronicles of the Kings of\n   Judah.\"\n\n - On page 4, in \"An Appeal and an Argument,\" point III has two\n   subpoints numbered \"2.\" Change the second one to \"3.\"\n\n - The break between pages 4 and 5 is in the word \"between\":\n   be|tween. In this and all subsequent similar cases, the whole word\n   was moved to the earlier page.\n\n - On page 5, in the text of footnote 4 (denoted \u03b4 originally),\n   insert a missing period into \"St Austin.\"\n\n - The break between pages 7 and 8 is in the word \"tendency\":\n   ten|dency.\n\n - On page 8, in the text of footnote 1 (denoted \u0251 originally),\n   apply Reverential Capitalization (RC) to \"Love\" in the phrase\n   \"thrice holy God, whose name is Love.\"\n\n - On page 12, a printing issue mars the copy from which this\n   transcription is made. The line in question is: \"TXey do answer\n   the end\" with the \"X\" representing an issue; transcribed as \"They.\"\n\n - On page 16, at the end of the outline \"Moral Obduracy,\" there is a\n   reference to \"(Rev. i. 9, 11, 21).\" Changed to Revelation ii.,\n   because Revelation i. has only 20 verses.\n\n - On page 17, in the text of footnote 2 (denoted \u03b2 originally),\n   second column, fourth line, change \"tays\" to \"stays\" in \"poison of\n   the physic stays in the body also.\" In the next paragraph, apply\n   RC to \"Providence.\" In outline \"Needless Stripes,\" in the second\n   paragraph, apply RC to \"Divine\" and \"the Gospel.\"\n\n - On page 19, in outline \"Total Depravity,\" in the first paragraph,\n   apply RC to \"Divine grace.\"\n\n - On page 20, in outline \"God's Reluctance to Punish,\" in footnote 3\n   (denoted \u0263 originally), the final sentence is \"Mercy is not for\n   them that sin and fear not, but for them that fear and sin not\n   God's mercy is a holy mercy; where it pardons, it heals.\" This was\n   broken into two sentences by inserting a period after \"fear and\n   sin not.\"\n\n - On page 21, in outline \"The Summons to Jerusalem,\" two subpoints\n   of point I. 1 were formatted inconsistently. Set the word \"In\" of\n   point \"(1)\" in Italics to match the corresponding word of point\n   \"(2).\"\n\n - The break between pages 22 and 23 is in the word \"spending\":\n   spend|ing.\n\n - On page 23, in outline \"Rejected Sacrifices,\" in the first\n   paragraph, apply RC to \"Divine appointment\" and \"Divine worship.\"\n   In the second paragraph, apply RC to \"Divine appointment.\"\n\n - On page 24, same outline, in the \"Judaism and its ritual\"\n   paragraph, remove the second \"the\" from \"assemble in the sanctuary\n   on the Sunday.\"\n\n - On page 29, in outline \"God Oppressed,\" in point I, change the\n   reference for the effect upon David of Nathan's parable from\n   \"2 Sam. xii. 8\" to \"2 Sam. xii. 5.\"\n\n - The break between pages 29 and 30 is between the point number and\n   the start of the sentence, 4.|_That_. The transcriber moved the\n   first word of the sentence to the earlier page to avoid the\n   separation.\n\n - On page 31, \"God Oppressed,\" footnote 2 (denoted \u03b2 originally),\n   apply RC to \"Divine commands.\"\n\n - On page 32, in outline \"Worthless Husks,\" change the text of point\n   I from \"ritualism without spontaneity\" to \"ritualism without\n   spirituality\" per Errata.\n\n - On page 33, after outline \"Worthless Husks,\" text for two\n   footnotes appears but the outline has only one footnote anchor.\n   Add an anchor for the second footnote at the end of the outline.\n\n - On page 37, in outline \"Moral Ablution,\" in point I. 1, augment\n   the reference \"Hab. i. 13\" with \"Prov. xxxi. 10-31\" regarding the\n   virtuous woman.\n\n - On page 38, same outline, in footnote 2 (denoted \u03b2 originally),\n   apply RC to \"the Gospel.\"\n\n - On page 44, capitalize \"Their\" in outline title \"The Oppressed and\n   Their Relief.\"\n\n - The break between pages 46 and 47 is in the middle of a scripture\n   reference: James i.|27. Move the verse number to the earlier page\n   to keep it with the chapter number.\n\n - On page 48, outline \"God's Gracious Invitation to Sinners,\" in\n   point II, apply RC to \"He is willing to hear.\" In footnote 1\n   (denoted \u0251 originally), insert closing double quotes after\n   \"crimson.\"\n\n - On page 49, in outline \"Cleansing for the Vilest,\" in point I 3,\n   in the \"As the uniform\" sentence, insert a comma after the first\n   of the three numbered points.\n\n - On page 50, in footnote 3 for outline \"Comfort for the\n   Desponding,\" (denoted \u0263 originally), change \"tea s\" to \"tears\" in\n   the phrase \"though he cannot shed tea s.\"\n\n - On page 55, outline \"Self-Scrutiny in God's Presence,\" includes a\n   reference to \"1 Chron. xx. 13.\" Because that chapter has only 8\n   verses, updated to 1 Chron. xxi. 13.\n\n - On page 56, change the reference for the passage for outline\n   \"Sinners Self-destroyed\" from \"i. 19\" to \"i. 19-20.\"\n\n - On page 57, same outline, remove a redundant second anchor to the\n   one footnote from the end of the outline. Change the reference for\n   the passage for outline \"The Certainty of the Destruction of the\n   Impenitent\" from \"i. 19\" to \"i. 20.\" In point II, apply RC to \"the\n   Gospel.\"\n\n - On page 63, in outline \"The Purpose of Punishment,\" change\n   \"Ghengis Khan\" to \"Genghis Khan.\" The original text of the\n   footnote 1 (denoted \u0251 originally) is printed as two paragraphs.\n   Because the outline includes two footnote anchors, a second\n   footnote was created with the second paragraph.\n\n - On page 65, in outline \"The Divine Idea of Redemption,\" the\n   original shows a second set of Roman-numbered points as subpoints\n   of point III. Change the Roman numerals to Arabic and the bold\n   type to Italic.\n\n - On page 67, in outline \"Forsaking the Lord,\" in point I change\n   \"transcendant\" to \"transcendent.\" Subpoints of points II and III\n   were shown as Arabic numerals within parentheses. Remove the\n   parentheses for consistency with other outlines. In the quoted\n   scripture for outline \"The Doom of the Apostates,\" correct \"oaks\n   which ye have denied\" to \"oaks which ye have desired.\"\n\n - On page 68, same outline, in point I, change \"Every man's God is\n   what he lives for\" to make \"god\" lower case. Insert closing double\n   quotes after \"covetousness is idolatry.\" In point IV, change\n   \"there is a day appointing\" to \"appointed.\"\n\n - On page 69, same outline, in footnote 3 (designated \u0263 originally),\n   capitalize \"Tow\" and \"Spark\" to set the name of the subsequent\n   outline in title case. Thanks to Dr. Ron Lawler for his help with\n   the Hebrew text transcription. In outline \"The Tow and the Spark,\"\n   points in the introductory paragraph are marked with Arabic\n   numerals in parentheses. Remove the parentheses for consistency\n   with other outlines.\n\n - On page 73, in outline \"The Future Triumphs of the Gospel,\" the\n   Roman numeral I is not bold while the subsequent text is bold.\n   Bold the numeral for consistency. The subpoints of point II were\n   marked by Arabic numerals in parentheses. Remove the parentheses\n   for consistency with other outlines.\n\n - The break between pages 73 and 74 is in the word \"moisture\":\n   mois|ture.\n\n - On page 77, in outline \"A Terrible Picture,\" at the end of point\n   IV, change the question mark to a period. In point V, change\n   \"Ritualistic\" to lower case.\n\n - On page 78, in outline \"God's People Forsaken,\" insert the period\n   at the end of point II 2.\n\n - On page 79, same outline, in footnote 1 (denoted \u0251 originally),\n   apply RC to \"while He stops the mouth.\" In outline \"Forsaken of\n   God,\" in point I, apply RC to \"Divine withdrawals,\" and remove\n   parentheses from the Arabic numbers on the subpoints of points I\n   and II.\n\n - On page 80, in outline \"The Material and the Moral,\" in point II,\n   insert a comma after the introductory phrase \"In the absence of\n   this moral restraint.\"\n\n - The break between pages 81 and 82 is in the word \"without\":\n   with|out.\n\n - On page 83, in outline \"The Great Dethronement,\" in point IV,\n   supply a missing period after the sentence \"Custom and fashion\n   have wrought in the same direction.\"\n\n - The break between pages 83 and 84 is in the word \"experience\":\n   ex|perience.\n\n - On page 84, in outline \"Lessons from a National Bereavement,\" in\n   point II, correct \"politicans\" to \"politicians,\" and \"there\n   rivalries\" to \"their rivalries.\"\n\n - On page 86, in outline \"National Greatness,\" in point IV, remove\n   the parentheses from the Arabic numerals marking subpoints.\n\n - On page 88, in outline \"Shameless Sinners,\" the subpoints of point\n   II 2 were marked by Arabic numerals; parentheses have been added\n   for consistency with other outlines. Later, a printing issue in\n   Application, point 2,\n\n        the moral sense of #he community is\n        being raised. Evil a# #re our days, the\n        testimony is conclusiv# #hat the former\n        days were not better, but worse. 3. As\n\n   was transcribed as \". . . the moral sense of the community is\n   being raised. Evil as are our days, the testimony is conclusive\n   that the former days . . . .\"\n\n - On page 94, in outline \"Blind Leaders,\" in footnote 3 (originally\n   denoted \u0263), insert the reference Matt. vi. 23 after the quotation\n   of the passage.\n\n - On page 95, in outline \"Oppression of the Poor,\" in the\n   Application, point 2, apply RC to \"His creatures.\"\n\n - On page 96, in outline \"The Pleader and the Judge,\" in point II 1,\n   add a period to end the second sentence. In point II 3, apply\n   bold formatting to the closing quote mark.\n\n - On page 99, in outline \"The Desolating and Disorganizing Power of\n   War,\" in the scripture quotation, correct \"We will at our own\n   bread\" to \"We will eat.\"\n\n - On page 101, in outline \"The Divine Ideal of Israel Realised,\"\n   change \"Seventy-second Psalm\" to \"seventy-second.\"\n\n - On page 102, same outline, in point V, insert the reference\n   2 Cor. i. 20 after the quotation of the passage.\n\n - On page 105, in outline \"The Parable of the Vineyard,\" in point I,\n   change \"The Privileges conferred\" to \"The privileges.\"\n\n - On page 108, in outline \"Great Privileges,\" near the end of point\n   II, change \"He will not demand from Him\" to \"from him\" because the\n   object of the sentence is the servant.\n\n - On page 109, in outline \"Divine Disappointments,\" in the first\n   paragraph, in the second and third sentences, change the words\n   \"god,\" \"he,\" and \"him\" to lower case because they refer to a\n   counterfeit deity.\n\n - On page 110, same outline, point II, correct \"anthromorphological\"\n   to \"anthropomorphological.\"\n\n - On page 111, in outline \"A Sad Canticle,\" in point I, capitalize\n   \"Similitude\" to match the capitalization of the other points.\n\n - On page 113, in outline \"On the Advantage,\" a printing issue in\n   point II,\n\n        not only of himself, but of beings dear\n        ## and dependent upon him, has been\n        #riven into some town to add to the\n        misery, its debasement, and its discon-\n\n   was transcribed as \". . . dear to and dependent upon him, has been\n   driven into some town . . . .\" In the final sentence, add closing\n   quote to the phrase \"common Father.\"\n\n - On page 113, in outline \"Wild Grapes,\" in point I, in the text\n   \"Note, 1,\" change the comma after the 1 to a period, to match the\n   other points in the list. In point 2 of this list, remove the\n   comma between the second \"&c.\" and the footnote anchor.\n\n - On page 114, same outline, in point V, correct \"humility nd\n   desire\" to \"and.\" In point VI, correct \"sensual usts\" to \"lusts\"\n   and \"(ver. 22, 23)\" to \"(vers. 22, 23).\" In the concluding\n   paragraph, correct \"wall hereof\" to \"wall thereof.\"\n\n - On page 116, in outline \"Sensuality,\" change point II from\n   \"Follies\" to \"Its Follies\" for consistency with the other three\n   points.\n\n - On page 120, in outline \"Death and the Grave,\" change the\n   subpoints of Roman I from Roman numerals to Arabic numerals for\n   consistency with other outlines.\n\n - On page 121, same outline, change the subpoints of Roman II from\n   Roman numerals to Arabic numerals for consistency with other\n   outlines. In footnote 1 (denoted \u0251 originally), first paragraph,\n   correct \"Meshach\" to \"Meshech;\" second paragraph, change \"has\n   flattered\" to \"hath flattered.\"\n\n - On page 122, change the credit for outline \"Cords of Vanity\" from\n   \"Maculloch\" to \"Macculloch,\" for consistency with the Index of\n   Authors.\n\n - On page 123, in outline \"Influence of Language,\" in footnote 1\n   (denoted \u0251 originally), correct \"Sylla\" to \"Sulla.\"\n\n - On page 125, capitalize \"Using\" in the outline title \"The Sin of\n   Using Wrong Names.\"\n\n - On page 125, in outline \"Self-Conceit,\" in footnote 1 (denoted \u0251\n   originally), in line three of the Butler poem, change \"use to\n   bear\" to \"used to bear.\"\n\n - On page 126, in outline \"The Woe of the Drunkard,\" change\n   \"drunkard's\" in point I to lower case.\n\n - On page 127, capitalize \"Its\" in the title of outline \"Drink and\n   Its Woes.\"\n\n - On page 129, in outline \"The Doom of Despisers,\" add a closing\n   double quotes at the end of point III 3.\n\n - On page 132, in outine \"Cords and Cart-Ropes,\" in footnote 1\n   (denoted \u0251 originally), add the names of target outlines so this\n   cross reference is useful in the plain text file.\n\n - On page 133, in outline \"The Prophet's Call,\" in footnote 2\n   (denoted \u03b2 originaly), apply RC to \"Divine power.\"\n\n - On page 136, in outline \"Revelations of God,\" footnote 1 (denoted\n   \u0251 originally), in the description of the laver, after the\n   statement of its capacity, remove an extraneous comma from \"its\n   brim wrought.\" Apply RC to \"Divine King of Israel.\" In the next\n   paragraph, correct \"vail\" to \"veil.\" In footnote 3 (denoted \u0263\n   originally), change \"D. P. I.\" to \"P. D.\"\n\n - On page 137, in outline \"Isaiah's Vision,\" in point V, apply RC to\n   \"Divine origin.\"\n\n - On page 139, in outline \"The Seraphim,\" in the final paragraph of\n   footnote 1 (denoted \u0251 originally), correct \"from the alter\" to\n   \"altar.\"\n\n - On page 140, capitalize \"Their\" in the outline title \"The Seraphim\n   and Their Song.\" In point II 1, correct \"Isa. xi. 26\" to \"Isa.\n   xi. 2-6.\"\n\n - On page 141, same outline, in point III 1, change \"voice of Him\"\n   to \"voice of him,\" referring to an angel. In footnote 3 (denoted \u0263\n   originally), change \"Host of Heaven\" to \"host of heaven\" and\n   \"Hosts of God\" to \"hosts.\"\n\n - On page 142, same outline, same footnote, change \"Host of Heaven\"\n   to \"host of heaven\" (twice). In outline \"A Sight of God,\" in point\n   II, apply RC to \"Divine purity.\" In point III, apply RC to \"Divine\n   cleansing.\"\n\n - On page 143, same outline, in footnote 1 (denoted \u0251 originally),\n   remove opening double quotes from the beginning of the paragraph.\n   Correct \"Holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts\" to \"Holy, holy, holy.\"\n\n - On page 144, in outline \"Volunteer Service,\" in point II 1,\n   capitalize \"By\" at the beginning of the sentence. In point II 2,\n   correct \"Rev. 1. 17\" to \"Rev. i. 17.\" In point III, add a period\n   after \"Josh\" in the scripture reference. In outline \"Messengers\n   Wanted,\" in point I, apply RC to \"Divine perplexity.\"\n\n - On page 146, in outline \"The Rejection of Divine Truth,\" apply RC\n   to \"Divine message.\"\n\n - On page 148, same outline, at the end of footnote 3 (denoted \u0263\n   originally) correct \"D. P. Q.\" to \"P. D.\" In outline \"The\n   Duration,\" in paragraph 4, apply RC to \"Divine purposes.\"\n\n - On page 149, same outline, in footnote 3 (denoted \u0263 originally),\n   insert the reference Isa. lxv.%8 after the quotation of the\n   passage.\n\n - On page 151, in outline \"Purposes and Panics,\" point I introduces\n   a subpoint 1 at \"In forming our plans . . .\" Remove the number\n   because it is alone.\n\n - On page 152, in outline \"Isaiah's Interview,\" in point III, apply\n   RC to \"Divine purposes.\" In footnote 2 (denoted \u03b2 originally),\n   apply RC to \"Divine mercy.\"\n\n - On page 153, in outline \"A Threefold Counsel,\" in point I, apply\n   RC to \"Divinely-provided.\"\n\n - On page 154, the title to outline \"Heedfulness\" was set with extra\n   space between each letter. This may be known as _\"gesperrt\"_ or\n   _\"sperrsatz.\"_ In German literature, this may indicate emphasis.\n   In the credit at the end of the outline, insert a comma between\n   the name of the book and the volume indicator.\n\n - On page 156, in outline \"Stability though Faith,\" in point I,\n   apply RC to \"Divine declarations.\" In point II 1, apply RC to\n   \"places Him before us.\" In point II 2, change \"firstfruits\" to\n   \"first-fruits.\" Run in the text at point III 1 rather than\n   starting a new paragraph. Remove an extraneous right parenthesis\n   from the credit at the end of the outline.\n\n - The break between pages 157 and 158 is in the word \"determining\":\n   deter|mining.\n\n - On page 158, in outline \"Irreligious Piety,\" remove quotation\n   marks around opening scripture quotation. An ink smudge in the\n   second paragraph,\n\n        fessedly for the excellent reason that\n        too great a disparity in age betXXXen\n        man  and  wife is  not  desirablXXXut\n        really because the suitor is not suffi-\n\n   was transcribed as \". . . for the excellent reason that too great a\n   disparity in age between man and wife is not desirable but really\n   because the suitor is not sufficiently wealthy.\"\n\n - On page 160, in outline \"Trials of the Divine Patience,\" in point\n   I, apply RC to \"this Book.\"\n\n - On page 162, in outline \"The Virgin's Son,\" in the eighth\n   paragraph, capitalize \"King of Judah.\" In the tenth paragraph,\n   change \"lovingkindnesses\" to \"loving-kindnesses.\"\n\n - On page 165, in outline \"Immanuel,\" point I 2 (1) includes a\n   reference to Prov. xxix. 30, which does not exist. It could be a\n   typesetter's error for Prov. viii. 29-30.\n\n - On page 166, same outline, in point III 2, change \"His Deity\" to\n   \"deity.\" In outline \"The Great Object,\" correct the reference from\n   \"vii. 15\" to \"vii. 16.\"\n\n - On page 167, same outline, in point 1, apply RC to \"God's Word.\"\n\n - On page 168, in outline \"Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz,\" in point III,\n   apply RC to \"Divine direction.\"\n\n - On page 170, in outline \"The Stream Rejected,\" in the first\n   sentence, correct \"Rezim\" to \"Rezin\" twice.\n\n - On page 171, sane outine, in footnote 2 (denoted \u03b2 originally),\n   insert a period after \"village of Werai.\" Insert \"of\" into \"on\n   both sides of its course.\"\n\n - On page 173, in outline \"Biblical Politicians,\" in the second\n   sentence, apply RC to \"Divine principles.\"\n\n - On page 174, same outline, in point III, apply RC to \"Divine\n   scrutiny.\" In footnote 1 (denoted \u0251 originally), change \"His Name\"\n   to \"His name.\" In footnote 3 (denoted \u0263 originally), insert\n   closing double quotes after the second \"kesher.\"\n\n - On page 175, capitalize \"Our\" twice in outline title \"God Our\n   Refuge, or Our Ruin.\"\n\n - On page 177, in outline \"The Stone of Stumbling,\" in point 2,\n   change \"Gal. v. 28, 29\" to \"Gal. iii. 28, 29.\" Correct a word\n   broken across lines without a hyphen: dis|gust.\n\n - The break between pages 177 and 178 comes within a unit that style\n   indicates should not be broken. \"but--I.|Let.\" The whole unit has\n   been moved to the earlier page.\n\n - On page 178, in outline \"Waiting on the Lord,\" in point I 2, apply\n   RC to \"hides Himself.\"\n\n - On page 179, same outline, in footnote 1 (originaly denoted \u0251),\n   update the title of the outline cited in the second volume of\n   Isaiah commentary from THE HIDDEN THINGS OF GOD to THE CONCEALMENT\n   OF GOD. In outline \"Penitential Waiting,\" correct \"Ps. xxxvii. 14\"\n   to \"Ps. xxvii. 14.\" The title of outline \"Necromancy\" was set with\n   extra space between the letters.\n\n - On page 180, same outline, add a comma to the credit between the\n   author's degree and the title of his book. In outline \"The Law and\n   the Testimony,\" in the second paragraph, insert a period after the\n   word \"Intelligently\" and insert a period after the Arabic numeral\n   1 for consistency with the succeeding numbered points.\n\n - On page 181, same outline, in footnote 1 (denoted \u0251 originally),\n   capitalize \"Divines\" in \"Westminster Assembly of Divines.\" Insert\n   an opening quotation mark at the beginning of the second and third\n   paragraphs in the lengthy quotation from the Westminster Assembly\n   Confession of Faith.\n\n - The break between pages 181 and 182 is in the word \"irrespective\":\n   irrespec|tive.\n\n - On page 183, in outline \"The Remedy,\" point IV opens a quotation\n   but does not close it. Insert closing quotation marks after\n   \"expectation.\" Apply RC to \"direction is Divine.\"\n\n - On page 184, the title of outline \"The Joy of Harvest\" is set with\n   extra space between the letters. In point I, move the first\n   footnote anchor from the beginning of the second sentence to the\n   end of the first sentence.\n\n - On page 185, in outline \"The Titles,\" in point I 3, insert closing\n   quotes at the end of the sentence.\n\n - On page 188, in outline \"Christ our Counsellor,\" remove extraneous\n   closing quotes from the end of point III. Subsequently, eliminate\n   the paragraph break after the word \"profligate.\" Change the\n   question mark in point III 3 to a period. In outline \"Almighty\n   God,\" apply RC to \"Divinely given.\"\n\n - On page 189, in outline \"The Everlasting Father,\" insert a closing\n   double quote after \"the _everlasting_ Father.\" Apply RC to, and\n   insert an opening quote before, \"Father of eternity.\"\n\n - On page 191, same outline, at the end of point III 2, insert\n   reference Matt. xxviii. 20 after the quotation of that passage. In\n   outline \"The Prince of Peace,\" just before the end of Anderson's\n   text, insert a left parenthesis before \"H. E. I. 884.\"\n\n - On page 192, in outline \"The Empire of Christ,\" in the first\n   paragraph, correct \"political revelations\" to \"political\n   revolutions.\"\n\n - On page 193, same outline, in footnote 2 (denoted \u03b2 originally),\n   in the third sentence, apply RC to \"Newest;\" and in the fourth\n   sentence, apply RC to \"Oldest,\" \"Newest,\" \"Old,\" and \"New,\" for\n   consistency with the first and second sentences.\n\n - On page 194, in outline \"The Security,\" remove the parentheses\n   from the subpoints of point II, for consistency with other\n   outlines.\n\n - On page 195, in outline \"The Outstretched Hand,\" in footnote 2\n   (denoted \u03b2 originally), insert the names of target outlines to\n   make this cross-reference useful in the plain text file.\n\n - On page 196, in outline \"The Duty,\" in point II 2, move the second\n   footnote anchor to follow the references to scripture and another\n   book. At the end of the outline, correct \"Jerusaem\" to \"Jerusalem.\"\n\n - On page 198, in outline \"Two Constant Feelings,\" change the commas\n   after the subpoint numbers of point I to periods, for consistency\n   with other outlines.\n\n - On page 200, in outline \"The Destructiveness,\" subpoints 2 through\n   6 of point I are numbered in the original; insert point \"1\" before\n   the first sentence in Italic type.\n\n - The break between pages 200 and 201 is in the word \"Consequently\":\n   Conse|quently.\n\n - On page 201, same outline, in the McAuslane text, remove the\n   parentheses from the subpoints of point I and change the period\n   after the third subpoint to a question mark.\n\n - On page 202, same outline, change the credit from \"M'Auslane\" to\n   \"McAuslane.\"\n\n - On page 203, in outline \"The Day of Visitation,\" change Arabic 1\n   to Roman I and start a new paragraph at \"There will probably come\n   to you . . . .\" In point II, change an exclamation point to a\n   question mark after Italic \"you.\"\n\n - On page 204, in outline \"The Assyrian Invasion,\" at the end of\n   point II, move the period inside the square brackets.\n\n - On page 206, in outline \"Man Proposes, God Disposes,\" insert right\n   parenthesis after \"Ps. cxxxix. 1-12\" reference.\n\n - On page 207, same outline, footnote 1 (denoted \u0251 originally),\n   remove extraneous comma from \"P. D.\" In footnote 2 (denoted \u03b2\n   originally), capitalize \"Man's\" in the outline title in the other\n   volume of Isaiah commentary. In outline \"A Happy Conversation,\"\n   change a bold Arabic 1 to Roman I.\n\n - On page 208, same outline, change the first subpoint of point II\n   from Roman I to Arabic 1. Correct \"Ps. ix. 107\" to \"Ps. cxix.\n   107.\" A cross reference at the end of point II refers to \"H. E. I.\n   1191-1934,\" which is likely an error. Change the credit line to\n   remove Italic formatting from the \"pp.\" abbreviation.\n\n - On page 210, in outline \"The Remnants of Society,\" in point 2 of\n   the final paragraph, insert a period after \"complaining and\n   mourning.\"\n\n - On page 212, in outline \"Isaiah's Vision,\" in footnote 2 (denoted\n   \u03b2 originally), include names of the target outlines to make this\n   cross reference useful in the plain text file. In outline \"The\n   Spirit of the Lord,\" from the last sentence of the first\n   paragraph, remove a duplicated \"we\" immediately after the\n   semicolon.\n\n - The break between pages 212 and 213 occurs in a block of text that\n   style indicates should be treated as a unit: \"absurd,|--then.\" The\n   whole unit was moved to the earlier page.\n\n - On page 213, same outline, in point II, change \"counterfact\" to\n   \"counter-fact.\"\n\n - On page 214, in outline \"Universal Diffusion,\" insert a period\n   after the chapter number in the opening quotation reference.\n   Correct the credit for the first paragraph from \"Tyth\" to \"Lyth,\"\n   per Errata.\n\n - On page 215, same outline, in point I, apply RC to \"Gospel\n   principles,\" and \"the Gospel\" (twice).\n\n - On page 216, same outline, in Rawlinson's point I, apply RC to\n   \"the Gospel.\" In his point III, correct \"Whereever\" to \"Wherever;\"\n   change commas after subpoint numbers to periods, for consistency;\n   and apply RC to \"the Gospel.\" In his concluding paragraph, in\n   point 2, apply RC to \"the Gospel.\"\n\n - On page 217, same outline, in the second paragraph after the\n   Manning credit, correct \"Jas. iii. 19\" to \"Jas. ii. 19.\"\n\n - On page 218, same outline, in point 3 of the final paragraph,\n   change \"pledges Himself\" to \"pledges himself.\"\n\n - On page 219, same outline, the text for the fourth footnote was\n   omitted from the book.\n\n - On page 221, in outline \"The Reconciler of Men,\" in point IV,\n   apply RC to \"the Gospel\" (thrice).\n\n - On page 222, same outline, footnote 1 (denoted \u0251 originally),\n   insert opening double quotes at the beginning of the footnote. In\n   outline \"A New Song,\" capitalize the first word of point I.\n\n - On page 224, in outline \"Wells of Salvation,\" capitalize the first\n   word of points I and II.\n\n - On page 225, same outline, in point II 3, correct \"Num. xxiv. 9\"\n   to \"Num. xxiv. 6.\" In the first paragraph of the Manning text, in\n   the last sentence, insert a question mark after \"Apostle.\" In the\n   next paragraph, correct \"John viii. 37, 38\" to \"John vii. 37, 38.\"\n\n - On page 226, same outline, in Thodey's point I 1, insert a period\n   after \"Matt\" in \"Matt. v. 6.\" In point I 2 (1), apply RC to\n   \"Divine displeasure.\"\n\n - On page 227, same outline, in the (unattributed) Bertram text,\n   remove the parentheses from the subpoint numbers of point V, for\n   consistency with other outlines.\n\n - On page 228, same outline, in footnote 2 (denoted \u03b2 originally),\n   in Geikie's second paragraph, apply RC to \"Divine grace.\"\n\n - The break between pages 232 and 233 is in the word \"dangers\":\n   dan|gers.\n\n - On page 233, in outline \"Spare the Children,\" all of point 4 was\n   set in Italics. Set the first two words in Roman type to match the\n   other points.\n\n - On page 235, capitalize the word \"Its\" in the title of outline\n   \"The Grave and Its Mysteries.\"\n\n - On pages 236-237, in outline \"The Conqueror Conquered,\" set all of\n   point III 3 in Italic type rather than just the first word, for\n   consistency with the other subpoints of point III.\n\n - On page 238, in outline \"A Memorable Answer,\" set all of point I\n   in bold, rather than leaving the word \"That\" not bold.\n\n - On page 240, in outline \"God's Outcasts,\" in point IV, change\n   \"John xiv. 1\" to \"John xiv. 1-3.\"\n\n - On page 240, in outline \"Fruitless Supplications,\" in point I 1,\n   set the word \"special\" in Italic to match subpoints 2 and 3.\n\n - The break between pages 242 and 243 occurs within text that style\n   indicates should be a unit: \"This appears|--1. In\" The unit has\n   been moved to the earlier page to prevent it from being broken\n   between pages.\n\n - On page 244, in outline \"Forgetfulness of God,\" in the concluding\n   paragraph, change \"Gal. vi. 6\" \"Gal. vi. 7\" to improve the\n   connection with sowing and reaping. In outline \"The Punishment of\n   the Wicked,\" change points II and III to set the word \"Of\" in\n   Italic, to match point I.\n\n - On page 245, in outline \"An Altar and a Saviour for Egypt,\" in\n   point II, insert closing double quotes after \"oppressors.\"\n\n - The break between pages 246 and 247 comes in the word \"empires\":\n   em|pires.\n\n - On page 246, in outline \"The Burden of Dumah,\" in the paragraph\n   that continues on to the page, move the closing parenthesis from\n   after \"baker\" to after \"butler.\"\n\n - On page 248, in outline \"Night and Morning,\" in point II, add\n   subpoint 1 before the Italic word \"Morning,\" to correspond with\n   the second numbered point referring to \"night.\".\n\n - On page 249, the title of outline \"The Grievousness of War\" is set\n   with extra space between the letters.\n\n - On page 251, in outline \"The Glory of the Messiah,\" in the last\n   sentence of the introductory paragraph, insert opening quotes\n   after the word \"Him.\" In point II, label the sentence after the\n   quotation as point 1. In point II 3, change \"glory of His\n   triumphs\" to \"his triumphs,\" referring to the \"spiritual veteran.\"\n\n - On page 253, in outline \"The Gospel Feast,\" remove an extra period\n   after \"Matt. xxii. 1-3.\"\n\n - On page 254, same outline, in point III of Thodey's text, apply RC\n   to \"His Word.\"\n\n - On page 255, same outline, in point II of Reeve's text, correct\n   \"Luke ii. 71-75\" to \"Luke i. 71-75.\"\n\n - The break between pages 255 and 256 is in the word \"invitation:\"\n   invita|tion.\n\n - On page 257, in outline \"A Sorrowless World,\" change \"P. Q.\" to\n   \"P. D.\"\n\n - On page 260, in outline \"Advent Thoughts and Joys,\" in Blomfield's\n   point I, correct \"Arimithea\" to \"Arimathea.\" In point II, apply RC\n   to \"His Divinity.\" In point III, change \"atoning Work\" to \"work.\"\n\n - On page 262, in outline \"The Protecting Hand,\" in point III,\n   correct \"colloseum\" to \"Colosseum.\"\n\n - On page 264, in outline \"Perfect Peace,\" in point IV 1, apply RC\n   to \"Divine will,\" \"Divine love,\" and \"His Word.\"\n\n - On page 265, same outline, in Miall's point II, change the second\n   use of \"will\" to lower case to match the first use.\n\n - On page 266, same outline, in the (unattributed) Bertram text,\n   point III, correct a closing single quote to a closing double\n   quote after \"perfect peace.\"\n\n - On page 269, in outline \"The Righteousness,\" move the period at\n   the end of point II inside the square brackets. In outline \"The\n   Just Man's Security,\" in the first sentence, change the reference\n   from \"(xxv. 10)\" to \"(Job xxxv. 10).\"\n\n - On page 270, same outline, in point II, correct the reference from\n   \"Ps. lviii. 3\" to \"Ps. lviii. 2.\" Insert snippet of Ps.\n   lxxviii. 50.\n\n - On page 272, in outline \"Night Longings for God,\" remove the\n   paragraph break at point II 2.\n\n - On page 273, in outline \"Chastisement,\" in point II, correct \"Ps.\n   xxxix. 19\" to \"Ps. xxxiv. 19.\"\n\n - On page 274, same outline, change the credit from \"Hollock\" to\n   \"Kollock\" to match the Table of Authors.\n\n - On page 276, in outline \"National Peace the Gift of God,\" in point\n   III, change \"Atheist\" to \"atheist.\" Capitalize \"Accomplished\" and\n   \"Ordained\" in outline title \"Holiness Accomplished, Peace\n   Ordained.\" In point I 1, apply RC to \"Divine work.\"\n\n - On page 277, same outline, in point I 1, apply RC to \"operation is\n   Divine\" and \"His Divine work.\"\n\n - On page 278, in outline \"Man's Holiness, God's Workmanship,\" in\n   point I, correct \"Gal. vi. 22, 23\" to \"Gal. v. 22, 23.\" Capitalize\n   the word \"For\" and change the trailing commas to periods in each\n   of the subpoints of point II. In point II 2, change the\n   exclamation mark to a question mark.\n\n - On page 279, in outline \"Spiritual Usurpers Renounced,\" in Parkes'\n   point I, change \"Paganism\" to \"paganism\" and apply RC to \"Divine\n   help.\" In the first paragraph of Rawlison's text, make \"other\n   gods\" lower case.\n\n - The break between pages 279 and 280 is in the word \"responsible\":\n   re|sponsible.\n\n - On page 282, the title of outline \"God's Invitation to Shelter\"\n   was set with extra space between the letters.\n\n - On page 283, in outline \"Chambers of Safety,\" in the introductory\n   paragraph, insert reference to Matt. xxviii. 20 after the passage\n   is quoted. In point I, apply RC to \"Divine character\" and \"Divine\n   promise.\"\n\n - On page 284, in outline \"God's Goodness,\" in the introduction,\n   correct \"Prov. xxxiii. 31\" to \"Prov. xxiii. 31.\"\n\n - The break between pages 285 and 286 is in the word\n   \"uncontrollable\" uncontroll|able.\n\n - On page 286, in outline \"A Solemn Disclaimer,\" in the concluding\n   paragraph, change \"He took hold\" to \"he,\" referring to the\n   man-slayer.\n\n - On page 287, in outline \"Taking Hold,\" remove the parentheses from\n   the subpoints of point II, for consistency with other outlines. In\n   point II 1, remove the period after \"submission\" and correct \"Ps.\n   ii. 10\" to \"Ps. li. 10.\"\n\n - On page 288, in outline \"The Day of the East Wind,\" change \"Job\n   xviii. 17\" to \"Job xxi. 18.\"\n\n - On page 290, set the title \"The Afflictions of God's People\" in\n   title case. In point II, apply RC to \"God.\"\n\n - On page 291, same outline, in footnote 1 (denoted \u0251 originally),\n   insert the names of target outlines to make the cross reference\n   useful in the plain text file; correct page 6 to page 5. In\n   outline \"The Discipline of Sin,\" in the introduction, apply RC to\n   \"Divine teaching\" and \"Divine design.\" In the second paragraph,\n   apply RC to \"Divine dealing.\" Remove the parentheses from the\n   subpoints of point II for consistency with other outlines.\n\n - The break between pages 291 and 292 is in the word \"knowing\":\n   know|ing.\n\n - On page 292, same outline, in point II 3, apply RC to \"Divine One.\"\n\n - The break between pages 292 and 293 is in the word \"astonishing\":\n   as|tonishing.\n\n - On page 293, in outline \"The Gospel Trumpet,\" in point II, remove\n   the \"1\" from the first sentence and replace the \"2\" before the\n   second sentence with \"1.\" Insert a paragraph break at \"As\n   chaplain.\" In outline \"England's Crying Sin,\" remove an extra\n   comma from the scripture quotation.\n\n - On page 294, same outline, in point I 3, apply RC to \"his Judge.\"\n   In point II, capitalize \"Penalty.\"\n\n - On page 295, same outline, in footnote 1 (denoted \u0251 originally),\n   include names of target outlines to make the cross reference\n   useful in the plain text file. In outline \"The Believer's\n   Dignity,\" in the introduction, apply RC to \"Divine wrath.\" Insert\n   a paragraph break after the text of point I to match that of point\n   II on the following page. Apply RC to \"Divine nature.\"\n\n - On page 296, same outline, apply RC to \"Divine character.\"\n\n - On page 299, in outline \"The Sure Foundation,\" apply RC to\n   \"Divinely appointed.\"\n\n - The break between pages 299 and 300 is in the word \"schoolmaster\":\n   school|master.\n\n - On page 300, same outline, insert \"IV\" where it is missing.\n\n - On page 301, same outline, change the formatting of Jay's point I\n   from small-cap to bold, to match his other points. In point I 3,\n   move the sentence ending period from after \"Christians\" to after\n   the scripture reference.\n\n - The break between pages 301 and 302 is in the word \"declaration\":\n   declara|tion.\n\n - On pages 302-303, same outline, make Hawes' point II subpoints\n   consistent by removing parentheses from subpoints (1) and (3).\n\n - The break between pages 302 and 303 is in the word \"immortal\":\n   im|mortal.\n\n - On page 303, same outline, in Hawes' point II 5, there is a second\n   reference to footnote 1 (denoted \u0251 originally). To support linking\n   from the footnote back to the text, create footnote 4. Insert an\n   em-dash at the beginning of the Hawes citation.\n\n - On page 304, in outline \"Our Trust,\" at the end of point I, there\n   is a sentence in square brackets. The Transcriber added a dash and\n   the author's initials, treating it an an editorial aside, and\n   moved the period inside the brackets.\n\n - On page 305, in outline \"False Refuges,\" in point I, change\n   \"Pagans\" to \"pagans.\"\n\n - The break between pages 305 and 306 is in the word \"decisions\":\n   deci|sions.\n\n - On page 306, same outline, in the Application, apply RC to\n   \"believe in Him.\" In outline \"The Short Bed,\" in point I, correct\n   \"Tirhakeh\" to \"Tirhakah.\"\n\n - On page 309, in outline \"The Parable,\" change the scripture quote\n   to British English: change \"plowman\" and \"plow\" to \"ploughman\" and\n   \"plough.\" In the introductory paragraph, apply RC to \"Divine\n   dealing.\"\n\n - The break between pages 309 and 310 is in the word \"impurity\":\n   im|purity.\n\n - On page 310, same outline, in point I, apply RC to \"Divine\n   character\" and \"Divine law.\" In point II, apply RC to \"the Gospel.\"\n\n - On page 311, in outline \"The Parable,\" in Talmage's point I,\n   change \"M'Leod\" to \"McLeod.\"\n\n - On page 312, in outline \"A Feast for Faith,\" in the quoted\n   scripture, change \"Lord of Hosts\" to \"hosts,\" to match typical\n    capitalization. Remove the parentheses from point I 1, to match\n   the other points at that level. In point I 2, change \"Providence\"\n   to \"providence.\" In point I 4, change \"Son of God\" to \"son\" (John\n   i. 12).\n\n - On page 313, same outline, at the end of point I 8, insert the\n   reference Rev. xix. 6 after the quotation of the passage. The\n   title of outline \"Ariel\" is set with extra space between the\n   letters.\n\n - On page 314, same outline, parentheses were removed from points 2\n   and 3 such that they match point 1 in the concluding paragraph.\n\n - On page 316, in outine \"Awakened,\" in point III, apply RC to \"the\n   Gospel.\" In outline, \"The Futility,\" in the introductory\n   paragraph, apply RC to \"His Gospel.\"\n\n - On page 317, same outline, in point I, apply RC to \"the Gospel.\"\n   In point I 1, change \"Pagan\" to \"pagan.\" In point II 2, add\n   references Matt. xvi. 18 and Ps. xcvii. 1 where those passages are\n   quoted. In outline \"Lip-Service,\" in point I, remove point 1,\n   because it is the only point at this level.\n\n - On page 318, same outline, in Parkes' point II, change\n   \"xxxiii. 31\" to \"Ezek. xxxiii. 31\" for specificity. In Rawlinson's\n   introduction, apply RC to \"Divine worship.\"\n\n - On page 321, in outline \"Religious Joy,\" in point I, apply RC to\n   \"Divine character\" in the first and third paragraphs. In point\n   II 1, apply RC to \"Divine goodness.\"\n\n - On page 322, in outline \"The Origin,\" in the introduction, apply\n   RC to \"Divine counsel.\" In point I 1, apply RC to \"the Word.\" In\n   point I 2, apply RC to \"the Divine.\"\n\n - On page 324 in outline \"Strength in Quietness,\" in point III,\n   change \"i. 21\" to \"Job i. 21\" for specificity. Point IV includes a\n   reference to \"Rom. xii. 19-26,\" which is not correct. In the\n   concluding paragraph, apply RC to \"the Spirit.\"\n\n - On page 325, in outline \"Dislike to Ministerial Fidelity,\" in\n   point I, apply RC to \"Divine law.\"\n\n - The break between pages 325 and 326 occurs within what style\n   indicates should be a unit: \"(1.)|The.\" The whole unit was moved\n   to the earlier page.\n\n - On page 326, same outline, in the Application, point 2 (3), apply\n   RC to \"Divine truth.\"\n\n - On page 327, in outline \"Christian Quietness,\" in point IV, apply\n   RC to \"upon a Rock,\" meaning Jesus. In outline \"The Vanity,\" the\n   second paragraph includes a list which was typeset \"Exodus,\n   Gideon, David, and Goliath;\" remove the comma after \"David.\"\n\n - On page 328, in outline \"Divine Salvation Rejected,\" in the\n   introduction, apply RC to \"Divine remonstrance.\" In point I, apply\n   RC to \"Divine salvation.\" In point I 2, change \"Jesus died\" to\n   \"Jesus died and rose again.\" Many religious figures have died;\n   only One has risen again.\n\n - On page 329, same outline, in point II 3, apply RC to \"Divine\n   favour.\"\n\n - On page 330, in outline \"Waiting, Divine and Human,\" in point I 2,\n   change \"P. I.\" to \"P. D.\"\n\n - On page 333, in outline \"Waiting for the Lord,\" in Crow's point\n   II 2, change \"Ps. lxii. 15\" to \"Ps. lxii. 1-5.\"\n\n - On page 334, in outline \"God's Readiness,\" in point I 2, change\n   \"Go to Him\" to \"go.\"\n\n - On page 335, same outline, in point II 3, change \"Go to Him\" to\n   \"go.\" In outline \"The Bread,\" in Thodey's point II, change \"1 Cor.\n   i. 5\" to \"2 Cor. i. 5.\" In his point III, change the first point\n   \"3\" to \"2.\"\n\n - The break between pages 335 and 336 is in the word \"principles\":\n   prin|ciples.\n\n - On page 336, same outline, Rawlinson's point I, apply RC to \"It is\n   not that He.\" In point II, change \"antidote\" and \"promised\" to\n   lower case to match point I. In the conclusion, apply RC to \"the\n   Word.\" In footnote 3 (denoted \u0263 originally), apply RC to \"The\n   Word\" and insert a comma after \"helps.\"\n\n - On page 337, in outline \"The Guiding Voice,\" apply RC to \"God's\n   Word.\"\n\n - The break between pages 337 and 338 is in the word\n   \"encouragement\": encourage|ment.\n\n - On page 338, same outline, in Horton's point IV, apply RC to \"the\n   Word.\" In Thodey's point II 4, apply RC to \"by Whom.\"\n\n - The break between pages 339 and 340 is in the word\n   \"disappointments\": disappoint|ments.\n\n - On page 340, in outline \"The Earthly Song,\" in the introduction,\n   capitalise \"Passover\" (twice). Apply RC to \"Divine interposition,\"\n   \"Divine response,\" and \"the Divine.\" In point 1, capitalise\n   \"Passover\" (twice).\n\n - On page 341, same outline, in point 2, capitalise \"Passover\" and\n   \"Paschal Hymn.\" In point 3, apply RC to \"Divine ownership.\" In\n   point 4, capitalise \"Paschal song\" and apply RC to \"Divine\n   resources.\" In point 5, capitalise \"Paschal Hymn.\" In the\n   conclusion, apply RC to \"Divinely appointed.\" In outline \"Tophet,\"\n   insert a period after \"more excellent way.\"\n\n - On page 343, in outline \"The Only Counsellor,\" in point 2, after\n   \"were no longer\" insert \"to hold intercourse with it,\" per Errata.\n   In the next paragraph, change \"wo\" to \"woe.\"\n\n - The break between pages 343 and 344 occurs within text which style\n   indicates should be a unit: \"it.--Julius.\" The whole unit was\n   moved to the earlier page.\n\n - On page 344, in outline \"The Spirituality,\" remove the quotation\n   marks from the scripture quotation in the header for consistency.\n\n - On page 346, in outline \"A Call,\" in the introduction, apply RC to\n   \"Divine idea\" and \"Divine communications.\" In point I, apply RC to\n   \"Divine holiness\" (twice). Change \"Then Himself disappears\" to\n   \"Then He disappears.\" In point II, insert \"1\" before the first\n   sentence.\n\n - The break between pages 346 and 347 is in the word \"feelings\":\n   feel|ings.\n\n - On page 347, same outline, in point II 2, apply RC to \"the\n   Gospel.\" In outline \"The Fiery Ordeal,\" in point I, apply RC to\n   \"life Divine.\" In the Conclusion, point (1), capitalize \"To.\"\n\n - On page 348, in outline \"The Preciousness,\" remove the quotation\n   marks from the scripture quotation in the header for consistency.\n   In Maclaren's point I 3, apply RC to \"Divine wrath.\"\n\n - On page 349, same outline, in Bertram's (uncredited) point II,\n   move the semicolon outside the parentheses. In his point III, set\n   the name of the referenced outline in small caps.\n\n - On page 350, same outline, in footnote 2 (denoted \u03b2 originally),\n   remove a duplicated word \"or\" from the last sentence.\n\n - On page 351, in outline \"The Christian's Refuge,\" in the\n   introduction, apply RC to \"God's Word.\"\n\n - On page 352, same outline, in point I, remove the subpoint \"1\"\n   because there are no others. In point II 1, remove the quotation\n   marks from the point. Correct \"assuage their thirst\" to \"assuage\n   your thirst.\"\n\n - The break between pages 357 and 358 is in the word \"Conscience\":\n   Con|science.\n\n - On page 358, in outline \"Christian Liberality,\" in the conclusion,\n   apply RC to \"done it unto Me\" (Matt. xxv. 40).\n\n - On page 359, in outline \"A Call,\" in footnote 1 (denoted \u0251\n   originally), include the names of target outlines to make the\n   cross reference useful in the plain text file. In outline \"The\n   Essential Condition,\" in the second paragraph, apply RC to \"as\n   Divine.\"\n\n - On page 360, same outline, in point I 1, capitalise \"From\" and\n   move the sentence-ending period outside the parentheses. In point\n   I 4, insert a sentence-ending period after the parentheses. In\n   point I 7, apply RC to \"Divine power.\" In point II, apply RC to\n   \"Divine agency\" (twice).\n\n - On page 361, same outline, in Magie's point I, change the\n   subpoints from parenthesised Italic lower-case letters to Arabic\n   numerals for consistency with other outlines.\n\n - On page 362, same outline, in Magie's conclusion, change the\n   points from parenthesised Italic lower-case letters to Arabic\n   numerals for consistency with other outlines. Change the credit\n   from \"Magee\" to \"Magie,\" per Errata.\n\n - On page 363, same outline, in Rawlinson's point III, apply RC to\n   \"the Word.\" In footnote 2 (denoted \u03b2 originally), apply RC to\n   \"Divine influence\" and \"Divine communication.\"\n\n - On page 364, in outline \"The Moral Wilderness,\" in the\n   introduction, apply RC to \"Divine judgments.\" In point I, apply RC\n   to \"Divine beauty.\" In point II 3, apply RC to \"Divine sanction.\"\n\n - On page 366, same outline, in Rawlinson's introduction, apply RC\n   to \"Divine government.\"\n\n - On page 368, in outline \"Spiritual Husbandry,\" in the second\n   introductory paragraph, apply RC to \"the Gospel.\" In point I,\n   apply RC to \"God's Word.\"\n\n - On page 369, same outline, the text of point II printed poorly at\n   the right margin.\n\n - On page 371, in outline \"The Saint's Attitude,\" in the\n   introduction, apply RC to \"Divine Governor.\"\n\n - On page 372, same outline, in point I 1, apply RC to \"Divine\n   disposition\" and \"His Word.\" In point I 3, apply RC to \"His Word\n   and Way\" and \"Divine consolation.\"\n\n - On page 374, in outline \"The Importance,\" in Watson's point II,\n   apply RC to \"Divine philosophy.\"\n\n - The break between pages 374 and 375 is in the word \"prosperity\":\n   pros|perity.\n\n - On page 382, in outline \"The Prospect,\" in point III, remove the\n   subpoint \"2\" because there are no others.\n\n - On page 382, in outline \"The Beauty,\" remove the parentheses from\n   the subpoints of point I, for consistency with other outlines. In\n   point I 2, correct \"Luke xxxiii. 43\" to \"Luke xxiii. 43.\"\n\n - On page 384, in outline \"Characteristics,\" in the introductory\n   paragraph, add an outline title to make the page reference useful\n   in the plain text file. In point I, apply RC to \"Divine grace.\" In\n   footnote 2 (denoted \u03b2 originally), capitalize \"The\" and change\n   \"Peaceable\" to \"Peaceful\" to match the referenced outline.\n\n - On page 386, in outline \"A Controlling Fact,\" in point I, correct\n   \"Ps. cxxxi. 1-7\" to \"Ps. cxxi. 1-7.\" Apply RC to \"His knowledge.\"\n\n - On page 388, in outline \"The Atonement,\" in point I, apply RC to\n   \"as He was\" and \"God's Son.\"\n\n - On page 389, same outline, in point III 4, apply RC to \"sacrifice\n   He has made.\"\n\n - The break between pages 390 and 391 is in the word \"sickness\":\n   sick|ness.\n\n - The break between pages 391 and 392 is in the word \"advancing\":\n   ad|vancing.\n\n - The break between pages 393 and 394 is in the word \"outward\":\n   out|ward.\n\n - On page 394, in outline \"The Controversy,\" in point III, remove\n   the Arabic 1 and remove the parentheses from the other subpoints.\n\n - On page 395, in outline \"A Call to Study,\" in point I, correct\n   \"2 Tim. i. 21\" to \"2 Pet. i. 21.\"\n\n - On page 396, capitalize \"Will\" in the outline title \"The Book that\n   Will Endure Testing.\" In the introduction, apply RC to \"its\n   Divinity.\"\n\n - On page 397, same outline, in point IV, change \"Rom. viii. 19 23\"\n   to \"Rom. viii. 19-23.\"\n\n - On page 398, in outline \"The Certainty,\" in the application\n   paragraph, insert point 1.\n\n - On page 399, in outline \"Transformation,\" in the introduction,\n   correct \"co-called\" to \"so-called.\"\n\n - On page 400, same outline, in point II 5, capitalise \"Holy of\n   Holies.\" Remove a redundant footnote anchor from the end of Kay's\n   text.\n\n - On page 401, same outine, in footnote 2 (denoted \u03b2 originally),\n   insert two outline titles to make the cross reference useful in\n   the plain text file.\n\n - On page 402, in outline \"Encouragement,\" In point II 1, update\n   \"Has not Jesus died?\" to \"Has not Jesus died and risen again?\"\n   because many religious leaders have died, but only One has risen\n   again. In point II 3, insert two scripture references after the\n   quotation of the passages.\n\n - On page 404, in outline \"The Healer,\" insert a paragraph break\n   after point I. At the end of point I 1, correct \"After all the\n   argument, he fact remains\" to \"the fact remains.\"\n\n - On page 406, in outline \"The Curse Done Away,\" in point III 1,\n   change \"Matt. xiii. 58\" to \"Matt. ix. 2.\"\n\n - The break between pages 406 and and 407 is in the worth\n   \"Nazareth\": Naza|reth.\n\n - On page 407, in outline \"Beautiful Visions,\" remove a redundant\n   footnote anchor from the end of the text.\n\n - On page 408, same outline, in footnote 1 (denoted \u0251 originally),\n   change \"Ps. lxxxiv. 7\" to \"Ps. lxxxiv. 6\" for the reference to the\n   valley of Baca. Later in the Koran quotation, tag the word _sarab_\n   as Arabic, twice.\n\n - On page 409, in outline \"The Exiles' Return,\" insert a paragraph\n   break after point III.\n\n - The break between pages 409 and 410 is in the word \"fulness\":\n   ful|ness.\n\n - On page 411, in outline \"The Road,\" in point II, apply RC to\n   \"Divine sympathy.\"\n\n - On page 413, in outline \"The Banishment,\" in point IV, change\n   \"Nature\" to \"nature.\"\n\n - On page 414, capitalise \"Their\" in outline title \"Modern\n   Rabshakehs, and Their Attempts to Terrify God's People.\" Add a\n   question mark to the end of point I.\n\n - The break between pages 414 and 415 is in the word\n   \"ecclesiastical\": eccle|siastical.\n\n - On page 416, capitalise \"Art\" and \"Thou\" in outline title \"In Whom\n   Art Thou Trusting?\"\n\n - On page 417, same outline, in point III 2, insert a period after\n   \"yet we have.\" Change the second \"4\" to \"5.\"\n\n - The break between pages 419 and 420 is in the word \"wrong-doings\":\n   wrong-|doings.\n\n - On page 420, in outline \"A King in Trouble,\" in point II, apply RC\n   to \"Omnipotence.\"\n\n - The break between pages 421 and 422 is in the word\n   \"dwelling-place\": dwelling-|place.\n\n - On page 423, in outline \"A Christian Prayer,\" in the introduction,\n   apply RC to \"exclusive Divinity.\"\n\n - On page 424, same outline, in point III, change \"from His hand\" to\n   \"his,\" because the prayer is for God to intervene against another\n   person.\n\n - The break between pages 427 and 428 is in the word \"instance\":\n   in|stance.\n\n - On page 429, in outline \"Duties,\" in the introduction, change\n   \"whenever He knocks\" to \"he,\" referring to death.\n\n - On page 433, in outline \"The Shortening,\" at the end of the\n   Application paragraph, change \"xiii. 15, or i. 21\" to \"Job\n   xiii. 15, or Job i. 21\" for specificity.\n\n - On page 434, the title of outline \"The Suretyship of Christ\" was\n   set with extra space between the letters.\n\n - On page 435, in outline \"Hezekiah's Resolution,\" in point 1, apply\n   RC to \"Source and Giver of life.\"\n\n - On page 436, same outline, in point 4, add parentheses to\n   subpoints 2 and 3.\n\n - The break between pages 441 and 442 is in the word\n   \"forgetfulness\": forgetful|ness.\n\n - On page 445, in outline \"Hezekiah Tried,\" in point II, correct\n   \"2 Kings xx. 45\" to \"2 Kings xx. 4-5.\" In point III, change \"He\n   says nothing\" to \"he,\" referring to Hezekiah.\n\n - On page 450, in outline \"The Cessation of War,\" in point III 1,\n   apply RC to \"Divine power.\"\n\n - On page 456, in outline \"The Inexcusability,\" in the third\n   paragraph, move a closing quotation mark from after \"done\" to\n   after \"Nature\" and another from after \"done\" to after \"conviction.\"\n\n - On page 461, in outline \"The Service,\" change \"taskwork\" to\n   \"task-work.\"\n\n - On page 462, same outline, in footnote 2 (denoted \u03b2 originally),\n   change \"1#42\" to \"1842.\"\n\n - On page 463, in outline \"The Moral History,\" in point III, apply\n   RC to \"Divinely-appointed.\"\n\n - On page 464, in outline \"Sanctuary in God,\" in point I, change\n   \"Pagan\" to \"pagan.\" Apply RC to \"Divinity.\" In point II, correct\n   \"lxiii. 9\" to \"liii. 9.\" In point III, apply RC to \"Water.\"\n\n - On page 465, the title of outline \"Wise Lessons from Wicked Lips\"\n   is set with extra space between the letters.\n\n - On page 468, in outline \"The Diffusion,\" in point II, remove the\n   parentheses from the subpoint numbers, for consistency with other\n   outlines.\n\n - On page 469, same outline, in the Conclusion, change \"Ps.\n   xxiii. 27\" to \"Ps. xxiii. 2.\"\n\n - On page 470, in outline \"The Proud City Doomed,\" change \"Man-God\"\n   to \"man-god.\" Apply RC to \"Divinity.\"\n\n - On page 475, in outline \"The Blessings,\" in point II, add an\n   outline title to make the page cross reference useful in the plain\n   text file.\n\n - On page 476, same outline, in point 3 of the paragraph after point\n   III, apply RC to \"Divinity.\"\n\n - On page 478, in outline \"Peaceful Keeping,\" in Guinness' point\n   III, change the question mark after \"heart of God\" to a period. In\n   Corbin's introduction, apply RC to \"Divine.\"\n\n - On page 479, same outline, in point I, change \"Nature\" to\n   \"nature.\" In outline \"The Song,\" In point I 2, remove the subpoint\n   \"(1.)\" because there are no others.\n\n - The break between pages 479 and 480 is in the word \"constitute\":\n   con|stitute.\n\n - On page 480, same outline, correct \"2 Cor. vi. 7\" to \"2 Cor.\n   vi. 17.\" In the credit, remove the Italic formatting from \"pp.\"\n   and change \"Port Madoc\" to \"Portmadoc.\"\n\n - On page 481, in outline \"The Storms of Life,\" in point III, add an\n   outline title to make the page cross reference useful in the plain\n   text file.\n\n - The break between pages 481 and 482 is in the word \"threatening\":\n   threaten|ing.\n\n - On page 482, same outline, change the name of the town from \"Port\n   Madoc\" to \"Portmadoc.\"\n\n - On page 485, in outline \"Rejecters,\" add parentheses to point\n   I 2 (2).\n\n - On page 486, same outline, apply RC to \"Divinely sublime.\" Change\n   \"Jesu's\" to \"Jesus'.\" Add parentheses to points I 2 (3)-(5).\n\n - The break between pages 487 and 488 is in the word \"become\":\n   be|come.\n\n - On page 488, in outline \"False Refuges,\" add a period to the end\n   of the scripture quotation. Change \"Ps. l. 22\" to \"Ps. l. 22-23.\"\n\n - On page 490, in outline \"Some Aspects,\" in point II 1, apply RC to\n   \"Will of God.\" In outline \"Growing Light,\" apply RC to \"the\n   Source.\"\n\n - The break between pages 491 and 492 is in the word \"promise\":\n   pro|mise.\n\n - On page 492, same outline, capitalise \"51st Psalm.\" Remove right\n   parenthesis from credit.\n\n - On page 493, in outline \"Nobility and Security,\" in point II,\n   correct the quoted text \"munitions of rock\" to \"rocks.\"\n\n - The break between pages 493 and 494 is in the word \"elevated\":\n   ele|vated.\n\n - On page 494, same outline, correct \"you are a mem ber\" to \"member.\"\n\n - On page 495, in outline \"Spreading the Letter,\" in point III,\n   change \"story\" to \"account.\"\n\n - Regarding the Appendix, in the original, the two translations are\n   presented as two columns on each page. To maintain this\n   presentation would require more effort than is currently\n   available. Consequently, the two translations are presented\n   consecutively. The page numbers indicate the page and column. Two\n   additional translations of chapter lii. 13 through chapter liii.\n   appear on appendix pages 67 and 69. These passages follow the\n   other two translations.\n\n - There may have been confusion in typesetting with regard to\n   footnotes. Anchors for the notes on chapters v. and vi. are\n   inserted into both translations; anchors for subsequent notes\n   appear in the Delitzsch translation only. Consequently, the notes\n   were transcribed only in the Delitzsch translation. The original\n   footnotes use symbols, and reset to asterisk with each new page;\n   the transcribed footnotes appear at chapter breaks and reset to 1\n   with each chapter.\n\n - Verse numbers that appear in the middle of a sentence were often\n   followed by a comma. The transcription follows each one with a\n   period.\n\n - On page A1L, ch. i. 2, apply RC to \"against Me.\" Verse 3, apply\n   RC, \"My people.\"\n\n - On page A2L, ch. i. 11, apply RC, \"sacrifices to Me.\" Verse 12,\n   apply RC, \"before Me\" and \"My courts.\" Verse 13, apply RC, \"to\n   Me.\" Verse 14, apply RC, \"My soul hateth,\" \"to Me.\" Verse 15,\n   apply RC, \"Mine eyes.\" Verse 16, apply RC, \"Mine eyes.\"\n\n - On page A3L, ch. i. 24, apply RC, \"comfort Myself of My\n   adversaries,\" \"avenge Myself of Mine enemies.\" Verse 25, apply RC,\n   \"turn My hand.\"\n\n - On page A5L, ch. iii. 15, apply RC, \"My people.\"\n\n - On page A9, the page number was corrected or inserted manually by\n   the typesetter.\n\n - On page A9L, insert missing number for ch. vii. 6.\n\n - On page A10L, insert missing chapter number \"VIII.\"\n\n - On page A12L, ch. x. 5, apply RC, \"My anger\" and \"My indignation.\"\n   Verse 6, apply RC, \"My wrath.\" Verse 12, apply RC, \"all His work.\"\n\n - On page A13L, ch. x. 34, apply RC, \"a Mighty One.\"\n\n - On page A15L, ch. xiii. 3, apply RC, \"Myself\" and \"My\" (four\n   times). Verse 5, apply RC, \"His wrath.\"\n\n - Verse number 15 for chapter xiii. was moved ahead to page A16L,\n   with the text.\n\n - On page A17L, ch. xiv. 22, apply RC, \"Myself.\" Verse 25, apply RC,\n   \"My\" (twice).\n\n - The break between pages A19L and A20L is in the word \"rebukes\":\n   re|bukes.\n\n - On page A20L, ch. xviii. 4, apply RC, \"My dwelling-place.\"\n\n - On page A21L, ch. xix. 25, apply RC, \"My\" (thrice).\n\n - On page A25L, ch. xxiii. 13, change \"He has rendered it a ruin\" to\n   \"he.\"\n\n - The break between pages A27L and A28L is in the word \"desired\":\n   de|sired.\n\n - On page A28L, ch. xxvi. 15, apply RC, \"Thou hast glorified.\" Ch.\n   xxvii. 4, apply RC, \"My people.\"\n\n - On page A29L, ch. xxvii. 4, apply RC, \"My people\" and \"Me.\" Verse\n   5, apply RC, \"My\" and \"Me\" (twice).\n\n - On page A30L, ch. xxviii. 6, change \"to Him that sitteth\" to\n   \"him.\" Verse 9, apply RC, \"He\" (twice). Verse 11, apply RC, \"He.\"\n\n - On page A31L, ch. xxix. 2, apply RC, \"Me.\" Verse 13, apply RC,\n   \"Me\" (thrice).\n\n - On page A32L, ch. xxix. 23, apply RC, \"My\" (twice). Ch. xxx. 1,\n   apply RC to \"Me\" and \"My.\" In ch. xxx. 2, apply RC\"My.\"\n\n - On page A33L, ch. xxx. 22, change \"And he shall defile\" to \"ye.\"\n\n - On page A34L, move the dash to between chapter number xxxi. and\n   verse number 1.\n\n - The break between pages A34L and A35L is between verse 7 and the\n   first word of the verse. The verse number was moved to the\n   subsequent page.\n\n - On page A36L, ch. xxxiii. 10, apply RC to \"Myself.\" Insert verse\n   number 16.\n\n - On page A37L, ch. xxxiv. 5, apply RC to \"My\" (twice).\n\n - On page A38L, ch. xxxiv. 11, apply RC to \"One.\" Verse 16, apply RC\n   to \"My.\" In ch. xxxv., two verses are numbered 6; number the second\n   one 7.\n\n - On page A42L, ch. xxxvii. 28, apply RC to \"Me.\" Verse 29, apply RC\n   to \"Me\" and \"My\" (thrice). Verse 35, apply RC to \"My\" (twice). In\n   ch. xxxviii. 3, apply RC to \"Thee\" and \"Thine.\"\n\n - On page A44L, in the introduction to ch. xl., apply RC to \"Divine.\"\n\n - On page A45L, ch. xl. 20, change \"he\" to lower case twice,\n   referring to a man.\n\n - On page A46L, ch. xl. 25, apply RC to \"Me.\" Ch. xli. 1, apply RC\n   to \"Me.\" Verse 2, apply RC to \"Him\" (thrice) and \"His\" (twice).\n   Verse 3, apply RC to \"He\" (twice) and \"His.\" Verse 4, apply RC to\n   \"First\" and \"Last.\"\n\n - On page A47L, ch. xli. 8, apply RC to \"My\" (twice). Verse 10,\n   apply RC to \"My.\" Verse 25, apply RC to \"My.\"\n\n - On page A48L, ch. xlii. 1, apply RC to \"My\" (four times). Verse 8,\n   apply RC to \"My\" (thrice).\n\n - On page A49L, ch. xlii. 19, apply RC to \"My\" (twice).\n\n - On page A50L, ch. xliii. 1, apply RC to \"Mine.\" Verse 4, apply RC\n   to \"My.\" Verse 5, apply RC to \"My\" (twice). Verse 7, apply RC to\n   \"My\" (twice). Verse 9, apply RC to \"My.\" Verse 10, apply RC to\n   \"My\" (twice), \"Me\" (thrice), and \"He.\" Verse 11, apply RC to \"Me.\"\n   Verse 12, apply RC to \"My.\" Verse 13, apply RC to \"My.\"\n\n - On page A51L, in ch. xliii. 20, apply RC to \"Me\" and \"My\" (twice).\n   Verse 21, apply RC to \"Myself\" and \"My.\" Verse 22, apply RC to\n   \"Me\" (twice). Verse 23, apply RC to \"Me\" (twice). Verse 24, apply\n   RC to \"Me\" (four times). Verse 25, apply RC to \"He\" and \"Mine.\"\n   Verse 26, apply RC to \"Me.\" Verse 27, apply RC to \"Me.\"\n\n - On page A52L, ch. xliv. 1, apply RC to \"My.\" Verse 2, apply RC to\n   \"My.\" Verse 3, apply RC to \"My\" (twice). Verse 6, apply RC to\n   \"Me.\" Verse 7, apply RC to \"Me\" (twice). Verse 8, apply RC to \"My\"\n   and \"Me.\"\n\n - On page A53L, ch. xliv. 21, apply RC to \"My\" and \"Me\" (twice).\n   Verse 22, apply RC to \"Me.\" Verse 24, apply RC to \"Former\" and\n   \"Myself.\"\n\n - On page A54L, ch. xliv. 28, apply RC to \"My.\" In the introduction\n   to chap xlv., apply RC to \"Divine.\" Verse 4, apply RC to \"My\"\n   (twice) and \"Me.\" Verse 5, apply RC to \"Me\" twice. Verse 6, apply\n   RC to \"Me.\" Verse 11, apply RC to \"Me\" (twice) and \"My\" (twice).\n   Verse 12, apply RC to \"My.\" Verse 13, apply RC to \"My\" twice.\n\n - On page A55L, ch. xlv. 15, apply RC to \"Thou\" and \"Thyself.\" Verse\n   18, apply RC to \"Creator,\" \"Former,\" and \"Maker.\" Verse 19, apply\n   RC to \"Me.\" Verse 21, apply RC to \"Me\" (twice). Verse 22, apply RC\n   to \"Me.\" Verse 23, apply RC to \"Myself\" and \"Me.\" In the\n   introduction to ch. xlvi., apply RC to \"Divinity.\"\n\n - The break between pages A55L and A56L is in the word \"control\":\n   con|trol.\n\n - On page A56L, ch. xlvi. 3, apply RC to \"Me.\" Verse 5, apply RC to\n   \"Me\" (twice). Verse 9, apply RC to \"Me.\" Verse 10, apply RC to\n   \"My.\" Verse 12, apply RC to \"Me.\" Verse 13, apply RC to \"My\" (four\n   times).\n\n - On page A57L, ch. xlvii., insert verse number 6. Verse 6, apply RC\n   to \"My\" (thrice).\n\n - On page A58L, ch. xlviii. 3, apply RC to \"My.\"\n\n - On page A59L, ch. xlviii. 9, apply RC to \"My\" (thrice). Verse 11,\n   apply RC to \"My\" (thrice). Verse 12, apply RC to \"Me\" and \"My.\"\n   Verse 13, apply RC to \"My\" (twice). Verse 18, apply RC to \"My.\"\n   Verse 19, apply RC to \"Me.\" Verse 21, apply RC to \"He.\"\n\n - On page A60L, ch. xlix. 1, apply RC to \"Me\" (twice) and \"My\"\n   (twice). Verse 2, apply RC to \"My\" and \"Me\" (twice). Verse 3,\n   apply RC to \"My\" and \"Me.\" Verse 4, apply RC to \"My\" (four times).\n   Verse 5, apply RC to \"Me\" and \"My\" (twice). Verse 6, apply RC to\n   \"Thou,\" \"My\" (twice), and \"Thee.\" Verse 7, apply RC to \"Thee.\"\n   Verse 8, apply RC to \"Thee\" (four times).\n\n - On page A61L, ch. xlix. 11, apply RC to \"My.\" Verse 16, apply RC\n   to \"My\" and \"Me.\" Verse 22, apply RC to \"My\" (twice). Verse 26,\n   apply RC to \"Mighty.\"\n\n - On page A62L, ch. l. 1, apply RC to \"My.\" Verse 2, apply RC to\n   \"My\" (twice) and \"Me.\" Verse 4, apply RC to \"Me\" (twice). Verse 5,\n   apply RC to \"Me.\" Verse 6, apply RC to \"My\" (twice). Verse 7,\n   apply RC to \"Me\" and \"My.\" Verse 8, apply RC to \"My\" (twice) and\n   \"Me\" (twice). Verse 9, apply RC to \"Me\" (twice). Verse 11, apply\n   RC to \"My.\"\n\n - On page A63L, ch. li. 1, apply RC to \"Me.\" Verse 4, apply RC to\n   \"Me\" (thrice) and \"My\" (thrice). Verse 5, apply RC to \"My\" (four\n   times) and \"Me.\" Verse 6, apply RC to \"My\" (twice). Verse 7, apply\n   RC to \"Me\" and \"My.\" Verse 8, apply RC to \"My\" (twice). Verse 9,\n   apply RC to \"Thou.\" Verse 10, apply RC to \"Thou.\" Verse 12, apply\n   RC to \"He.\"\n\n - On page A64L, ch. li. 16, apply RC to \"My\" (thrice). Verse 22,\n   apply RC to \"My.\"\n\n - On page A65L, ch. lii. 4, apply RC to \"My.\" Verse 5, apply RC to\n   \"My\" (twice). Verse 6, apply RC to \"My\" (twice) and \"Me.\"\n\n - On page A68L, in the introduction to ch. liv., apply RC to\n   \"Divine.\"\n\n - On page A69L, ch. liv. 8, apply RC to \"My.\" Verse 9, apply RC to\n   \"Me.\" Verse 10, apply RC to \"My\" (twice).\n\n - On page A70L, ch. liv. 15, apply RC to \"My.\" Verse 17, apply RC to\n   \"Me.\" In the introduction to ch. lv., apply RC to \"Divine.\"\n\n - On page A71L, ch. lv. 4, change \"him\" to lower case, referring to\n   David. In verse 8, apply RC to \"My\" (twice). In verse 9, apply RC\n   to \"My\" (twice). In verse 11, apply RC to \"My\" (twice) and \"Me.\"\n   In ch. lvi. 1, apply RC to \"My\" (twice).\n\n - On page A72L, ch. lvi. 4, apply RC to \"My\" (twice). Verse 5, apply\n   RC to \"My\" (twice). Verse 7, apply RC to \"My\" (four times).\n\n - On page A73L, ch. lvii. 11, apply RC to \"Me\" (twice) and \"My.\"\n   Verse 12, insert right parenthesis after \"avail.\" Verse 13, apply\n   RC to \"Me\" and \"My.\"\n\n - On page A74L, ch. lvii. 16, apply RC to \"Me.\" Verse 17, apply RC\n   to \"Me.\" In ch. lviii. 1, apply RC to \"My.\" Verse 2, apply RC to\n   \"Me\" (twice) and \"My.\"\n\n - On page A75L, ch. lviii. 9, apply RC to \"Me.\" Verse 13, apply RC\n   to \"My.\" In the introduction to chapter lix., change \"in justice\"\n   to \"injustice\" and apply RC to \"Divine\" and \"Redeemer.\"\n\n - On page A77L, ch. lix. 21, apply RC to \"My\" (twice). In the\n   introduction to ch. lx., insert a dash immediately after the\n   chapter number and apply RC to \"Divine.\"\n\n - On page A78L, ch. lx. 7, apply RC to \"My\" (twice). Verse 9, apply\n   RC to \"Me.\" Verse 10, apply RC to \"My\" (twice). Verse 13, apply RC\n   to \"My\" (twice).\n\n - On page A79L, ch. lx. 21, apply RC to \"My\" (twice) and \"Myself.\"\n\n - On page A80L, in the introduction to ch. lxii., apply RC to\n   \"Deliverer\" and move the final period inside the square brackets.\n\n - The break between pages A80L and A81L is in the word \"Jehovah\":\n   Jeho|vah.\n\n - On page A81L, ch. lxii. 9, apply RC to \"My\" (twice). Verse 12,\n   make the translation of the second city name lower case. In the\n   introduction to ch. lxiii., move the final period inside the\n   square brackets. In the introduction to ch. lxiv., apply RC to\n   \"Divine\" and move the final period inside the square brackets. Ch.\n   lxiii. 1, apply RC to \"His\" (thrice). Verse 2, apply RC to \"Thy\"\n   (twice). Verse 3, apply RC to \"Myself.\"\n\n - On page A82L, ch. lxiii. 3, apply RC to \"Me\" and \"My\" (four\n   times). Verse 4, apply RC to \"My\" (twice). Verse 5, apply RC to\n   \"My\" (twice) and \"Me\" (twice). Verse 6, apply RC to \"My\" twice.\n   Verse 8, apply RC to \"My\" (twice). Verse 16, apply RC to \"Thou.\"\n\n - On page A83L, the versification for the last verse of Isaiah\n   lxiii. and most of lxiv. followed the Hebrew and not the English.\n   The start of chapter lxiv. was moved and a dash inserted after the\n   chapter number. Verses 1-10 were renumbered 2-11. Verse 9, apply\n   RC to \"Thy.\" In the introduction to ch. lxv., change \"this s\n   connected\" to \"is.\"\n\n - On page A84L, in the introduction to ch. lxv., change \"vers. 8,\n   10\" to \"vers. 8-10.\" Verse 1, apply RC to \"Me\" (thrice). Verse 2,\n   apply RC to \"My.\" Verse 3, apply RC to \"Me\" and \"My.\" Verse 5,\n   apply RC to \"My\" Verses 6 and 7, apply RC to \"Me\" (twice). Verse\n   8, apply RC to \"My\" Verse 9, apply RC to \"My\" (thrice). Verse 10,\n   apply RC to \"My\" and \"Me.\" Verse 11, apply RC to \"My\"\n\n - On page A85L, ch. xlv. 13 and 14, apply RC to \"My\" (four times).\n   Verse 15, apply RC to \"My.\" Verse 16, apply RC to \"My.\" Verse 19,\n   apply RC to \"My.\" Verses 21 and 22, apply RC to \"My\" (twice).\n   Verse 25, apply RC to \"My.\"\n\n - On page A86L, in the introduction to ch. lxvi., apply RC to\n   \"Divinely.\" Change \"7, 9\" to \"7-9\" and \"15, 17\" to \"15-17.\" Verse\n   1, apply RC to \"My\" (five times) and \"Me.\" Verse 4, apply RC to\n   \"My.\" Verse 5, apply RC to \"My.\"\n\n - On page A87L, ch. xlvi. 18, apply RC to \"My.\" Verse 19, apply RC\n   to \"My\" (twice). Verse 20, apply RC to \"My.\"\n\n - The break between pages A87L and A88L is between verse number 22\n   and the text of the verse. Move the verse number to the following\n   page.\n\n - On page A88L, ch. xlvi. 22, apply RC to \"Me.\" Verse 23, apply RC\n   to \"Me.\" Verse 24, apply RC to \"Me.\"\n\n - On page A1R, Italic heading of Part I, capitalise \"Concerning,\"\n   \"Ways,\" \"Ungrateful,\" \"Rebellious,\" and \"Nation.\" Ch. i. 2, apply\n   RC to \"Me.\"\n\n - On page A2R, ch. i. 11, apply RC to \"Me.\" Verse 12, apply RC to\n   \"My\" (twice). Verse 13, apply RC to \"Me\" Verse 14, apply RC to\n   \"My\" and \"Me.\" Verse 15, apply RC to \"Mine.\" Verse 16, apply RC to\n   \"My.\"\n\n - On page A3R, ch. i. 24, apply RC to \"Myself\" (twice) and \"Mine\"\n   (twice). Verse 25, apply RC to \"My.\" In the heading before ch.\n   ii., change \"glory of the true\" to \"glory to the true.\"\n\n - On page A5R, ch. iii. 15, apply RC to \"My.\" Ch. v. 1, apply RC to\n   \"His.\"\n\n - On page A6R, ch. iii. 3, apply RC to \"Me\" and \"My.\" Verse 4, apply\n   RC to \"My.\" Verse 5, apply RC to \"My.\" Verse 13, apply RC to \"My.\"\n   Ch. v., footnote 1, insert right double quote after question mark\n   at the end of the note. Ch. v., footnote 2, in verse 13, apply RC\n   to \"My.\"\n\n - On page A8R, Italic heading of Part II, capitalise \"Sign\" and\n   \"Wondrous.\"\n\n - On page A10R, ch. viii., insert verse number 2. Italic heading\n   before viii. 5, capitalise \"Coming\" and \"Darkness.\"\n\n - On page A11R, ch. viii. 21, change \"befals\" to \"befalls.\" Italic\n   heading before ix. 8, capitalise \"Outstretched\" and \"Hand.\"\n\n - On page A12R, Italic heading before x. 5, capitalise \"Imperial,\"\n   \"Kingdom\" (twice), \"World,\" and \"Rise.\" Verse 5, apply RC to\n   \"Mine\" (twice). Verse 6, apply RC to \"My.\"\n\n - On page A13R, ch. x. 17, change \"His Holy One\" to \"his.\" Verse 22,\n   apply RC to \"Mighty.\"\n\n - On page A15R, ch. xii. 1, 2, capitalise first word of poetry\n   lines: \"For\" and \"And.\" Verses 4-6, capitalise first word of\n   poetry lines: \"Make,\" \"Boast,\" \"Let,\" and \"For.\" Italic heading of\n   Part III, capitalize \"Heirs.\" Ch. iii. 1, apply RC to \"My\" (four\n   times).\n\n - On page A16R, ch. xiv. 2, change \"let them away\" to \"led them\n   away.\"\n\n - On page A17R, ch. xiv. 14, insert a period after \"Most High.\"\n   Verse 17, insert right double quote at the end of the verse. Verse\n   25, apply RC to \"My\" (twice). Verse 28, capitalise \"King.\"\n\n - On page A18R, ch. xv., insert verse number 4.\n\n - On page A20R, ch. xviii. 4, apply RC to \"My.\"\n\n - On page A21R, ch. xix. 25, apply RC to \"My\" (twice) and \"Mine.\"\n\n - On page A24R, in Italic heading before ch. xxiii., capitalise\n   \"Relating.\"\n\n - The break between pages A24R and A25R is in the word \"determined\":\n   deter|mined.\n\n - The break between pages A25R and A26R is in the word\n   \"merry-hearted\": merry-|hearted.\n\n - On page A27R, in Italic heading before ch. xxvi., capitalise\n   \"Brought\" and \"Back.\"\n\n - On page A28R, ch. xxvi. 19, apply RC to \"Thy.\" Ch. xxvii. 4, apply\n   RC to \"Me.\"\n\n - On page A29R, ch. xxvii. 5, apply RC to \"My\" and \"Me\" (twice).\n\n - On page A30R, ch. xxviii. 9, apply RC to \"He.\" Verse 11, apply RC\n   to \"He.\"\n\n - On page A31R, ch. xxix. 2, apply RC to \"Me.\" Verse 13, apply RC to\n   \"Me\" (four times).\n\n - Move the verse number for ch. xxix. 14 to page A32R, with the text\n   of the verse.\n\n - On page A32R, ch. xxix. 23, apply RC to \"My hands.\" Ch. xxx. 1,\n   apply RC to \"My\" (twice). Verse 2, apply RC to \"My.\"\n\n - On page A35R, ch. xxxii. 14, change \"ofel\" to \"ophel.\"\n\n - On page A36R, in Italic heading before ch. xxxiii., capitalise\n   \"Concerning.\" Verse 10, apply RC to \"Myself\" (twice).\n\n - On page A37R, ch. xxxiii. 17, apply RC to \"King\" and \"His.\" Insert\n   verse number 19. Ch. xxxiv. 5, apply RC to \"My\" (twice).\n\n - On page A38R, ch. xxxiv. 16, apply RC to \"My.\" Ch. xxxv. 4, apply\n   RC to \"Divine.\"\n\n - On page A39R, in Italic heading before ch. xxxvi., capitalise\n   \"Attempt,\" \"Compel,\" and \"Surrender.\"\n\n - On page A40R, in Italic heading before ch. xxxvii. 8, capitalise\n   \"Attempt,\" \"Force,\" \"Surrender,\" \"Miraculous,\" and \"Deliverance.\"\n\n - The break between paes A40R and A41R is in the word \"withdrawn\":\n   with|drawn.\n\n - On page A42R, ch. xxxvii. 28, apply RC to \"Me.\" Verse 29, apply RC\n   to \"Me,\" \"Mine,\" and \"My\" (twice). Verse 35, apply RC to \"Mine\"\n   and \"My.\" In the Italic heading before ch. xxxviii., capitalise\n   \"Illness,\" \"Assures,\" \"Him,\" \"His,\" and \"Recovery.\"\n\n - On page A43R, change \"10, 11\" to \"10, 11, 12.\"\n\n - On page A44R, in Italic heading before ch. xxxix., capitalise\n   \"Captivity\" and \"Occasioned.\"\n\n - On page A45R, ch. xl. 12, apply RC to \"His.\"\n\n - On page A46R, ch. xl. 25, apply RC to \"Me.\" Ch. xli. 1, apply RC\n   to \"Me.\" Verse 2, apply RC to \"His\" (thrice) and \"Him.\" Verse 3,\n   apply RC to \"He\" and \"His.\"\n\n - On page A47R, ch. xli. 8, apply RC to \"My\" (twice). Verse 9, apply\n   RC to \"My.\" Verse 10, apply RC to \"My.\"\n\n - On page A48R, ch. xlii. 1, apply RC to \"My\" (thrice) and \"Mine.\"\n   Verse 5, apply RC to \"Who\" (thrice). Verse 6, apply RC to \"Thee\"\n   (thrice) and \"Thy.\" Verse 8, apply RC to \"My\" (thrice).\n\n - On page A49R, ch. xlii. 17, change \"god\" to lower case. Verse 19,\n   apply RC to \"My\" (twice).\n\n - On page A50R, ch. xliii. 1, apply RC to \"Mine.\" Verse 6, apply RC\n   to \"My\" (twice). Verse 7, apply RC to \"My\" (twice). Verse 10,\n   apply RC to \"My\" (twice) and \"Me\" (thrice). Verse 12, apply RC to\n   \"My.\" Verse 13, apply RC to \"My.\"\n\n - The break between pages A50R and A51R is in the word \"fugitives\":\n   fugi|tives.\n\n - On page A51R, ch xliii. 20, apply RC to \"Me\" and \"My\" (twice).\n   Verse 21, apply RC to \"Myself\" and \"Me.\" Verse 22, apply RC to\n   \"Me\" (twice). Verse 23, apply RC to \"Me\" (twice) and \"My.\" Verse\n   24, apply RC to \"Me\" (thrice). Verse 25, apply RC to \"My.\" Verse\n   26, apply RC to \"My\" and \"Me.\" Verse 27, apply RC to \"Me.\" Insert\n   verse number 28.\n\n - On page A52R, ch. xliv. 1, apply RC to \"My.\" Verse 2, apply RC to\n   \"My.\" Verse 3, apply RC to \"My\" (twice). In Italic heading before\n   ch. xliv. 6, capitalise \"Gods,\" \"Nations,\" \"Who,\" \"People,\" and\n   \"Rejoice.\" Verse 6, apply RC to \"Me\" and \"God.\" Verse 7, apply RC\n   to \"Me.\" Verse 8, apply RC to \"My,\" \"Me,\" and \"Rock.\"\n\n - On page A53R, ch. xliv. 21, apply RC to \"My\" and \"Me\" (twice).\n   Verse 22, apply RC to \"Me.\" In Italic heading before ch. xliv. 24,\n   capitalise \"Anointed\" and \"Deliverer.\"\n\n - On page A54R, ch. xlv. 4, apply RC to \"My\" (twice). Verse 5, apply\n   RC to \"Me\" (thrice). Verse 6, apply RC to \"Me.\" Verse 7, apply RC\n   to \"Former,\" \"Creator\" (twice), \"Founder,\" and \"Who.\" Verse 11,\n   apply RC to \"Me\" (twice) and \"My\" (twice).\n\n - On page A55R, ch. xlv. 13, apply RC to \"My\" (twice). Verse 18,\n   apply RC to \"Creator,\" \"Former,\" and \"Finisher.\" Verse 21, apply\n   RC to \"Me\" (twice). Verse 22, apply RC to \"Me.\" Verse 23, apply RC\n   to \"Myself,\" \"My,\" and \"Me.\"\n\n - On page A56R, ch. xlvi. 3, apply RC to \"Me.\" Verse 4, apply RC to\n   \"My\" (twice). Verse 5, apply RC to \"Me.\" Verse 10, apply RC to\n   \"My.\" Verse 11, apply RC to \"My.\" Verse 12, apply RC to \"Me.\"\n   Verse 13, apply RC to \"My\" (thrice).\n\n - On page A57R, ch. xlvii., insert verse number 3. Verse 6, apply RC\n   to \"My.\"\n\n - On page A58R, heading before ch. xlviii., insert period after\n   \"prophecy.\" Verse 3, apply RC to \"My.\"\n\n - On page A59R, ch. xlvii. 9, apply RC to \"My\" (thrice). Verse 11,\n   apply RC to \"Mine\" (twice) and \"My.\" Verse 14, change \"bear\" to\n   \"hear.\" Verse 16, apply RC to \"Me\" (twice). Verse 18, apply RC to\n   \"My.\" Verse 19, apply RC to \"My.\" Verse 20, apply RC to \"His.\"\n\n - On page A60R, Italic heading before ch. xlix., capitalise\n   \"Reproved.\" Verse 1, apply RC to \"Me\" (twice) and \"My\" (twice).\n   Verse 2, apply RC to \"My\" and \"Me\" (thrice). Verse 3, apply RC to\n   \"Me,\" \"My,\" \"Thou,\" \"Whom,\" and \"Myself.\" Verse 4, apply RC to\n   \"Myself\" and \"My\" (four times). Verse 5, apply RC to \"Me\" and \"My\"\n   (twice). Verse 6, apply RC to \"Thou,\" \"My\" (twice), and \"Thee.\"\n   Verse 7, apply RC to \"Thee.\" Verse 8, apply RC to \"Thee\" (four\n   times). Verse 11, apply RC to \"My\" (twice).\n\n - On page A61R, ch. xlix. 16, apply RC to \"My\" and \"Me.\" Verse 22,\n   apply RC to \"My\" (twice). In footnote 7 (originally ‡),\n   apply RC to \"Myself.\"\n\n - On page A62R, ch. l. 1, apply RC to \"My.\" Verse 2, apply RC to\n   \"My\" (twice) and \"Me.\" Verse 4, apply RC to \"Me\" and \"Mine.\" Verse\n   5, apply RC to \"Mine.\" Verse 6, apply RC to \"My\" (thrice). Verse\n   7, apply RC to \"Me,\" \"Myself,\" and \"My.\" Verse 8, apply RC to \"Me\"\n   (thrice). Verse 9, apply RC to \"Me\" (twice). Verse 11, apply RC to\n   \"My.\"\n\n - On page A63R, Italic heading before ch. li., capitalise\n   \"Bursting,\" \"Forth,\" \"Turning,\" and \"Away.\" Verse 4, apply RC to\n   \"Me\" (thrice) and \"My\" (thrice). Verse 5, apply RC to \"My\"\n   (twice), \"Me,\" and \"Mine.\" Verse 6, apply RC to \"My\" (twice).\n   Verse 7, apply RC to \"Me\" and \"My.\" Verse 8, apply RC to \"My\"\n   (twice). Verse 9, apply RC to \"Thou.\" Verse 10, apply RC to \"Thou.\"\n\n - On page A64R, ch. li. 16, apply RC to \"My\" (thrice). Insert the\n   anchor for footnote 4 (originally \u2020) at the end of verse 19. Verse\n   22, apply RC to \"My.\"\n\n - On page A65R, Italic heading before ch. lii., capitalise\n   \"Exchanges.\" Ch. lii. 5, apply RC to \"My\" (twice). Verse 6, apply\n   RC to \"My\" (twice). Footnote 2, change \"How omely\" to \"How comely.\"\n\n - On page A66R, Italic heading before ch. lii. 13, capitalise\n   \"Exaltation,\" \"Deep,\" and \"Degradation.\" Verse 13, apply RC to\n   \"My.\"\n\n - On page A68R, ch. liii. 11, apply RC to \"My Righteous Servant.\"\n   Italic heading before ch. liv., capitalise \"Glory.\"\n\n - The break between pages A68R and A69R is in the word \"Creator\":\n   Crea|tor.\n\n - The break between pages A69R and A70R is in the word \"comforted\":\n   com|forted.\n\n - On page A70R, ch. liv. 15, apply RC to \"My.\" Verse 17, apply RC to\n   \"Me.\" Italic heading before ch. lv., capitalise \"Take\" and \"Sure.\"\n   Verse 2, apply RC to \"Me.\"\n\n - On page A71R, ch. lv. 3, apply RC to \"Me.\" Verse 8, apply RC to\n   \"My\" (twice). Verse 9, apply RC to \"My\" (twice). Insert verse\n   number 11. Verse 11, apply RC to \"My\" (twice) and \"Me.\" Ch.\n   lvi. 1, apply RC to \"My\" (twice).\n\n - On page A72R, ch. lvi. 4, apply RC to \"My\" (twice). Verse 5, apply\n   RC to \"My\" (twice). Verse 6, apply RC to \"My.\" Verse 7, apply RC\n   to \"My\" (thrice) and \"Mine.\"\n\n - On page A73R, ch. lvii. 11, apply RC to \"Me\" (twice). Verse 13,\n   apply RC to \"Me\" and \"My.\" Verse 14, apply RC to \"My.\"\n\n - On page A74R, ch. lvii. 17, apply RC to \"Myself.\" Ch. lviii. 1,\n   apply RC to \"My.\" Verse 2, apply RC to \"Me\" and \"My.\"\n\n - On page A75R, Italic heading before ch. lix., capitalise \"Broken,\"\n   \"Down,\" and \"Last.\"\n\n - Move the verse number for ch. lix. 2 from page A75R to A76R to\n   join the text of the verse.\n\n - On page A76R, ch. lix. 16, apply RC to \"Him.\" Footnote 1, apply RC\n   to \"on Me.\"\n\n - On page A77R, ch. lix. 21, apply RC to \"My covenant\" and \"My word.\"\n\n - The break between pages A77R and A78R is in the word \"becomes\":\n   be|comes.\n\n - On page A78R, ch. lx. 7, apply RC to \"Mine\" and \"My.\" Verse 9,\n   apply RC to \"Me.\" Verse 10, apply RC to \"My\" (twice). Verse 13,\n   apply RC to \"My\" (twice).\n\n - On page A79R, ch. lx. 21, apply RC to \"My\" (twice). Italic heading\n   before ch. lxi., capitalise \"Committed.\"\n\n - On page A81R, ch. lxii. 9, apply RC to \"My.\" Italic heading before\n   ch. lxiii., capitalise \"Whole,\" \"World,\" \"That,\" and \"Hostile.\"\n   Verse 1, apply RC to \"His\" (twice) and \"He.\" Verse 2, apply RC to\n   \"Thine\" and \"Thy.\" Ch. lxiii. footnote 1, apply RC to \"His\"\n   (thrice) and insert period after \"Cheyne.\"\n\n - On page A82R, ch. lxiii. 3, apply RC to \"Me\" and \"My\" (four\n   times). Verse 4, apply RC to \"My\" (twice). Verse 5, apply RC to\n   \"Mine,\" \"Me,\" and \"My\" (twice). Verse 6, apply RC to \"My\" (twice).\n   Ch. lxiii. 15, apply RC to \"Thy\" (four times).\n\n - On page A83R, insert dash after chapter number lxiv. Verse 4,\n   apply RC to \"Thee.\"\n\n - On page A84R, ch. lxiv. 12, apply RC to \"Thyself.\" Ch. xlv. 1,\n   apply RC to \"Me\" and \"My.\" Verse 2, apply RC to \"My.\" Verse 3,\n   apply RC to \"Me\" (twice) and \"My.\" Verse 5, apply RC to \"Me\" and\n   \"My.\" Verse 6, apply RC to \"Me.\" Verse 7, apply RC to \"Me.\" Verse\n   8, apply RC to \"My.\" Verse 9, apply RC to \"My\" (four times) and\n   \"Me.\" Verse 11, apply RC to \"My.\" Ch. lxv. footnote 1, apply RC to\n   \"Me\" (four times).\n\n - The break between pages A84R and A85R is in the word \"mountain\":\n   moun|tain.\n\n - On page A85R, ch. lxv. 12, apply RC to \"Mine.\" Verse 13, apply RC\n   to \"My\" (thrice). Verse 14, apply RC to \"My.\" Verse 15, apply RC\n   to \"My.\" Verse 16, change \"himself in the\" to \"himself in them\"\n   and apply RC to \"Mine.\" Verse 19, apply RC to \"My.\" Verse 22,\n   apply RC to \"My\" (twice). Verse 25, apply RC to \"My.\" Ch. lxv.\n   footnote 4, change \"sha## die\" to \"shall die.\"\n\n - On page A86R, ch. lxvi. 1, apply RC to \"My\" (thrice) and \"Me.\"\n   Verse 2, apply RC to \"My.\" Verse 4, apply RC to \"Mine.\" Verse 5,\n   apply RC to \"My.\" Ch. lxvi. footnote 1, apply RC to \"My.\" Footnote\n   2, insert a comma between \"Arnold\" and \"Strachey.\"\n\n - On page A87R, ch. lxvi. 18, apply RC to \"My.\" Verse 19, apply RC\n   to \"My\" (thrice). Verse 20, apply RC to \"My.\" Ch. lxvi. footnote\n   3, apply RC to \"My.\"\n\n - On page A88R, ch. lxvi. 22, apply RC to \"Me.\" Verse 23, apply RC\n   to \"Me.\" Verse 24, apply RC to \"Me.\"\n\n - On page A67L, in the footnote for the Calkins translation, insert a\n   period into \"D.D.\"\n\n - On page A67R, in the Urwick translation, ch. lii. 12, apply RC to\n   \"My Servant.\"\n\n - On page A69R, in the Urwick translation, ch. liii.%11, apply RC to\n   \"My Righteous Servant.\"","title":"The Preacher's Complete Homiletic Commentary on the Books of the Bible, Volume 15 (of 32): The Preacher's Complete Homiletic Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, Volume I","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":454597}